During the winter the elements can wreak havoc on our luscious lips.  To help battle this I have some tips on how to keep your lips kissably soft throughout the winter, and year round.

Tips to heal chapped lips, or keep your lips soft and healthy:

1.  Drink Plenty of Water – Since chapped lips are mainly a result of dehydration, drinking enough water will help to eliminate your chapped lips.

2.  Don’t Lick Your Lips – If you lick your lips, the saliva dries quickly, thus drying out your lips quicker, causing chapped lips.  If you have chapped lips, and a habit of licking your lips, you need to work hard to stop this habit.

3.  Limit Exposure to the Elements – Dry wind/air, and bright sun can cause dry lips, so make sure to use a lip balm that has sunscreen in it if you spend a lot of time outdoors.

4.  Keep Your Lips Moisturized – There has been some words that petroleum based lip balms are not the wisest choice when it comes to chapped lips.  It has been said that it does not allow the skin of the lips to breath, therefore causing more dehydration of the cells, which in turn leads to more chapped lips.  Your best bet is to go with natural products and remedies that include natural butters and oils (I will list some below that work wonders).

5.  Exfoliate Your Lips – This will help to get rid of some of the dry skin, and moisturize in the process.  Below is an all natural, oh so yummy exfoliate you can make yourself:

Ingredients:

1/2 teaspoon of brown or white sugar
1/2 teaspoon of honey
1/2 teaspoon of olive oil
a pinch of powdered cinnamon

These ingredients work well to exfoliate, hydrate, and moisturize all at the same time!

all natural exfoliatorHow to use:

  • Mix ingredients together in small bowl.
  • Using your index finger, rub on dry lips gently, in small circular motions.
  • Scrub 2-3 minutes.
  • Wipe with a warm washcloth.
  • Apply chap stick/lip balm to lock in moisture.
  • Uses once-twice per week (Over exfoliating can cause damage to sensitive skin cells)

When looking for Lip Balms, here are some of the natural ingredients you can look for:

  • beeswax, coconut oil, almond oil make lip balmBeeswax
  • Shea Butter
  • Cocoa Butter
  • Coconut Butter or Oil
  • Almond Butter
  • Jojoba Oil

Also, you can take some of these all natural items and use them for your very own home remedy, such as:

-Coconut Oil applied straight to lips works wonders, without being too greasy

-Lanolin (yes, the stuff used during breastfeeding) when applied at night, you will wake up with soft lips

-Aloe Vera, which we already know is great for skin, can be applied to the lips to help make them nice and supple again.

-Cucumbers, known as a wonderful spa treatment for minimizing  puffiness, can also be used on your lips.  Cucumbers are more than 90% water, so they are great for hydration.

diy lip balm recipeKeeping with being all natural, you could always make your very own lip balm.  Here is a  recipe from Angry Chicken you can follow:

1 tsp. cocoa butter

1 tsp. shea butter

1 tsp. almond oil

a splash of Vitamin E oil

15 drops of sweet orange essential oil

Melt it down, and put it into a container of your choosing (a tin, lip balm tubes, etc).  Put it in the fridge to let it set, and by morning it should be good to go.

If making your own lip balm sounds like a bit more effort than you are willing to put in, then here are some of the top natural lip balms out there:

1.  Burt’s Bees Beeswax Lip Balm

2.  Jack Black Intense Therapy Lip Balm SPF 25, Mint

3.  Loving Naturals 100% Organic, Unscented Hemp Lip Balm

4.  Treat Soft Candy Vanilla Buttercream Old Fashioned Jumbo Flavored Lip Balm

5.  Pangea Organics Lip Balm, Italian Red Mandarin With Rose

6.  Alba Hawaiian Lip Balm, Coconut Cream

Now that you naturally know how to have chap-free lips, get out there and pucker up!

My name

natural kissable lips

Courtesy of Angry Chicken, and Spaweek.com

Reblogged from Simply Bubbly