Cold, dry weather, sun damage, and frequently licking your lips are just some of the reasons your lips might feel dry and chapped. To prevent and treat dry, chapped lips at home, follow these tips from board-certified dermatologists.
While it may seem that dry, cracked lips are something you must live with until spring comes, you can have soft, supple lips year-round. Here’s what dermatologists recommend.
Use non-irritating lip balm, lipstick, and other products that you apply to your lips. Many people mistake discomfort, such as burning, stinging, or tingling, as a sign that the active ingredients in a product are working. That’s not what’s happening. You’re actually irritating your lips, so you want to stop using any product that irritates your lips.
If your lips burn, sting, or feel uncomfortable when you apply a product to your lips, it means you’re irritating your lips, so you want to stop using that product.
Apply a non-irritating lip balm (or lip moisturizer) several times a day and before bed. If your lips are very dry and cracked, try a thick ointment, such as white petroleum jelly. Ointment seals in water longer than waxes or oils.
Slather on a non-irritating lip balm with SPF 30 or higher before going outdoors. Even in the winter, it’s important to protect your lips from the sun. The sun can burn dry, chapped lips more easily, which could trigger cold sores.
Drink plenty of water. Chapped lips are dry lips, so you want to stay hydrated.
Stop licking, biting, and picking at your lips. When lips feel dry, it may feel natural to wet them by licking them, but this can worsen the problem. As saliva evaporates, your lips become drier.
Lip licking can be a hard habit to break. When you catch yourself licking your lips, try applying a non-irritating lip balm instead.
Avoid holding items made of metal with your lips. Paperclips, jewelry, and other everyday products made of metal can irritate your already sensitive lips.
Plug in a humidifier at home. A humidifier in your bedroom can be especially helpful, especially if you breathe through your mouth at night.
Is your lip balm doing more harm than good?
During cold winter months, you may find yourself reaching for moisturizers and lip balms more often, due to dry skin.
But not all products are created equally—some lip balms may exacerbate dryness.
“You have to be very careful about choosing a [lip balm] because some can make lip dryness worse,” Shari Lipner, MD, PhD, a dermatologist at Weill Cornell Medicine, told Health.
Lip products that include certain ingredients, as well as fragrances, may contribute to dryness, especially during winter. They can be especially harmful to people who put on lip balm multiple times throughout the day, Michele Green, MD, a board-certified cosmetic dermatologist based in New York, told Health.
“There is no rule of thumb as to how often you should apply [lip balm],” Green said. “[Lip balm] should be applied to the lips when they feel dry or chapped and can be re-applied throughout the day, [but certain] ingredients can lead to increased dryness when overused.”
Here’s which ingredients to look for—as well as which to avoid—when picking out a lip balm.
There’s no one-size-fits-all answer as to how often you should reapply lip balm. But if you’re trying to get into a routine, it may be helpful to shoot for four applications a day.
“If you are using a non-irritating moisturizer, you can’t really overdo it,” Lipner said. “My rule of thumb is four times per day or whenever your lips feel dry.”
It can also be helpful to use a lip product after eating a meal and right before bed, she added.
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Products and Ingredients for Hydrated Lips
There’s a reason that our lips get particularly dry during winter.
“Unlike the rest of our body, our lips do not contain any oil glands and cannot produce moisture,” Green said.
For this reason, she recommends trying a lip oil if you’re experiencing dry lips.
“[Lip balms] keep the lips hydrated by creating a barrier between your lips and the environment,” she explained, “allowing for increased moisture retention, [but] these products do not penetrate the lips to add hydration.”
This is where lip oils can be helpful.
Green explained that lip oils can work to penetrate the lips and provide intense hydration, keeping the lips moisturized longer.
Some other lip products can also help combat dryness.
“Lip balms with occlusives such as petroleum jelly or shea butter can help prevent moisture loss throughout the day, [and] using a lip mask at night with hydrating ingredients is also excellent for providing intense hydration overnight,” Green said.
Green recommends looking for lip products that contain the following ingredients:
“Hyaluronic acid is a powerful humectant that can hold up to one thousand times its weight in water to attract moisturizer to the lips,” Green said. “Petroleum jelly, shea butter, and beeswax are occlusives that lock in moisture to prevent water loss, [and] vitamin E is an antioxidant that protects the lips from free radical damage from UV exposure.”
It’s also important to pick a lip product that contains a minimum of SPF 15 to protect your lips from sun damage, Green added.
Certain ingredients can dry out the lips, causing harm when applied over and over.
You should avoid lip products with the following ingredients:
Lipner explained that products with certain scents or tastes, like vanilla or cinnamon, can also be harmful.
Other Ways to Keep Your Lips Hydrated
Using lip balm or other lip products isn’t the only way you can keep your lips from being too dry, Green said.
“Face moisturizers can help to keep the skin surrounding the lips hydrated, and can also be used in small amounts on the lips for increased hydration,” she explained. “Face moisturizers typically contain hydrating ingredients such as hyaluronic acid that can penetrate and be absorbed into the skin.”
Staying hydrated—by drinking enough water—can also help, as can using a humidifier in your home, Green said.
And though you might be tempted to lick your lips if they are dry, you shouldn’t.
“Avoid lip licking, which makes saliva evaporate faster, and can actually dry out the lips,” Lipner said.