Chapped Lips-Winters are so amazing! And for good reasons – hoodies, leather jackets, cozy blankets, and hot chocolate. But on the flip side, we have one of our worst nightmares, chapped lips. I’m not saying that chapped lips are only a problem of the winters, but it mostly is. But it’s nothing to get worked up about, if taken proper care, you wouldn’t even understand why you’ve been worrying about it all these years.
Let’s look at some ways we all can take care of our lovely lips and keep them soft smooth and smiling.
1. Fight Back With Moisturizers
Why do lips chap and peel? Because they’re dry. What’s the opposite of dull? You’re smart enough to understand where I’m getting at. Lack of moisture is the main reason contributing to dryness on and around lips, so it’s essential to always moisturize your lips with petroleum jelly or a lip balm. Apart from those standard options, you can even go for coconut oil and almond oil as they penetrate profoundly and nourishes the lips well.
2. Hydration Is A Must
Moisturizing is good, but you can’t tackle skin problems just from the outside. Sometimes, dry lips are a sign your body gives you when you are dehydrated. Drink the appropriate amount of water in summers as well as winters as hydrating solves not only so many skin problems but also helps metabolism.
3. Get Some SPF In There
Exposure to sunlight doesn’t only harm the rest of your face but your lips too. Applying sunscreens is a necessary part of your routine but don’t do much good for your lips. Best way to screen your lips from the sun exposure by getting some SPF on it. You have learned that hydrating is a must, why not do it with a lip balm with some SPF? Double-trouble!
4. Use A Humidifier
If you are one of those people who have the habit of using air condition a lot, a humidifier would be a life changer. It helps in maintaining the temperature and humidity in your room thus preventing your already drying lips (if they are) from drying further.
5. Exfoliation-Nation
The way to softer and smoother lips is through exfoliating your lips for cleaning out the dry flakes and dead skin and also some of the remaining chemicals from the products we use on from the lips. We would highly recommend you use homemade scrubs instead of buying one from the cosmetics shop, because you don’t want more chemicals on there, plus you’ll save some bucks. You may use your fingertips or a toothbrush to remove the dead skin from lips gently.
6. Keep That Tongue Away
We all the how tempting it is to lick them dry lips and pull at the already peeling skin, but you don’t realize that it’s making things worse for you. When you lick your already dry lips to moisten them, it does just the opposite, as the saliva makes it more sterile. Also, the saliva removes the natural oil from the coating of the lip balm or any other moisturizer that you might be wearing. It is better you resist it for some time until it is completely healed, and preferably even after it has healed.
7. Beware Of These Lipsticks
In our opinion, it is best to avoid wearing any lipstick, at least until your chapped lips have healed and they’re healthy and smooth especially the matte and long wear lipsticks. The reason that they are a big no-no for chapped lips, as they tend to dry out the lips much faster than any other lipstick. Also, matte lipsticks usually tend to settle on fine lines soon after you apply it on your lips, which would look disastrous on chapped lips anyway. Instead, you may go for a tinted lip balm, that way you get the color and the moisture.
8. Hands Off!
Again, picking the dead flakes off of your dry lips may be very tempting, I’ve been guilty of this too. But try to keep your hands off them. Let them dry up and fall off on their own as picking them up forcefully may lead to injury, bleeding or infections.
9. Avoid Spicy Food
If you are already a spicy food lover, you know that the food your tongue yearns for, your stomach and lips aren’t the happiest about. It irritates the skin on and around the lips and burns a lot, especially on dry lips. It is better to lay off of these foods for a while.
10. Chose Your Lip Balm Wisely
Always check for ingredients in the products you use on your skin, including your lip balm as specific components can harm chapped lips. These Ingredients including alcohol, aspirin, artificial colors, and fragrances may irritate your sensitive lips. The lip balm that comes with stick tends to dry out the lips as it contains wax. Go for a lip balm that has SPF and the one, which is paraben free. If this is all too much for you, you can always just stick to good old petroleum jelly; those are harmless and very helpful in the healing process.
