How to Prevent Chapped Lips

While it may seem negligible, having chapped lips can be painful and just unsightly. The flaky skin and the cuts from the dryness are never a good thing. What’s worse is many people don’t care about properly caring for their lips. They just apply whatever lip balm they’ve purchased, or even worse, they just lick their lips to make them less dry. Here’s three things you can do to actually treat and prevent chapped lips:

• Stop Licking Your Lips – The digestive enzymes found in saliva can irritate your lips. Yes, they are the same ones that break down food when you’re eating, and when you lick your lips, you’re spreading them onto the thin skin.  These enzymes in your saliva break down the oily surface that your lips naturally produce for protection. 
• Use The Right Lip Balms – While lip balms are very effective for protecting your lips, certain ones do contain ingredients like menthol that can irritate your skin and can lead to even drier skin. Find one with emollient properties, like those that contain lanolin and petroleum. It’s also a good idea to choose a lip balm that contains SPF because as mentioned before, the thinness of the skin around your lips makes it easy to be damaged. Don’t forget to re-apply every now and then, including before going to bed.
• Be Mindful of Your Skincare Routine – You want to avoid applying the cleansing products and serums like retinols on your lips to avoid any inflammatory reactions. On the flip side, you also want to exfoliate and moisturize your lips, as exfoliation removes the older, drier layers of the skin, and moisturizing keeps