Lip service

Baton Rouge may be a humid city, but lip balms aren’t only for cold and dry climates. Max’s Au Naturel organic lip balms are made on a family farm in Lake Charles. Named after Maximilien Vincent, a first-generation Louisianan born to Acadian parents in the 1800s, the company specializes in all-natural, bleach-free beeswax lip balm with essential peppermint oil and beeswax harvested in Louisiana.

“As my family was producing honey, they were stockpiling the beeswax and selling it in bulk from time to time,” says Max’s co-founder, Michael Vincent, who launched the business with his father, Weldon “Sno” Vincent. “After visiting my parents’ home on holidays, I started to try and convince them to produce a lip balm or something else with the wax.”

The Max’s team hopes to eventually produce soaps, hand and body creams and suntan lotion. The lip balm retails for $4.95 at Earthly Concerns on Lee Drive. maxsaunaturel.com