Here's why your lips get so dry
Lips can come in all shapes and sizes, and unlike most parts of your body, lips are unique in many ways. There is a reason they get drier than the rest of your skin. There are reasons why this part of your face is a different color than the rest of your skin too.
The unique part of your lips is that they are no match for anyone else. Just like fingerprints (and snowflakes), no two pairs of lips are alike. Another interesting fact about your lips is that the blood in your face makes your lips appear red. The skin on your face has sixteen layers of the skin, whereas your lips only have three layers. The thinness of lips allows colors through, instead of hiding the blood color behind the thickness of the skin.
Why Your Lips Become Chapped
Your lips are one of your body’s most sensitive organs. There are millions of nerve ends on your lips, and because of how many nerves with the thin layers of skin, your lips are extra sensitive to cold, heat, and much more.
Weather, licking, and certain medications can be a factor in when your lips become chapped. Dehydration and malnutrition can also affect the dryness of your lips.
As seasons change the skin of your lips, or “transitional skin,” is not prepared for it. Although your lips are made from the same type of skin that is in your mouth, your lips do not have a warm, covered place to go when the cold air, or extreme heat, comes in and begins to change.
When you moisten your lips by licking them, you are breaking down the fat and protein that your lips are made of. Your saliva has enzymes designed to break down the fat and the protein in food, but since your lips are made of fat and protein, licking your lips is a bad habit to get into.
There is a severe kind of dry lips and will need medical attention should it get to the place where preventative measures cannot help. Cheilitis is a severe dryness and cracking that requires a dermatologist. If your condition has cracked mouth corners, are a dark pink or red, have a lumpy texture, if you develop ulcers, or have a white plaque on your lips—make sure to schedule an appointment with a medical professional.
Otherwise, using the best chapstick can help with the dryness. Often, you can treat chapped lips with preventative measures such as using chapstick with beeswax or coconut oil it in. The fewer ingredients your chapstick has, the better. Anything with exfoliants, parabens, dyes, phthalates, or other human-made products can cause a breakdown of your lip skin and increase the dryness.
How Does Chapstick Help Your Lips
Drink enough water, use a humidifier at night, cover your mouth with a scarf in colder weather, and add natural chapstick to your lips (even with some SPF too). These actions will help maintain the moisture in your lips and prevent dryness.
Chapsticks with natural oils such as coconut or grapeseed oil are safe to ingest as long as no fragrances or other human-made ingredients are added to the formula. Beeswax and other forms of wax are also good to have in your ingredients.
Using chapstick helps create an extra layer of protection between your lips and the elements that cause them to go dry. However, make sure to be wary about licking your lips or using balms with unneeded ingredients.
As stated above, your saliva will cause the protein and fat in your lips to break down at a quick rate. Should you lick your lips and then add chapstick over top your saliva, it creates an extra barrier that won’t allow your saliva to dry or give your saliva any place to go but inward.
When you use chapstick with unneeded elements in it, such as parabens, dyes, fragrances, flavors—you run the risk of drying your lips out more than adding moisture to them. Fragrances and dyes will mask any moisture that is in a chapstick, usually breaking down the helpful parts of it rather than allowing the moisture to do its job and ensure your lips are protected.
Resources—Britannica, HealthLine, Jean Coutu, Time
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