Garrettsville native shoots for Guinness World Record for lip balm collection

Looking for lip balm? Brooke Heasley Al-Noubani of Garrettsville has some, but she might not be willing to share.

Al-Noubani, 30, has collected 5,028 tubes of lip balm in a race to set a new world record for the largest lip balm collection. The folks at Guinness say the current record is 3,388, she said.

If Al-Noubani’s collection is certified, she’ll pull ahead of her top rival, a girl in Hong Kong. A pair of sheriff’s office employees helped her count them at the Randolph Fair this week.

She began collecting lip balms, like many girls, around the age of 5 or 6. By 24, she began collecting in earnest with a goal of setting a record.

After she got married, her husband came home one day and announced that he had purchased a home for the collection.

“I just bought a pink shed — that’s the home for this ridiculousness,” she recalled him saying.

Going for the record at the Randolph Fair has a special meaning for Al-Noubani. Having grown up in Garrettsville, the fair was part of her life. The dairy barn is named after her great grandpa, and former Portage County Auditor Janet Esposito is her aunt.

It took the sheriff’s office employees one hour and 35 minutes to count them all. Among them are Hidden Valley Ranch lip balms, a pack that honors the Golden Girls, six different Mountain Dew sticks and at least a couple giant tubes.

What lip balm does she actually use? Poppy & Pout.