Kiss chapped lips goodbye: Why your lips get dry, and how to fix it

Skin on your lips is different from any other skin on your body.

Lips have no oil glands and lose water faster than the rest of your facial skin.

It’s no surprise, then, that lips easily become chapped. Without needed moisture, chapped lips can start to peel, become inflamed and feel sore.

Environmental factors, such as cold winter weather, dry air and sun exposure, can disrupt the natural lip barrier even more, leading to chapping, cracking and inflammation.

Establish a routine to keep your lips healthy and happy

• Apply lip moisturizers daily and throughout the day, including before heading outdoors.
• Use SPF 30+ sunscreen or SPF containing lip products daily.
• Reapply after eating or drinking.
• Avoid licking or picking your lips.
• Protect your lips from harsh temperature extremes. Cover your mouth with a scarf to protect from wind and harsh cold.

More and more lip products are on the market – lip scrubs, lip masks, lipstick, lip balm and lip plumpers.

When shopping, check the ingredients. Different formulations may contain chemicals that irritate and cause a reaction.

• Avoid lip scrubs altogether – the lip skin is thin and delicate, and these scrubs just cause more irritation. If something tingles or burns after applying, they’re not helping – your lips are telling you to avoid them. People may use them on their chapped lips, mistakenly thinking that exfoliating will help when it only exacerbates the problem.
• Lip plumpers cause temporary swelling of the lips that may make your lips look fuller, but they actually cause irritation to your lips. Avoid plumpers, particularly if you’re prone to sensitive or chronically dry lips.

Understand what ingredients can be beneficial vs. harmful to your lips, and don’t be swayed by packaging for formulations of balms, masks and scrubs. There are a lot of popular products on the market touting benefits, but some of these products may overpromise and underdeliver – they can actually trigger, aggravate and prolong the very symptoms they claim to treat.

What to avoid when shopping for lip balm

Trendy lip balms/mask products with fragrance, essential oils and/or advertised as “clean” or “all-natural” may actually make your lips drier and more irritated.

Product ingredients to avoid:

• “Medicated” lip balms that contain ingredients like menthol and camphor
• Fragrance and essential oils – avoid scented products
• Flavorings, such as peppermint, cinnamon or citrus extracts
• Anything that burns, stings or tingles – this leads to irritation

The best balm for your lips

Keep things simple.

The best emollient is petroleum jelly. It’s effective, readily available and inexpensive. It works for every skin type.

Lip emollients work by sealing in moisture and protecting the natural lip barrier. Use moisturizing products with SPF ingredients applied during the day and thicker emollients applied overnight.

Beneficial ingredients in lip products:

• Ceramides – these help strengthen the moisture barrier of lips.
• Dimethicone – this can help create a barrier on your lips that seals in moisture.
• Hyaluronic acid – this can help provide intense hydration.
• Mineral sunscreen ingredients, zinc oxide or titanium dioxide, give sun protection.

If you moisturize your lips and they still feel dry, it means you need to improve your routine.

It’s important to moisturize your lips consistently with the right products.

If you have a reaction to lip products

Chemical ingredients can induce contact dermatitis – either an irritant contact dermatitis or a true allergic contact dermatitis with a specific allergen, leading to chronically red, inflamed and sore lips.

Stop all other products, no matter how “medical” or “medicated” they claim to be.

Replenish the natural lip barrier with an occlusive emollient, like petrolatum, until lips are healed.

Break bad lip habits

If your lips are dry and you don’t have lip balm, licking your lips won’t help.

Saliva doesn’t add moisture to your skin, and frequent lip licking actually causes more irritation and worsens dryness.

Saliva also may be somewhat acidic and contain some digestive enzymes that can aggravate the already-thin lip barrier. The more you lick your lips, the more dry, inflamed and reddened they’ll be.

Don’t pick. Picking at your lips is a common practice often triggered by people wanting to remove dry skin flakes. Avoid the temptation of picking the skin off.

Instead, treat underlying inflammation if that’s causing persistent flaking. See a board-certified dermatologist for prolonged inflamed, chapped or sore lips, or if the redness extends beyond the lip border onto your face.

What to keep in mind when wearing lipstick

Some lipstick formulations can actually be drying. This is particularly true of those designed to be long-lasting or in a matte finish.

Put on your hydrating moisturizer first, then apply your lipstick.

Before bedtime, gently remove lipstick. I recommend using micellar water, avoiding scrubbing, and applying your barrier emollient overnight.

If your lipstick is drying out your lips, then increase your moisturizing regimen when using lipstick, or decrease how frequently you use that lipstick. Lipsticks are safe to use in general, but you may opt for a different lipstick formula if you feel the product is too drying.