How to Get Rid of Chapped Lips!

Ever since I was younger, I have struggled with chapped lips. It didn’t matter if I was sick or not, my lips were always pealing. I have extremely sensitive skin, and this includes my lips. When I started getting into makeup, I found it was difficult to where lipsticks or liquid lipsticks. Whenever the product would dry, you could see how flaky and cracked my lips were. So, after I had a few years of trying out a ton of different lip products, I think I have finally found a way to keep my chapped lips under control, at least for now!

Stopping Bad Habits.

The first thing I had to do when conquering chapped lips was finding out what secret bad habits I had and to stop them immediately. Here is a list of a few bad habits that can contribute to chapped lips.

1.     Not Drinking Enough Water

You should be drinking half your body weight in ounces (if you weight 130, then you should be drinking about 65 ounces) a day. People often think people experience dehydration when they have not had water for days and are on the verge of fainting. This, however, is extreme dehydration. You can be dehydrated and may not even know it. If you are lacking the amount of water you need, then your body can suffer from it and your lips definitely will.

2.     Not Having a Proper Diet with Fruits and Veggies

Have you ever heard you are what you eat? Well, in a way it is true. Our body is reliant on the food we eat, and if we do not get enough nutrients, our skin will suffer. It is important to eat fruits and veggies everyday not only for health benefits, but also for your skin, lips included.

3.     Pealing Your Lips

I am very much guilty of this. It is often a nervous habit, and, sometimes, I do not even realize I am doing it. It is a gross and very bad habit. To break this habit, try not to touch your lips throughout the day. I know it is difficult to break this habit, but if you stay on top of it you will eventually get there.

4.     Biting / Chewing on Your Lips

This is another nervous habit that a lot of people suffer from. Again, you should work very hard to stop this if this is something you find yourself doing. Your lips can easily become raw due to excessive chewing.

5.     Breathing Through Your Mouth

This is often something we all do when we get sick. There are multiple health benefits from breathing through your nose instead of your mouth. If you find you are having a difficult time breathing through your nose only, and you are not sick, I would suggest contacting your doctor.

6.     Do Not Lick Your Lips

This can be hard and tricky especially when you are suffering from dry lips. I suggest to always have Chapstick or coconut oil on you to prevent yourself from licking your lips when they feel dry. The saliva can break down the skin on your lips which will cause them to become chapped.

7.     Not Exfoliating Your Lips

A lot of people do not realize how much we put our lips through, and yet we focus more on skincare than lip care products. Your lips need attention to, and you should be exfoliating either once, or twice, a week in order to get all of the dead skin off.

  My Favorite Chapsticks.

So, now you have broken all of your bad habits, or at least you are trying to, and now it is time to fix what has been broken, or chapped. The first thing you are going to want to do is run to the store and buy chapstick. However, that might not be a great idea. Some chapsticks have ingredients that actually dry your lips out instead of moisturize them. There has even been a conspiracy theory around chapstick companies possibly putting things in their products to dry out your lips more in order to get you to buy more chapstick.

Two chapsticks that have never failed me are Carmex and Vaseline. Trust me, if you need to fix a lot of damage, you need one of these chapsticks. My third favorite is by the brand Chapstick and my person favorite flavor is candy cane. I can usually only find this one during winter, so I tend to stock up on it. I love the peppermint coolness feeling when you apply it. I didn’t like it in the beginning, but now it is my absolute favorite.

  Why a Lip Primer Helps.

I will admit that I was one of those people who never used a lip primer, that is until recently. While lip primers won’t necessary cure your chapped lips, they will help hide the ridges and cracks when wearing lipstick. You can also find some lip primers that do have ingredients that will help moisturize your lips.

I have been loving the Ulta Beauty lip primer for a while now. It applies very smoothly, and it feels thin and light. I haven’t noticed this product fixes my dry lips, but I have found that the lipsticks do not damage my lips as much as they did when I did not wear a lip primer.

My second favorite lip primer has been the Ulta Beauty Oil infused. While this is not necessarily a lip primer, I have found that it works well as one. I will apply this before the lipstick, especially when I want a glossy glow look. This product doesn’t feel sticky or slimy, and I love the feeling of it.

  My Favorite Lip Exfoliators.

I have said previously that lip exfoliators are needed, and I have two favorites that I use faithfully (when I am not using my homemade sugar scrub). I love the E.L.F Oatmeal exfoliator. I think my favorite part is that the exfoliator is in the shape of a lipstick instead of a little container. My second favorite lip exfoliator is the Jelly Pong Pong Coffee and Coconut Lip Scrub. I will fully admit that the main reason this is a favorite is the fact that it has coffee in it, and it has a great coffee scent. This product does the trick, and my lips are so smooth after using it.

After every exfoliating session, I will put Vaseline on my lips just to moisturize the new skin. When you take off all the dead skin, you have new skin that needs to be taken care of. This will help prevent future chapped lips.

The Vaseline and Toothbrush Trick.

I am sure you have heard of this, you take a toothbrush and scrub your lips to get all of the dead skin off. Then, you smother your lips in Vaseline and go to sleep. That way in the morning your lips will not only have very little dead skin, but you also have super soft lips. Just be careful because this trick may be a little to rough on your lips depending on your skin’s sensitivity.


Homemade ‘Peppermint Vanilla’ Brown Sugar Lip Scrub.

I did a blog post last week on how to make an at home sugar lip scrub. You can lick the link here to find out how I make my favorite lip scrub!