The dry and strong spring wind treats the skin badly. Lips suffer especially from the dry spring wind. The outermost skin on the lips is very thin and sensitive. It is very difficult to protect the lips from the harsh outside air properly. Therefore, they need to be cared for with good and properly chosen cosmetics. In this post, we are dealing with lips and products suitable for lips. You will learn the basic principles of choosing a good lip balm and other information about lip care.
Why do my lips get chapped?
You have probably often wondered the cause of your lip problem. even if you add lip balm and try to protect your lips, the situation gets worse day by day. On windy, ugly days, many carry several lip balms with them. The lip balm business is doing well. Has anyone ever calculated how much money people spend on lip balm alone? Still, it feels like none of them helps. Why on earth are your lips then getting chapped?
The skin of the lips is particularly sensitive
The skin on the lips is considerably thinner than the rest of the body. The skin on the lips is as thin as the skin around the eyes. We have learned how to take special care of the skin around the eyes. The same should happen with the lips.
Thin skin dries quickly.
It loses moisture, hardens and cracks. Proper and sufficiently effective lip protection keeps the lips soft even in strong winds. Just adding some grease on your lips is usually not enough if you already suffer from chapped lips. Your lips need moisture and protection. You can’t get them from the same lipstick.
In addition to the wind, many other factors dry the lips
There is usually more than one reason for chapped lips. Wind alone is not the only thing that gets your lips in bad shape.
- Too dry inside air dries lips as effective as harsh weather
- Matte lipsticks are really drying. Most of all lipsticks have the same effect.
- Do not use toothpastes containing SLS if you have problems with dry lips. Most toothpastes contain SLS (sodium lauryl sulphate).
- Moisturizing and drying of the lips causes a drying reaction. Licking lips is a bad habit.
- Essential oils sometimes dry out the skin. I do not recommend using essential oils to treat chapped lips.
- Never pick at any dried skin from your lips. It hurts your lips and may cause an open wound.
The lips should be moisturized well
If you apply waterless lip balm to already dry lips, the result is not commendable. Grease never moisturizes the skin. To get your skin moisturized, the skin needs fluids as well as moisturizing ingredients. By moisturizing ingredients, I mean products that absorb moisture. One of the most popular and at the same time most effective moisturizing ingredients is sugar. About sugar and its moisturizing effect, I have told here.
Moisturizing lips with sugar
Sugar can be used in lip care products in many different ways. The easiest way is to have a sugar scrub. Exfoliation removes the dried cell from the lips. This allows moisture to get absorbed deep into the skin. In this lip scrub, we use both honey and regular cane sugar.
Regular fine sugar is suitably coarse and acts as a mechanically peeling ingredient. Sugar also contains natural moisturizing ingredients.
Honey is nourishing and especially moisturizing. Honey binds sugar into a paste, so no other ingredients are needed for this recipe.
You need
- 2 teaspoons of Muscovado sugar or regular fine sugar
- 1 teaspoon of running honey
Do like this
- Mix the honey and sugar until paste. Apply the paste to the lips and also a little to the skin around the lips.
- Leave the paste on the lips for about 15 minutes
- Rub the lips for a while very gently in a circular motion
- Wash the paste off the lips with warm water
Apply a protective cream to the lips immediately after exfoliation and moisturizing
Lips need protection not only from wind and cold but also from dry indoor air. Therefore, you should also protect your lips in the evenings before going to bed. Next, I will introduce you to special protective greases
Shea butter
Shea butter is suitable for both night and day lips. The best quality for lips is the traditional shea butter, not nilotica shea butter. Nilotica Shea does not stay on the lips as well as traditional, hard shea butter.
Beeswax
Beeswax is especially good for protecting lips. It is a wax that bees have made to protect their own larvae. Therefore, it is perhaps the best product to protect lips against cold and biting winds. Beeswax is also antimicrobial and contains small amounts of propolis, an antiseptic, antibacterial substance.
Macadamia oil
Macadamia oil is very rich in palmitic and palmitoleic acid. They are protective fatty acids that prevent lips from drying out.
Sunflower oil
Sunflower oil is a moisturizing oil that is rich in linoleic acid. Linoleic acid naturally treats and moisturizes the skin.
For lip balm you need
- 20 grams of shea butter or cocoa butter or a mix of them
- 20 grams of beeswax
- 40 grams of sunflower oil
- 5 grams of macadamia oil
Do like this:
- Put all the ingredients in a double boiler
- Heat the mixture until all the ingredients have melted
- Pour the hot mixture into clean, small jars
- Let it cool down and close the lid after the lip balm has cooled down completely
Always use lip balm when needed and especially when outdoors. It is good to add lip balm to the lips also in the evening before going to bed.