MetaChat - Getting Lippy

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25 March 2007

Getting Lippy My lips are perpetually dry and chapped. So many lip balms are worse than useless. Does anyone know of a product that is actually good for this?

post by: Orange Swan at: 10:00 | 18 comments

A little olive oil gently rubbed on the lips twice a day will keep them moist. Any petroleum-based lip balm will dry your lips out and cause them to crack. Also, if you're a lip licker, stop it, saliva is tough on them.

posted by hojoki 25 March | 10:21

I like Keihl's lip balm a lot, but you have to reapply constantly it seems. I also have a couple sticks of tinted lip balm from Burt's Bees that are great.

Here's a cure if your interested:

Coat lips with vaseline and slough the vaseline and dry skin off with a soft toothbrush. At night apply a lip treatment while you sleep until lips are supple again. Wear a moisturizing lipstick if you like lipstick. I find if I use a good moisturizing lipstick everyday, Neutrogena makes one, I don't get chapped lips.

posted by LoriFLA 25 March | 10:30

Chap-stick. Keep it in your pocket so the warmth of your body will soften it. The wax makes it thick enough to last, although it feels, unsurprisingly, waxy. Most any kind of lip balm will work on a regular basis, but for really bad chapped lips, that's what works for me.

posted by theora55 25 March | 11:11

Aveda's medicated lip balm is awesome, and all-natural (the "medicated" is peppermint or something), and tastes like vanilla. It was the only thing that helped on my last winter trip to Chicago, staying in a house where I think there's actually negative moisture in the air.

When I lived in Boston, I used to put on lip balm, then rub some sugar on my lips to exfoliate, then lick the sugar off and put on more lip balm. It tended to help a great deal.

posted by occhiblu 25 March | 11:14

Crisco.

Seriously.

posted by bunnyfire 25 March | 11:16

Two words: Carmex. It cleans ovens, starts your car in winter, prolongs orgasm, resurrects the dead, heals broken bones, and protects against vampires and lycanthropes. It's made in Wisconsin, so you know it must be good.

I also know folks who swear by Udder Cream and Udder Balm.

posted by steef 25 March | 12:14

Carmex is addictive...in the sense that you'll want to keep using it because your lips will ALWAYS BE CHAPPED. I use Unpetroleum when available, and Burt's Bees (I like the Honey kind but the original is plenty good) when I can't find my Unpetroleum stick.

posted by comments on the world as will 25 March | 12:25

Water, not on you lips, past them. Hydrate yourself and you may not even need lip balm.

posted by caddis 25 March | 14:04

I like Benefit's Lipscription. It's two products. The first is an exfoliator (very gentle, I promise!) that does a nice job removing the dry, chappy parts. Then, you get a nice, soothing balm to calm the rest of it the heck down and protect against further chapping. Good stuff.

posted by houseofdanie 25 March | 14:21

I second caddis. I have started to increase my water increase as I feel my chips beginning to chap and the duration is noticeably shorter.

Also seconding theora55 about keeping Chapstick at body temp. CarMex as well and probably is true about all balms.

posted by mischief 25 March | 14:47

Yah, hydration and a not-a-chapstick. Most of the chapsticks have ingredients which irritate or damage the lips.

I think coconut oil would be a sure-fire winner. Didn't we recently have a discussion here or on a part of MeFi about the wonders of solid coconut oil?

posted by Five Fresh Fish 25 March | 14:55

Lots of water.

posted by muddgirl 25 March | 15:50

I was going to weigh in, but, after reading the discussion, I feel like maybe I'm not qualified.

posted by box 25 March | 15:58

Pudding cups, applied liberally, will prevent your lips from chapping.

posted by Eideteker 25 March | 16:54

Use a humidifier in your bedroom, rub lotion into lips til completely absorbed, put natural chapstick on top.

posted by serena 25 March | 20:34

Blistex. The lotion in the little white tube.

posted by ThePinkSuperhero 25 March | 20:52

How much water do you drink per day¿

Shea butter. Excellent for extremely dry skin.

It's not next to the margarine.

posted by alicesshoe 26 March | 03:00

In case you're still reading...

Burt's Bees is the only thing I've found that really, really works, and I can't recommend it enough. I was a chapstick/blistex user for years, and I believe the stuff is physically addictive. Do stay away from petroleum products, or anything containing camphor and/or phenol. Try to stay away from anything sweet, as it will tend to make you lick your lips more often and thus dry them out.

For me, it's Burt's Bees after brushing my teeth, and maybe one other time after eating lunch. I much prefer that to the 3x an hour habit I used to have with blistex.

posted by malaprohibita 26 March | 15:52

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