Maybe it's the superior experience of drinking a crisp carbonated beverage through a straw. Maybe it's the rise of Stanley Cups or the supremacy of cold beer even in the winter months. Whatever it is, straws have evolved beyond single-use plastic. straw man argument for personal environmental responsibility in much more.
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Our endless enthusiasm for drinking things through narrow tubes has generated many innovations in the straw market. It has also created a new anxiety: lip wrinkles.
Traditional straws force drinkers to purse their lips around the opening in an expression that many believe over time creates wrinkles around the lips, called perioral lines.
Enter the anti-crease straw, shaped like the number 7, with a small hole in the top horizontal part that allows users to drink without pursing their lips.
Straws work, “in theory,” said Jenny Liu, a board-certified dermatologist and assistant professor of dermatology at the University of Minnesota Medical School. But she noted that “there are no studies to support it.”
“The way the opening is designed allows you to drink with a straw but not have to use the muscles around your lips as easily compared to traditional straws,” Dr. Liu said. Because there is less repetitive contraction of these muscles when using an “anti-wrinkle” straw, perioral lines are less likely to form.
“But again, this is all theoretical,” Dr. Liu said. “Lip wrinkles are not just due to repetitive movements. “Genetics, sun damage, and other factors such as occupation (such as musicians who play with their mouths) can affect the likelihood of developing lip wrinkles.”
Frequency of use also factors into the equation.
“For someone who doesn't normally use a drinking straw but has lip wrinkles, using an anti-wrinkle straw isn't going to be much help,” he continued, “so it's actually a misnomer.”
The lack of peer-reviewed studies hasn't stopped aesthetically minded TikTok straw enthusiasts from making anti-wrinkle straws a new thing.
In a video that received over 1.6 million views on TikTok (and even more on x), esthetician and online influencer Michaela Scott praised the product.
“This straw is anti-wrinkle, so you don't purse your lips as much when you drink sideways like that,” he said. saying in the video, posted last week.
Wellness and beauty influencer Lauren Erro claimed that “it could be the best anti-aging invention ever created.”
“They always say straws give you wrinkles in your mouth, but this straw is literally trying to prevent that,” he said in a recent Tik Tok.
Some commentators were not very impressed with the invention.
“This is a very exhausting way of life,” commented one commenter. declared.
“Just use a straw, bro,” another responded.
Whether it's a passing trend or not, straws are part of a budding market on e-commerce sites. According to its inventor, Tim McManaman, tens of thousands of people have purchased the most popular anti-wrinkle straw, the Lipzi.
McManaman, 58, lives in Normal, Illinois, and works in procurement for a large financial services company. In his free time he likes to invent and patent original ideas. An avid Diet Coke drinker, he came up with the idea for Lipzi when he saw himself in the rearview mirror while he drank through a straw and noticed how many wrinkles formed around his lips as he drank.
When he presented the prototype to his wife and four young adult children, they were unusually enthusiastic about the invention. “I brought this straw to the kitchen table and my wife's first reaction was, 'Okay, this idea could work,'” she said in an interview.
As he transitions from a side job to a profitable family business, Lipzi has begun making wholesale supplies to spas in the Midwest; and McManaman said he recently received patent approval, which could help minimize counterfeit sellers on amazon.
His daughter Grace has been helping him build the brand on social media, and his son TJ, a college senior, hopes to join the business after graduating.
McManaman added that he personally doesn't care much about lip wrinkles.
“But there are a lot of people who do,” he said. “There are a lot of people who take it very seriously.”
