Dry, chapped lips can make you feel as self-conscious as a large pimple on your face. Dry lips can feel uncomfortable and make them un-kissable. While you would have reached out for a lip balm in your bag to remedy your lips, the lip balm may be the cause of even more dryness in your lips. Are lip balms as effective as you think? Let’s find out.

Why Do Lips Become Dry and Chapped?

While it is extremely common for your lips to chap during your winter holidays, your lips can get dry and chapped at any time, even in perpetually hot and humid weather. The skin of your lips has three layers like the rest of the skin on your face. The outermost of the lips is made of the stratum corneum, which this barrier is intended to keep your lips from damage, unlike most parts of your face, the lips do not have oil glands, they rely on the oil from around your lips to provide moisture. Furthermore, the function of the mouth is to absorb food, the skin on the lips is much thinner, leaving them very vulnerable to environmental stresses such as the sun, wind and temperature changes.  

What Causes Lips to Dry and Cracked?

Besides the natural make up of the lips, health-related issues such as medications, thyroid disorder and overgrowth of yeasts can cause lips to dry and cracked. Deficiencies in vitamin B and folic acid can also cause the splitting of the skin at the corner of your lips. Lips licking can also make things worse because as moisture evaporates from your lips, even more dryness can occur. Extended exposure to UV rays can cause your lips to crack as well. Even worse, it can put you at risk for actinic keratosis, a type of precancer of the skin. They appear as small, dry and crusty patches on the lips.

Why Do Lip Balms Cause Cracked Lips?

Studies have shown that instead of repairing dry lips, lip balms make them even dryer. One of the reasons is because the thin film of moisture applied onto your lips evaporates and further dehydrates the skin. When you reapply the lip balms, a vicious cycle is created. Furthermore, many lip balms contain petroleum jelly that can cause even more dehydration of the lips when applied frequently.

What Should You Use Instead?

Use lips specific moisturisers in place of lip balms. Look out for natural oils such as shea butter, avocado oil, cupuacu butter and olive oil as they nourish and protect your lips with natural antioxidant properties. Like face moisturisers, creams made for the lips do more than just keeping your lips hydrated and moist, they also contain active ingredients that target anti-ageing signs, lip lines and loss of volume. In our collection, IOMA Lip Lift can be used as a lip treatment or makeup base to keep your lips plumped, smoothed and better defined. If you prefer something natural, natural certified bSoul Hydra Lip contains mustard sprouts extract to improve the colour and definition of your lips, while moisturizing them with avocado oil and shea butter.

How to Further Treat Chapped Lips?

Besides regular use of a good lip cream, you can use perform regular exfoliation of your lips, once every 2 to 3 days. You can use a gentle face scrub such as bSoul 3Action Face Scrub, this face scrub is a great choice because it contains aloe vera and jojoba oil, both have great but different moisturizing benefits for the skin of the lips. Apply a thin layer onto your lips and with slightly wet fingertips, gently scrub in a circular motion for half a minute, rinsing away with water. Do not scrub hard to avoid scrubbing your lips raw. Follow it up with a lip moisturizer to maintain hydration.
Drink enough water every day to stay hydrated can go a long way in keeping your lips kissable.