Chapped lips? You’re not alone! Winter can be a hard-to-deal-with season especially when it comes to keeping lips gorgeous and free from the detrimental effects of the season’s cold and dry air. These weather elements are known to cause skin dehydration—which could be the reason for your chapped lips.
Though mostly associated with the cold season, you can still experience chapped lips any time of the year when you don’t give this sensitive part of your body the special care it deserves.
Your lips don’t have any oil glands, and the fact that they’re made of thin skin (thinner than the skin on the rest of your body parts) makes them even more prone to dryness and cracks. Therefore, keeping them safe is the only way to avoid the pain of chapped lips.
Chapped lips plague us all winter long. Here are tips on how to avoid the problem.
How to Protect Your Lips from the Harmful Weather Elements
Follow this advice for soft, supple lips all year round.
1 – Apply Lip Balm Regularly
A lip balm helps ensure that your lips stay soft and healthy by shielding them from the harmful weather elements. It works by moisturizing the dried tissues while also protecting your lip area from exposure to the cold temperatures, dry wind, and the harmful ultraviolet rays.
Many of the lip balms in today’s marketplace will contain an anesthetic (such as menthol) which helps reduce chapped lip pains and the uncomfortable feeling that comes with cold sores. Therefore, never limit yourself to “balm” specified products only as there are other lip ointments that contain the essential oils and glycerin to help keep your lips healthy.
Note: Menthol, eucalyptus, and camphor are known to cause skin irritation, dryness for some people. So, exercise caution when using such ingredients.
2 – Consider Covering your Lips
Of course, this sounds weird to some extent, but it provides an extra layer of protection to your lips when outdoors.
You can use a scarf to do this. Simply wrap the scarf around your nose and mouth before stepping out into the cold weather. But first, follow tip #1. Ensure you apply some lip balm prior to the wrapping process.
3 – Use a DIY Lip Scrub to Gently Exfoliate the Dead Skin
Twice a week, use a lip scrub. This gently polishes away dead skin cells and exposes renewed, soft skin underneath. It feels great and allows the lip balm to better penetrate and deliver benefits. Here’s a recipe for an easy to make DIY lip scrub.
4 – Be Consistent
Ensure the safety of your lips by regularly applying the lip balm or whatever product you choose to use on your lips. This can be late in the evening (when going to bed), early in the morning, and a number of times in the day.
To ensure you worry less about developing cracked or scaly lips this winter, make sure you embrace preventive measures rather than waiting to pay the price.
RELATED CONTENT: Essential Skin Care Tips (and the really cool science behind them)
How About Chapped Lips Preventive Measures?
1 – Ensure you always stay dehydrated
Other than the external factors, various internal aspects like lack of enough fluids in the body can as well expose your lips to such painful and undesirable conditions.
So, ensure you take adequate fluids (preferably water) to stay hydrated.
2 – Avoid licking your lips
Though lip-licking may appear to solve the problem of dry lips, it actually makes them even drier. Why? Saliva is the moisturizer here when you lick your lips—and it only takes seconds for it to evaporate.
You’re then left constantly pushing your tongue over your lips. Of course, this act that can also cause irritation to your lips considering that saliva contains acids normally used in food break down.
3 – Never peel away your flaky lip skin
As mentioned earlier, lips have thinner skin and brushing or the literal removal of the peeling skin can sometimes lead to cracks and bleeding. Therefore, consider using the scrub, as mentioned earlier. Follow up with some ointment-based balm to help speed up the healing process.
Let the Healing Begin!
- Are chapped lips your greatest headache? No worries. Here is how to get them to heal faster:
- Consider treating your cracked lips as soon as you notice the symptoms.
- Only use the right lip balm that works for your skin, however, Vaseline can also do the trick for those with less sensitive skin.
- Avoid unhealthy habits such as biting or licking your lips.
- Quit smoking cigarettes
- Try out home remedies, like the use of natural carrier oils (such as jojoba, sesame, or coconut oil) on your lips. These will help to deeply moisturize your dry lips.
Stay Gorgeous, My Friends!
Gorgeous lips are purely a personal effort. Avoid the dreaded chapped lips this winter by observing the above simple at-home treatment and prevention measures. However, if the cracks and pain persist, consider visiting your doctor to make sure there are no other concerns.
