3 Simple Tips for Avoiding Chapped Lips

Lips serve so many important purposes every single day, as you use them to communicate with others, eat your favorite treats, and express your opinions and truest feelings.

For those who suffer from dry, cracked lips often, confidence and self-esteem can dwindle, as the irritating, uncomfortable feeling and look of a chapped pout can lead to an endless hunt for a solution.

But before searching for something that could potentially heal your dry lips, it’s incredibly important to discover the cause, as the reason why your lips are so chapped could be more surprising than you’d think.

#1. Dehydration

Unlike your skin, your lips do not contain oil glands and can become chapped more easily. When your lips are parched, it could be a telltale sign that your body isn’t getting enough water and is, in all, extremely dehydrated.

Water Intake

One of the leading causes of dry, chapped lips is dehydration within your body, as many of us don’t seem to remember to drink enough water. The amount of liquid you consume can directly affect your pout, as lips need to maintain a proper fluid balance and be well hydrated.

While drinking more water can help your lips, skin, and overall health, finding nutritious fruits and vegetables that contain the right amount of water also adds to your lips’ hydration, working its benefits from the inside of your body and all the way to your mouth.

#2. Your Diet

While water is a fundamental component to the overall health of your lips, the foods we eat and supplements we take can be a major factor in the look and feel of lips.

Lack of Healthy Fats

Fatty foods are considered unhealthy to society, but consuming certain foods containing healthy fats can indeed make a difference in the dryness of your lips. Fatty acids maintain and increase the natural lubricant in your body, so skipping these foods are a common cause of dry lips.

To increase your body’s natural lubricant, regularly eating foods consisting of fatty acids, such as walnuts and salmon, can aid immensely in hydrating your chapped lips.

Vitamin and Nutrient Deficiencies

Many types of vitamins can be a valuable addition towards a healthy diet, and although your body naturally contains and produces many of the most vital vitamins, you may be lacking certain levels of supplements that affect your lips.

Decreased levels of nutrients, such as Vitamin B12, zinc, and iron, can all play a significant role in your dry, peeling lips, so altering your diet may be a necessary step to take for the sake of your pout.

Taking supplements can be a quick, easy way to get those nutrients into your body. But eating certain foods that contain these vitamins is another option. Many types of meat, fish, fruits, and vegetables contain these lip-saving nutrients, so don’t be afraid to introduce into your regular diet.

Citrus and Acid in Food

Not everyone can just stop eating those tasty foods, full of delicious salt and citrus, but being careful about how often you eat these types of treats can make a difference in the dryness of your lips.

The spice, salt, and citric acid within fruits and other foods can majorly irritate your lips, leading to their dryness and overall feel and appearance.

If you love eating foods that are high in salty or acidic levels on the regular, try your hardest to avoid getting too much on your lips as well as you can; it’s not an entirely effortless change to make, but it may be one that can improve your lips’ wellbeing.

#3. External Factors

What we put into our bodies can majorly affect our lips, but the dryness is not always completely under our control or caused by our intentions.

Weather

It’s no coincidence that your lips may become more chapped and flaky around the freezing winter and blistering summer months, as the weather impacts the health of your lips significantly. The skin on your lips is quite delicate due to its thinness, so those external sources can pack a punch and provide your mouth with quite the challenge to cope.

During the winter time, your lips are exposed to the dry, cold, and harmful air, leading to excessive cracking and increased sensitivity, so protecting your lips with a balm can aid in fighting off some damage.

Similarly, the summer time can bring many challenges towards your lips, as significant exposure to the sun’s powerfully harmful rays can, not only dry them but visibly age them as well. Using a balm with protective sunscreen in the ingredients can be of help under the sun, and drinking a lot of fluids can add to your lips’ overall hydration.

Lip Products

It’s tough to deliver that instant healing effect to your lips without applying a lip product, so it’s become almost second nature to always have some balm or gloss in your pocket on the daily. That minty, menthol, cooling effect feels great on your lips, but the ingredients within these seemingly “instant fixes” can be more than harmful than you may think.

Plumpers and balms can be incredibly addicting, as the pleasant, relieving sensation you feel as they slide onto your lips can lead you always wanting more as if regularly applying a balm is necessary for your lips’ overall hydration.

As Greatist.com states, “Applying lip balm to dry skin may feel better at the moment, but it also interferes with the signaling mechanism that tells the lower cells to start producing more cells.”

Allowing your natural lips to do their job and heal themselves is key when considering why your lips are so dry and chapped, as some of those “miracle” balms may be the significant cause of the issue in the first place.

Overall, it’s important to maintain healthy, hydrated lips, so treating your body with the care it needs to thrive is a step you can take towards a better feeling and looking pout. Chapped, peeling, and dry lips are uncomfortable, to say the least, so take a look at your lifestyle, diet, and daily habits, and maybe make a change for the benefit of a gaining back your beautiful pout.