If you follow me on my facebook or my instagram (which if you don’t you totally should!) you would have seen this:

The winter plays havoc with all of us. Whether it’s too dark and effects our moods; too cold and effects our bodies; or too dry and effects our skin.When the cold air hits anything with moisture, like our skin, it freezes it. When we get inside, the moisture doesn’t get soaked back in: Instead it evaporates, leaving us with dry flaky skin that makes us feel like a skull being sand blasted in the desert.

The skin that makes up our lips is naturally thinner. It sheds easier due to talking, eating, drinking, and breathing. It is also thinner so there we can see the blood through it(for natural attraction purposes…. keep checking back for this topic, I have a ridiculous article about different lipstick colours that I will post).

I pity the person whose lips get this bad. Mine only ever got that bad when I used to think putting a freezee on them to soothe them was a good idea, until it ripped off my skin.

So what can we do to protect our kissables?

We all know obviously lip chap/lip balm is the 1st answer. But why? Isn’t it just a tube of congealed Vaseline?

“Lip balm often contains beeswax or carnauba wax, camphor, cetyl alcohol, lanolin, paraffin, and petrolatum, among other ingredients.” (Wikipedia)

Great… now you say “Scotia I’m not a know it all like you, nor am I a scientist. I know kinda what these are but I still don’t get it.”  And yes that is me admitting that I am a know it all.

Well let’s start with the main ingredient. Any kind of wax has moisture, it will slowly transfer into a porous material, like skin. The harder shell of the wax creates a protective barrier.(So that’s the beeswax, caranuba wax, paraffin and petrolatum)

Camphor and the lanolin are the calming ingredients, taking the soreness and redness away.  And the alcohol is the sanitizer, which kills the germs and cleans the wounds from any open cuts and tears.

What Else Can I Do? I loose lip chaps like I loose lighters.

There are many different ways of protecting our lips from the frost. I won’t go into everything but I’ll tell you what I do.

Along side with always having a lipchap with me, or a moisturizing lipstick, I have 3 other ways that I keep my lips kissable for my husband.(that doesn’t mean his aren’t like kissing a cheese grater sometimes in the winter though)

1. I exfoliate everyday. Now that doesn’t mean I take a fist full of sea salt and rub that all over. Because that would burn… and be messy.. and not work.  I brush my lips with a soft tooth brush and warm water, after I brush my teeth. Just a little once over gets any small bits off, and brings up your circulation(which means more new blood cells coming with nutrients and moisture to replenish new growth).

Once a week, or whenever I treat myself/find the actual time to give myself a facial, I also use a lip exfoliator. I use E.L.F’s one. As the website says “A sweet sugar and smoothing sensation, infused with Vitamin E, Shea Butter, Avocado, Grape and Jojoba Oils to nourish and protect.”  I like this product its cheap and tastes really good.

When choosing a exfoliate for your lips, make sure it is a small grain like sugar. Also not microbeads(I will get into that another day). Anything bigger will just cut your lips up.

2. I use Merle Norman’s Lip Revive.

For all skin types. Give your lips the full treatment with moisturizing, anti-lining and anti-feathering benefits. Beta Hydroxy Acid provides continuous chemical exfoliation to minimize the appearance of fine lines around the mouth. Vitamins A, C, E and Green Tea condition and soothe. Fragrance-free. (From merlenorman.com)

I like this product a lot. It is not a simple lip chap or gloss. Because it is a moisturizing cream; it is a thinner base, which soaks in deeper, and lasts longer. You don’t have to use exactly this brand, but anything like it is great. You can just use a plain facial moisturizer too if you want. A day cream would be the better choice as it is thinner. Or you can just use a small amount of vaseline, best to do that at night when you aren’t eating or talking.

3. It’s not a product its just that I Don’t Pick. This should be an obvious one, but still. Don’t pick. Don’t pick at anything. That also means don’t chew your lips.

I am totally a hypocrite for this. I pick a lot, and as a esthetician I have a licence to pick. But I am actually really good for not picking at my dry lips(same goes for hangnails). Maybe because I know it’s thin skin, or when you do pick; the tear keeps going and going past the point where you thought it would stop.

So that’s what I do to save my lips from the kiss of the cold. Feel free to comment, share a winter lip horror story or ask a question!