Everybody gets chapped lips from time to time in the winter, but for some people, it’s a big problem. If you have dry, cracked lips all of the time, it can actually be very painful, and it doesn’t look great either. We put so much care and attention into our skin to stop it from drying out, but we don’t pay anywhere near as much attention to our lips, which leads to problems with chapped lips. The good news is, there are plenty of ways that you can deal with it, even when the weather is bad and your lips are more prone to drying out. If you’re struggling with dry lips all of the time, these are some of the best ways to deal with it.
Be Careful What You Put On Them
A good lipstick can really bring your makeup together and top off the look, but you’ve got to be careful about what lipsticks you’re using if you suffer from chapped lips a lot. If you’re using lipstick that is particularly heavy or is made with harsh chemicals that dry your lips out, you’re going to make the problem a lot worse. But don’t worry, that doesn’t mean that you can never wear lipstick again. You just need to find the brands that do natural lipsticks that are made with ingredients that are a bit kinder to your lips. They come in lots of great colors so you’ve got plenty of choice, and they’re made with a lot of ingredients that moisturize the lips, so you’re treating your dry lips and looking great at the same time.
Even if you’re using products that are good to your lips, you should try to avoid wearing it all of the time. Any products are going to dry your lips out a little, so you should think of it as an occasional treat, rather than something that you wear all of the time.
Lip Balm
Lip balm is so important if you have dry lips because it not only moisturizes them, it protects them. This is especially important when you’re out in the cold weather. Most people don’t think that there’s much difference between lip balms apart from the scent, but that’s not the case at all. When you’re choosing a lip balm, there are a lot of different things you need to look for. The flavour of the lip balm is obviously important because you’re going to be putting it on your lips, but you shouldn’t be choosing based on that alone. When you’re looking at different lip balms, there are a couple of different ingredients to look for. Vitamin E is great for repairing damaged skin and keeping it well moisturized so anything with that in is a bonus. Natural ingredients like tea tree oil, almond oil, and sage oil are all great as well. What you should be avoiding is anything that has a lot of synthetic chemicals in there because they might not be the best for your skin, especially if it’s very cracked.
The most important thing that you need to look for in a lip balm is SPF protection. People are always aware of the cold affecting their lips and drying them out, but the sun is just as bad. Just like the rest of your skin, sun damage is terrible for your lips and it’ll dry them out more. Most good lip balms have some level of SPF protection, but to be on the safe side, go for the highest ones that you can find.
Lip Masks
You’ve heard of face masks, but you probably haven’t heard of lip masks. They’re basically the same thing as a face mask, but for your lips. When your lips are very dry and damaged a good lip mask can really help you to repair them. If you have a big problem with dry lips, you can do a lip mask once or twice a week to keep it under control. There are some lip masks that you can buy in shops, but the best ones are homemade. Check out this article on 7 ways to make your own diy lip mask for some tips. There are plenty of great natural ingredients that are just as good as the products that you can buy, and you don’t have to worry about any nasty chemicals that will dry your skin out further.
There are also some great quick fixes that you can use to rehydrate your lips. If you take a few slices of cucumber and lay them over your lips for 5 minutes or so, it’ll give them a moisture boost and they’ll feel great afterwards. It’s a simple thing that you can do while you’re watching TV but it makes a big difference.
Drink Plenty Of Water
You’re probably fed up with people telling you that you need to drink more water. We all know that it’s good for us and we need to do it, but a lot of us still don’t do it. If you’re not going to do it for health reasons, you should at least consider doing it to deal with your dry lips. If you’re not well hydrated, your skin won’t have enough moisture in it and your lips will start to dry out a lot easier. You should be having at least 4 or 5 glasses of water a day, it’ll make a big difference to your skin and your lips.
Humidity
Drinking water is important because it keeps your body hydrated, but what about the air in your house? If the air in your house is particularly dry, it will dry your lips out a lot. If you’re getting dry lips a lot, you should get a humidity tester and see what the levels are like in your house. If the humidity levels are low, you should get yourself a humidifier for the house. The ideal level of humidity for your skin is around 60 percent, if you set it to that, you should notice a big improvement in your dry lips.
Stop Licking Your Lips
Licking your lips is a bad habit that makes your dry lips a lot worse. When they’re dry and cracked, licking them to wet them seems like a sensible thing to do but it really isn’t. Your saliva dries very quickly and they’ll be even drier than they were before. It’s a hard habit to break but you should make an effort to notice yourself doing it and stop yourself. If you are prone to licking your lips a lot, you should avoid flavoured lip balms because they’ll just make it more tempting if they taste good.
Breathe Through Your Nose
Breathing through your mouth is another bad habit that dries your lips out a lot. When you’re constantly breathing through your mouth, you’re just drying your lips out more, so you should always try to breathe through your nose as much as possible. It’s a tricky habit to break because you probably don’t notice that you’re doing it a lot of the time. If you always breathe through your mouth because you find it difficult or uncomfortable to breathe through your nose, there might be something wrong so you should see a doctor.
Dry lips can be a real pain, especially in the cold weather. They’ll get cracked and it can be incredibly painful. But if you follow these simple steps, you can get your lips looking luscious again in no time at all.
This is a collaborative post.
