Don’t Dare Lick Those Lips

Chapped lips has to be one of the most unfortunate consequences of winter and every year I forget about preventing them from occurring, which really can only be done by pre-empting the situation with a daily dose of lip balm. I must admit that while I am particular about my eyes – concealor, liner and mascara; I’m way more blase about my lips. 

Caused by a lack of moisture, chapped lips is really just dry skin so using an emollient ointment is best – you want to moisturise and  then seal it in. Traditionally petroleum jelly (Vaseline) based balms was used but these days there are plenty of good products that use bees wax instead. You could use olive oil, shea butter or coconut oil products. If the chaffing is severe then a topical cream with hydrocortisone is often prescribed.

I’ve been a fan of Lucas’ Papaw ointment, yes I know it has petroleum in it (according to the website it is a non-carcinogenic type of petroleum and therefore causes no harm), prior to that I used Blistex which wasn’t too bad. Our girl in LA, Belinda, prefers natural products so uses either Kiehls or Burts Bees lip balms – she says it’s all too close to her mouth and therefore ingestible. Putting balm on your lips, then using lipstick is a great way to get a plump looking lip and is particularly useful when using those long-lasting lipsticks which can be a bit a dry.

There’s a bit of controversy around using a lip balm, some say it makes you ‘addicted’ and then you’ll always need to use it. That’s a bit like saying don’t moisturise your legs or you’ll always need to do it. Some advise against using flavoured balm as it might make you lick your lips more – not a good idea when they’re chapped. Licking chapped lips is tempting but bad, bad, bad, because you can’t keep them moist long enough to heal – you need to constantly lick and that could look a bit suggestive or odd. So balm it is – locks in moisture and keeps the sore, dry smackers moving.

What’s your favourite lip balm?

Tamsin xo