Preventing Chapped Lips

Dry chapped lips can be caused by many things. But the most common ones are excessive exposure to the sun, winter season, biting lips and even licking your lips. The loss of moisture on lips causes the skin to break leaving it flaky and dry. In worse cases, chapped lips can lead to a more serious conditions especially when expose to foreign bodies that can cause allergies or infection. 

Here are several ways to prevent having chapped lips:

1. Drink the right amount of water everyday. 

2. After brushing your teeth, washing your face or taking a bath (when your lips are still wet), apply a good amount of petroleum jelly or lip balm. 

3. Take Multivitamins daily as lack of essential vitamins like vitamin B complex and Iron can lead to dry lips. If you are not sure what to have, consult your local pharmacist.

4. When brushing your teeth, make sure to gently brush your lips too in order to remove dead skin cells.

5. Avoid biting or licking your lips, both actions can in fact loss moisture of your lips.

6. Use lip balm properly. Applying too much of it can also make your lips dry. Lip balm is use to seal the moisture and not to make your lips moist, unless the product you are using contains vitamins you need. Otherwise, using lip balm can possibly worsen the condition in the long run because you are not permitting water to enter your lips. 

7. Another good trick is to pat your lips first with dry towel or wet wipes before applying lip balm. This is the same trick before applying lipstick on your lips.

8. Always use a good quality lip products equipped with SPF 15 or more. Some lipstick dyes can contribute to dryness of your lips.

9. Make it a habit every night to apply petroleum jelly or lip balm on your lips. 

10. If you are smoking cigarettes or any kind of tobacco, stop as they can also make your lips dry.

11. If chapped lips are giving you a lot of discomfort for long time, then go to your doctor to check it out. It can be caused by other condition or disease.