A guide to take your lips from chapped, cracked and sore to lips of luscious, kissable beauty.
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It is freezing cold this morning, -4ºC to be exact with a cold biting wind, AND a weather warning of heavy snow on it's way this weekend, even worse my whole family is suffering with sore lips, some of us have colds and others have been out in that cold nasty biting wind without protecting our lips. My son works outside and so his need for relief from this dreadful condition seems to be worse than the rest of us, for those of you in the same position I'd advice using lip care that is specfically designed for skiing, they contain very rich moisturisers and most have advanced UVB protection with photostability which protects your lips form drying and is water resistant.
The water resistance part is important and helps with that awful thing that we all do that we're not supposed to when we have damaged lips - we lick them - don't be ashamed it's human nature - an automatic reaction to the feeling of dry lips, we just can't help it, it's like not chewing a Rowntree's Fruit Pastille - don't ask me to do something I can't manage it's torture.
Prevention really is the key thing here, so if you don't have sore lips now then make sure you protect them and stay that way because it can happen so fast and so painfully. It is with that in mind that I decided to look into the dos and don'ts of curing this awful problem in the hope that I can help somebody out there and of course myself and my family in the process.
STEP 1
Make sure that you are drinking enough water, your lips and skin is cracking? It's a sure sign that your body isn't hydrated enough. So increase your water intake, well we all know we should be drinking more water and it's great for flushing out any toxins in your body.
STEP 2
Find a lip balm that works for YOU ... someone's cure might not be the cure for you.
There are many, many salves, balms, oils, remedies out there, and until I started doing a little research I never realised just how many there are, of course there are also a whole host of everyday household natural remedies you can use and with a little Google-ing I'm sure you can find something to play with, but in the meantime here are a few that I tried.
Options That I Tried:
Vaseline some people swear by good old Vaseline, well for me it works for a short while but then for some reason it stops working, my lips seem to get worse, someone told me that if you use too much Vaseline you are sealing your lips and preventing them from getting any air and that is not a good thing either and can exacerbate the problem, which is what happened with me. If you are going to go down the Vaseline route I suggest you make sure that you use their specially designed Vaseline for lips, yes it's lighter and if they've designed it especially for your lips then that should be a good enough clue. I like the one with the Aloe Vera in it but they have lots of different varieties and I just love those cute little coloured tins that it comes in.
Avon Tinted Lip Care with Beeswax - this is a lovely, lovely lip balm. I was very surprised when it arrived as it looked like one of the skiing type ones and was white in colour, then I noticed tiny flecks of pink in the white. However even more surprising was that when it was applied it became very pink, probably a lot pinker than I would have liked as I thought I was going for a natural hint of pink. I eventually used this along with one of my favourite lipsticks which is a nude/neutral colour to calm it down.
However, it is a really good lip balm, which needs re-applying less often than some of the others and keeps your lips moist and kissable despite the weather. This lip balm was tried out this weekend in a very snowy, cold and wet Rome, Italy (yes it snowed in Rome), I have returned with still very soft un-chapped lips which for me is an absolute miracle. It comes in 3 colour options, the pink which I chose was the lightest of them and I think they need to make it much paler as I wouldn't wear it without covering it up, can be a bit neonish in some lighting. But definitely worth a buy - RRP £7.00, I purchased it on sale from my lovely Avon lady for an amazing £3.50 and now my 12 year old daughter wants one too.
Blistex (previously known as Blisteze) this has always been my 'if nothing else works this will and why didn't I use this in the first place?'. Previously called Blisteze, and why do people who work in Pharmacies look at you as if you're stupid when you call it Blisteze? It's been called that since I was kid it's not my fault some idiot decided to re-brand it. So Blistex as it now is, this is a marvel, one of the drawbacks, which if you've ever used it you will know, is that you take the cute little red cap off the top of the tube and the cream inside goes "wheeeeeeee escape" and pours out all over the place, I think the manufacturers do this on purpose, I mean they must know it does this, this does eventually settle down after you've used it 10 or 15 times, so after losing nearly a third of the tube this very light thin cream, looks very unimpressive but works wonders. The relief is practically instantaneous, it pleasantly minty, tingly in a good way, and you can suddenly open your mouth without your lips cracking and hurting - buy it, try it, love it!
Cocoa Butter Cream this smelled lovely, that's the first thing that struck me, I used the one made by The Body Shop and it is recommended for Very Dry Skin. So lips are made of skin and they're very dry - you see my logic here? First off, it didn't hurt, major plus, but then it felt really dry, still the nice smell did seem to lift my spirits just a tad, and it contains Shea Butter which I know is also reputed to be excellent for dry skin. I even rubbed some into my hands at the same time - my hands ADORED it - my lips weren't unhappy with it, didn't really feel right a bit stiff feeling, just not as ecstatic as my hands about it, but as I said no stinging and when I went out in the cold wind to get some other products it protected my lips until I got to the Chemist.
