Along with the cold, dry weather of winter can come dry, flaky, even painful lips. If you’re suffering from less than baby soft lips this season, try these tips for renewing your lips to their once kissable state.
1. Apply the Right Lip Balm
If you have dry lips, chances are that you are already consistently applying some form of lip moisturizer. But, have you ever thought about the ingredients in your current balm? Believe it or not, many ingredients in popular lip balms can actually exacerbate the problem and promote further dryness and irritation.
Here are some ingredients to avoid if your lips are severely dry:
- Eucalyptus
- Menthol
- Camphor
- Phenol
While these ingredients can help to temporarily soothe dry, chapped lips, they actually dry the lips out further making you want to reapply more often.
Instead, look for lip balms with ingredients like:
- Beeswax
- Ceramides
- Glycerin
- Cocoa butter
- Lanolin
All of these are great moisturizing, healing agents that will actually improve the quality of your lips. A great, simple lip balm that we love and recommend is Burt’s Bees Replenishing Lip Balm.
2. Use a Humidifier
The big culprit of chapped winter lips is going from the dry, cold weather outside to the warm, dry weather inside. Something that can help is adding a little bit of moisture back into the air in your home or office via a humidifier. This is an especially good idea at night while you sleep so your body can soak up that extra moisture.
If you’re in need of a good humidifier to get you through the rest of winter, we highly recommend the Crane Drop Shape Ultrasonic Cool Mist Humidifier or the Crane Adorable Cool Mist Humidifier (both pictured above). Crane creates humidifiers that not only work extremely well, but that come in a variety of charming designs from tear drops to cute creature shapes like a frog, a pig, and an elephant.
3. Exfoliate
If you’re at the stage where your lips are already so dry that they’re starting to flake, you should give lip exfoliation a try. There are lip exfoliant products for sale at your local drugstore, but you really don’t need to go any further than your own kitchen. Here’s a simple combination that we love:
2-Second Homemade Lip Scrub
- Brown Sugar
- Coconut Oil (or Olive Oil)
Simply create a paste with a pinch of sugar and oil and gently massage into your lips. Wash off (or lick – we won’t tell!) and apply a high quality lip balm or Vaseline to seal in moisture.
Make sure that you don’t scrub too hard to prevent damage to your already sensitive lips!
4. Apply a Night Treatment
Right before you hit the sack is the perfect time to apply a deep moisturizing treatment to your lips. After all, once you’re asleep you won’t be talking, drinking, or licking your lips, so there will be plenty of time for the ointment to soak in and repair your dry winter lips.
If you’re after an affordable, easy to find product, try Vaseline (pure petroleum jelly). Petroleum jelly creates the ultimate skin barrier, protecting your lips from the dry air and allowing them to heal from the inside out. Some people don’t like the idea of using petroleum as it is a by-product of oil refining and can contain carcinogens, but the Vaseline brand is triple-purified and regarded as a safe product. Just be careful with off-brands of petroleum jelly that may not be held to as high of standards. If you still aren’t comfortable with using a petroleum product, check out Alba Un-Petroleum Jelly made from beeswax, coconut oil, and vitamin E.
If you are interested in trying out a lip treatment that is specifically formulated for nighttime use, Neosporin Overnight Renewal Therapy and C.O. Bigelow’s My Favorite Night Balm are popular choices. Just apply right before bedtime and wake up to a softer, smoother pout.
5. Stay Hydrated
Fight your dry winter lips from the inside out by drinking lots of water! The daily recommended amount is around eight 8-ounce cups of water and most of us aren’t consuming nearly that much. If you think that you could improve your water intake (and thus help your dry skin and dry lips), try investing in a new water bottle, like the Camelbak Eddy Glass Water Bottle, to take with you everywhere. The more readily available water is to you each day, the more likely you will be to drink it! You can also try kicking your plain water up a notch by throwing in some fresh lemon, lime, or even cucumber slices. Sometimes all it takes is a little bit of flavor to motivate you into getting hydrated.
Photo Credit: The Art of Making a Baby, Amanda T., Dreams To Do
