Don’t be a Meghan Markle: Why you should not do this ’American thing’ of sharing lipsticks

Lipsticks are one of those cosmetics that people often share. Borrowing your friend's lipstick because you love the shade, or just because you forgot yours - all of it is pretty common. However, sharing lipsticks can cause bacterial infections, say experts.

“There is a larger risk of spreading the herpes simplex virus, which can cause cold sores. People with oral herpes are most contagious when they have active cold sores — so if you borrow lip balm from a friend who has the telltale fluid-filled blister, you run the risk of also contracting herpes," Dr Tina Bhutani, a dermatologist at the University of California, San Francisco, told The New York Times.

In 2017, a woman named Elena Davoyan filed a lawsuit against Sephora to the Los Angeles Superior Court alleging that she got a cold sore on her lip in 2015 after trying a lipstick at the cosmetic giant's outlet at Hollywood Boulevard and Highland Avenue, reported CBS News.

However, sharing lipsticks is pretty common in America, said Prince Harry while referring to one particular incident involving Kate Middleton and Meghan Markle.

Sharing lipsticks is an “American thing”

Around 2018, Meghan Markle and Kate Middleton were at an event together, and the former forgot her gloss. Meghan quickly asked her soon-to-be sister-in-law for the gloss, but little did she know that Kate Middleton would be unwilling. Prince Harry says Kate's unwillingness was probably a "clash of styles".

“Kate, taken aback, went into her handbag and reluctantly pulled out a small tube. Meg squeezed some onto her finger and applied it to her lips. Kate grimaced. Small clash of styles, maybe," Prince Harry wrote about the lipstick incident in his memoir, “Spare”.

Prince Harry further added that sharing lipsticks is “an American thing", pretty common among girls raised in 1990s California.