How To: Heal Chapped Lips

Hello!

    Winter time is here! Warm fires cackling in living rooms, steaming hot chocolate is shared from warm mugs, snow falls delicately on sleeping cities, winter has many plus sides. However, for all the great things winter has going for it, winter also tends to lead to dry, cracked, aching lips. Just describing the sensation makes me reach for my lip balm. I hope to help those of you who are currently hoping your lips do not spontaneously start bleeding, and to give some preventative measures for the rest of you who know the struggle and avoid chapped lips at all costs.

Heal Chapped Lips: 

    These instruction are for those of you who are already dealing with burning, aching chapped lips. All of these steps should be done before bed in the evening unless otherwise stated in the description of the step. 

Step 1- clean your lips gently with sensitive facial cleanser

    Try and find the most mild facial cleanser you have, and very gently cleanse your lips. You may have the urge to try and scrub dead skin off but do not do it! When your lips get extremely chapped they develop cracks in the delicate skin, scrubbing will only make the tears even bigger. The point of gently cleansing is to remove any bacteria and dead surface skin cells so that your skin can absorb moisture more freely. 

Step 2- Warm up some sweet almond oil and massage it into your lips 

    Sweet almond oil is noncomedogenic, safe for sensitive skin and extremely moisturizing. Put about a teaspoon and a half into a small bowl and place the bowl into a bigger bowl full of hot water. This double boiler type method will preserve all the healing properties of the oil and also make it harder to heat the oil too much. You do not want the oil to be hot, but rather warm. You should be able to put some on the inside of your wrist and feel a gentle warmth. Hot oil will burn your lips, causing pain and discomfort as well as probably making them more chapped. Place your finger tips into the warm oil and massage it on your lips in a circular motion. Be gentle and do not scrub, but rather sweep the oil. 

Step 3- Seal in the moisture with a thick cream

    Once the sweet almond oil is mostly absorbed, take a cream like Eucerin Advanced Repair Cream or Aquaphor. These types of creams will feel very thick on your lips and probably will not soak in all the way when you apply them. This is okay, that's how they should work for the purpose of this step. They are meant to seal in all the oil and water to moisturize and heal your lips. 

Step 4: Invest in a steroid lip balm

    Many traditional lip balms are filled with ingredients that are actually counterproductive and will harm your lips in the long run. I recently purchased a lip balm that I really like called Corti-Balm. It is a medicated lip balm containing 1% hydrocortisone, a topical steroid used to treat conditions like eczema, psoriasis, and allergic reactions. It works incredibly well at healing chapped lips quickly. The only downside I have found so far is that it tastes terrible, and leaves a lasting bitter taste in your mouth. Depending on how chapped your lips are, you should only have to use it for a few days though. 

Step 5: Continue to moisturize using coconut oil or a natural lip balm

    In order to prevent your lips from becoming chapped again, you should continue to use a natural lip balm everyday. If you lips start to get a bit dry, put some Eucerin on them before you go to sleep and they should be back to their usual healthy selves the next morning. 

Prevent Chapped Lips: 

Step 1: Lightly exfoliate your lips 

    If your lips having started to get painful cracks in them yet, it's safe to whip out that lip scrub and give them a little exfoliation. You can buy lip exfoliators but personally I like to make mine because it's cheaper, easier, and I can control the flavor haha! Check out my post on DIY Lip Scrubs here.

Step 2: Deep moisturize your lips 

    Maybe once or twice a week take some time and use the warm oil treatment I described above. It prevents chapped lips and is also a great way to take time for yourself. It takes five minutes at the most, but feels nice to do something for yourself. 

Step 3: Stay hydrated 

    One of the best ways you can prevent chapped lips is to drink lots of water. Your body will naturally replenish your skin with moisture when provided with the resources to do so. Carrying a water bottle with you is a valuable habit that will serve your health in the long run. Check out my blog post, Chia Water: A How To, to find recipes for delicious fruit waters to help keep you hydrated!

Step 4: Use a natural lip balm

    With all the added climate stress, drinking water may still not be enough. Use a natural lip balm or coconut oil to keep your lips hydrated and smooth. Applying a little bit of lip balm through out the day is a great way to keep your lips from drying out too much. 

   I hope this guide will help save y'alls lips this winter! if you have any comments, questions, complaints or stories please share them with me, my email is lovesliquidliner@gmail.com and you can also reach me through my Instagram @mycollectionofmusings as well as the comments section below. 

Much love, 

Chloe 💋