When there’s a drier than usual environment, it’s easy enough to develop chapped, cracked or overly dry lips.
They are one of the most tender and sensitive parts of our bodies, and being exposed to the outdoor environment can be difficult.
If you suffer from occasional chapped lips, it’s important to take steps to get remedy it.
This is because it usually won’t go away on its own and the healing process can take weeks because of the lips being such a troublesome area to heal up.
Here are 4 steps for handling lips that have become chapped.
Use a Healthy Lip Scrub
A healthy lip scrub contains many natural ingredients that can give your lips the moisture and nutrients they are sorely lacking.
Acai oil is a great ingredient in a scrub because it contains vitamin E, C, and A, which boost skin repair in the body. Mango butter is another interesting ingredient that is rich in nutrients for the lips and encourages their elasticity too.
Cocoa butter is one to look out for as well because it adds some much-needed hydration and assists your lips in handling both cold and hot weather.
Also, various nut-based oils such as pistachio oil and macadamia oil are beneficial to hold back the aging process for your lips.
Don’t Forget to Regularly Hydrate
It’s often the case that lips dry out simply because you’re not getting enough hydration. If you’ve just come from a hot environment to a cold one, your body is certainly going to notice the difference and struggle to adapt to it.
It’s also the case that if you drink soda or coffee but forget to drink plain, ordinary H2O, then your body may not have enough water.
Many of these kinds of drinks are diuretics which means they actively rid your body of salt and water too. If you’ve drunk nothing but coffee and the occasional soda or energy drink to keep yourself going and forgot to consume some water, overly dry lips can result.
Make a point of drinking several glasses of water every day to stay hydrated. Avoid carbonated water and flavorings too.
Should You Buy a Humidifier?
When living in an environment that’s drier than you’re used to that keeps depriving your lips of moisture, then it’s a problem. If you are moving to a place with a hard water supply, this can cause your lips to become dry too.
After a few weeks, you’ll surely notice this on your lips as they become starved of moisture.
A humidifier is helpful in both these situations. It can add additional moisture to the air inside your home. The moist air then touches your exposed skin, including your lips. As a result, you won’t feel dried out all the time and your lips will thank you for that.
Avoid Smoky Environments
If you smoke, you’ll find that continuing to do so while suffering from chapped lips won’t help. Try to cut back using a Nicotine patch so as not to aggravate the situation.
At home, ask anyone who wishes to smoke to step outside to do so. Although most places now have restrictions on smoking, you still need to be aware of places you’ll be visiting with a more flexible take on smoking habits.
As your lips are exposed to the world wherever you go, try to be more circumspect about the places you visit. It’s hard enough for lips to heal up once they’ve become chapped, so do all you can to remedy the situation while not making it any worse.
