My lips suffer very much in winter – they get dried, red, cracked and generally hurt. I have been testing various care methods for years. Have I found the perfect one? Keep reading because you may find a solution to your problems with chapped lips.
Let’s start from the beginning. What causes chapped lips? What does it exactly mean? For a long time I thought that it was just about getting cold and that’s all. However, there are more causes that that.
Chapped lips – causes
Winter is a very difficult time for our skin, because it is exposed alternately to frost and moisture (outside) and warm and dry air (indoors). That’s why it’s important to protect your skin so it does not lose valuable moisture and simply get dried. Very often a good protective cream is enough.
The skin on the lips is in a worse situation, because it is thin and devoid of natural protection. There are no sebaceous glands in the lips that could produce some kind of an anti-drying sebum. Also, our lips are permanently exposed to wind, frost or moisture. That’s why they get dry.
Lips in such a condition become cracked and chapped. In extreme cases, there are some open cuts that appear to be difficult to heal due to the prevailing conditions and the inability to provide some protection.
It’s usually also because of generally weakened immunity and lack of sufficient nutrients. Such components include vitamins from B group, which are insufficiently provided in the diet.
Winter lip care. How to do it?
The most important is healthy diet. Micro- and macroelements, that our chapped lips need to regenerate, can be found in whole grains, oils rich in omega acids, green vegetables, fresh tomato purees, etc.
Another way to help our lips is by regularly applying a protective lip balm. Any woman who experience such issues with her lips should always have the lipstick around. However, it’s good to check its composition – it’s good if it has natural ingredients, such as beeswax, honey, plant oils, vitamins.
You can also observe your own habits, for example if you don’t lick our lips or pick the skin of your lips too often. It definitely doesn’t help in regeneration, it only intensifies the negative effects of frost and wind. Your lips in winter need a lot of care, delicacy, this is the basic principle of care.
Chapped lips – remedies
When your lips get dried despite the protection, you should know how to deal with this problem. My lips could crack and dry even when I was applying the protective lip balm every 15 minutes. What to do then? There are several ways, actually.
It’s important to regenerate and moisturise– only a combination of these can bring satisfactory results. A good lip balm should be able to do it. Its composition should contain humectants (eg. Honey) as well as oiling emollients (eg. Shea butter, jojoba oil, beeswax). Properly moisturised and nourised lips (with vitamins C, A, E and F) will regenerate very quickly.
Chapped lips – what to avoid?
There are a few rules to follow in the winter if you want to keep proper hydration for longer. Get to know my list of things to avoid when it comes to proper lip care.
- Do not apply coloured lipstick on chapped lips as they will dry them even more.
- Do not lick your lips in the winter.
- Do not eat spicy and sour food because it irritates dry lips.
- Do not forget to use a protective lip balm before going out.
- Do not use cosmetics containing alcohol in the lip area.
Chapped lips – my ways to cure them
In order not to leave you without any particular ideas, I will provide you with my own ways to smooth, regenerate and moisturise chapped lips. I will recommend you what helps me every winter. You can also try other ways as well.
- At home. A natural scrub made of honey and brown sugar, which not only tastes good but it also regenerates, softens and improves the condition of the skin.
- In a salon. A treatment with hyaluronic acid, which is injected with a thin needle under the skin of the lips to provide them with maximum hydration and nutrition.
