Lip chapping is often an unavoidable nuisance. 

There are many environmental factors that can make lip chapping worse, such as wind and excessive sun exposure.

We all can get a bit of cracked lips from time to time, but prolonged lip chapping is both painful and very annoying.

If you want to prevent and treat chapped lips, here are the best simple tricks that can make you see a difference in your lip care.

1. Avoid licking lips

Licking your lips is one of the main culprits for lip chapping. Whilst many people believe adding saliva to already dry lips will help, it’s actually pulling moisture from the surface of your lips. The simplest way to stop licking lips is by applying a fair amount of lip balm several times a day. You can also apply coconut or fish oil to your lips to heal to restore hydration.

2. Exfoliate your lips

Source: KylieSkin

Exfoliating your lips is the quickest way to get rid of the dry flakes. It’s also good to maintain a lip exfoliating routine once or twice a week to keep them moist and prevent further chapping. You can either use a homemade lip scrub of petroleum jelly and sugar, or I recommend checking out the wide range of lip scrubs by LUSH.  Once you have gently exfoliated, make sure you put on a SPF lip balm for protection. For further tips on how to do this click here.

3. Try a lip mask

Source: Covetuer

Lip masks are perfect for restoring natural moisture. They also have added collagen which can make your lips appear plumper and smoother. For the best results, use an exfoliator before you use the mask for maximum benefit and use about once or twice a week. If you’re looking for some amazing lip masks, Sephora has a huge variety of lip masks that can suit everyone, check out their lip masks here.

4. Use lip balms that don’t have drying ingredients

Lip balms are, for the most part, both available and affordable at most stores. Whilst using lip balm is important for everyday lip care, there are so many products that have ingredients that can dry out your lips further. Avoid balms that contain menthol, camphor, phenol, alcohol or any parabens. Instead opt for products with soothing ingredients like glycerin, aloe or mineral oils, vitamin E extracts and lactic acid. It’s also very important to make sure all your lip balms have an SPF of 15 and higher for sun protection. You can find moisturising lip balms here.

5. Stay hydrated

Staying hydrated and drinking at least 8 glasses of water a day truly does wonders for maintaining lip moisture. Dehydration is another cause of chapping, so it’s very important to keep up your water intake. Most cases of mild chapping can be eased after a few hours of replenishing your water levels. 

Have any more tips to prevent cracked lips? Let us know in the comments below!