Product Review: Gosling's Chop Saver Lip Care

In this blog post, I will give my thoughts on a product that I have noticed before but never used. It is the Chop Saver lip balm from Gosling's. I have the original 100% natural version and the SPF 15 version and I will also be asking my wife and daughter for their thoughts.

How do you look after your lips?

Some brass players use lip balm and some do not. I don't personally like having lip balm on my lips while I am playing but it is the first thing I reach for straight after a rehearsal. Usually, I use whatever lip balm I have lying around and sometimes I just use Vaseline.

I make a point of keeping lip balm readily available at all times, with one in my euphonium case, another in my car, and one on my bedside table. I also ensure I have one with me whenever I leave the house. This habit stems from a few past instances in which the absence of lip balm led to significant discomfort. Having learned from those experiences, I now consider it an essential item, particularly given the importance of maintaining lip health for consistent brass performance.

Learnt The Hard Way

On one occasion, I was preparing for a brass band competition and in the week before the contest, for whatever reason, my lips got very dry and sore. I think there is a point where your lips naturally hydrate themselves but if you go past this point and they become sore, it can take time to get them back to normal. This is fine in everyday life but as a brass player, relying on my lips to always feel the same is essential.

A few days before the competition performance, my lips felt very odd. They were a bit tingly and raised, feeling very dry and sensitive. Maybe I was dehydrated but whatever the reason, I was finding it difficult to play my euphonium. I had not been using lip balm and the realisation sudden hit that my lips probably would not recover in time. That contest was difficult, it was a challenging test piece and due to my lip situation, I had to play very safe, it just didn't feel right and since then, it has never happened again.

I used to use Blistex or Vaseline as mentioned and know other brass players that swear by using Carmex or Arnica Gel. There are so many different products out there, you can browse some here.

I have also used some lip balms which seem to make my lips more dry, Nivea products seem to do this. Or there are some that just coat your lips rather than actually penetrating into the lip tissue and properly hydrating.

Some like this, if used during the night, can end up feeling horrible in the morning and you feel the need to scrub a layer off your lips. So, there are many different products and even lipsticks or lip-gloss which claim to hydrate your lips. Despite the cartoon image above, lipstick is not something I am familiar with wearing.

How good is Chop Saver?

So, there is clearly a demand for humans in general to hydrate their lips, but for brass players, singers and woodwind players, looking after your lips is essential.

I have sort of managed so far just using any lip balm but I have to say, Chop Saver is better than anything I have tried before.

One thing I noticed straight away, was how this lip balm instantly soaks into your lips and instantly seems to rejuvenate them. I actually find myself not needing to use it as much because one application in the morning lasts all day. This means one tube of it will last a lot longer, making it excellent value for money.

These lip balms are gluten free and contain no animal fats. They are made with good stuff, ten certified organic ingredients, essential oils, beeswax and aloe vera.

Take a look at your lip balm and see what is in the ingredients. Some have all sorts of artificial flavours or fragrances. Menthol as well seems like something that can cool and sooth lips but could just mask the issues without actually helping. Then of course, some lip balms claim to add colour or glitter to your lips or are just intended to be a novelty or 'stocking filler' gift. These are not going to help your lips recover after a long rehearsal.

Chop Saver is a unique, all magical lip fixing product, this is clear, however, it probably won't help you if you abuse your lips by practising badly. Using a good mouthpiece, having a good warm up routine, drinking plenty of water, sleeping well and keeping good hygiene will all play their parts.

Thank you to Dan Gosling for inventing this product and sending me some to review. I will continue to use this product. Whether you play a brass instrument or not, I recommend this to everyone, I cannot imagine why anyone wouldn't like it. Do check out the Chop Saver blog to find out even more about just how good this product is.

This blog post contains some affiliate links.

Thanks for reading! ❤

Mark Glover

5/11/2025