With days spent in cosy blankets with a cup of coffee to warm you up in the cold weather, the beautiful winter season certainly has its charms. But for a lot of us, the winter is not quite such a pleasant experience for our lips. The cold temperature of our surroundings and the dry air can dry your lips put and leave them feeling rough and looking chapped. In severe cases, if you do not treat chapped lips and pick at the skin that is peeling off, you might even experience pain and bleeding. The chapped appearance of your lips might end up taking a toll on your self-esteem and confidence and make you feel conscious of yourself because of them when you are around other people. This article will help you find the perfect home remedy that will heal your chapped lips in no time at all so that you can get the rosy, soft pout that you have always dreamed of having!
Why do my lips get chapped in the winter season?
Let us try to develop a better understanding of why our lips get chapped in the first place before we attempt to use the home remedies to heal them. The skin on your lips is almost ten times thinner and more delicate than the skin on the rest of your body. Unlike usuals skin cells, the skin cells on our slips do not have any hair follicles, sweat glands or sebaceous glands. Thus, when exposed to cold weather and a dry environment, because of this lack of oil glands, lips dry up very, and they are unable to regain the moisture content that they lost. The dry and damaged skin cells start peeling off, and this is what gives lips their flaky, dry, chapped appearance during the winter. A significant reason for this is the fact that even though our clothing covers and protects most parts of our skin from the cold, our lips tend to generally stay exposed which makes them vulnerable to damage due to the cold.
How do I restore my lips to a healthy and soft state?
As you have realized, when the winter season damages your lips and makes them chapped, mild and straightforward treatments such as dabbing a bit of lip balm or drinking a glass of water might not immediately fix your problem. You are automatically inclined to constantly lick your lips if they are dry and chapped to moisturize them and soothe any pain or bleeding temporarily. But layering saliva over your lips will only further dry them out in the long run which will worsen the state of your chapped lips. Indeed, no remedy can completely transform your lips into a luscious pout in the very first application. But if you patiently practice the treatment on a regular basis and are persistent in your efforts, then the condition of your lips will slowly but surely improve, and your lips will stop looking chapped in no time!
1. Try the age-old combination of honey and sugar
If your lips are dry and chapped, pulling at the skin can often damage them and cause bleeding. To avoid such a situation, you should regularly exfoliate your lips with a gentle scrub to remove the flaky, dead skin and reveal the newer, healthier skin underneath. And you can make your own natural lip scrub in the comfort of your home! Honey mixed with sugar is one of the best natural concoctions that can remove the dark layer of accumulated dead skin from your lips and reveal softer, smoother, and lighter lips. All you need to do is mix a tablespoon of granulated sugar into a tablespoon of honey. Give the ingredients a quick stir, and your lip scrub is ready to use. Use your fingers to massage the lip scrub onto your lip gently. Do this for a minute so that sugar granules can gently remove all the dead skin on the surface without damaging the lips. Now, let the scrub sit on your lips for a few more minutes so that the enzymes present in the honey can get to work. Honey has antiseptic properties that can heal the chapped skin on your lips, and it can also penetrate deep into the layers of the skin to hydrate them. After this, wash the mixture off with normal water. You can use this scrub twice a week to obtain the best results.
2. Use coconut oil to lock in the lost moisture
Coconut oil is a very strong moisturizing agent, and by hydrating your lips, it can remove the very root of the dryness that is causing your lips to become chapped. It also has properties that enable it to relieve pain in case your dry lips are bleeding and causing you discomfort. It can fight inflammation and hence prevent the cracked and vulnerable skin on your chapped lips from catching an infection. Once you apply coconut oil to your lips, it can trap the moisture in your skin and seal it so that your lips stay hydrated long after the application. This is why coconut oil works exceptionally well as an overnight treatment for chapped lips. All you need to do is apply a few drops on your lips and massage it into the skin using your fingers. Being a natural remedy, this has no side effects, which is why you can reapply it as many times in the day as you would find suitable. The coconut oil will form a layer over your skin which will act as a shield against the cold and dry air.
3. Apply Aloe Vera for intense healing
You can either purchase aloe vera gel from a pharmacy or simply extract it yourself if you have easy access to a plant. The latter is preferable since it is likely to be more pure and fresh. Cut out a new leaf of Aloe Vera, split it open and extract the juice inside it. You can add a few drops of honey and essential oil and after some cooling, use it on your lips throughout the day. Aloe Vera gel has excellent anti-inflammatory properties and is widely used to treat many kinds of skin allergies and infections. It can help with chapped lips too and soothe any pain caused by the bleeding in the cracks of the skin. The gel will also moisturize your lips each time you apply it. It will attract the water molecules from the air around your lips and will seep into them through the pores into the inner layers to intensively heal the damage. Your lips will soon feel juicy, soft and noticeably more healthy.
4. Work the magic of turmeric and milk
If your lips are chapped, and the damaged skin on them is bleeding, then their condition is very similar to a superficial wound. Turmeric has been used for ages to treat injuries due to the curcumin found in it. Curcumin can heal damaged skin cells by reducing oxidation and inflammation. To use turmeric to heal your chapped lips, mix a tablespoon of it with and milk to form a thick mixture of a paste-like consistency. Around two to three times a week, apply this to your lips, let it sit for about five minutes and then wash it off. As an additional perk, turmeric has gentle bleaching properties and can fight pigmentation, giving your lips a soft, natural, pink glow. Milk can act as an exfoliating agent and remove all the dead skin cells on the surface, and this is extremely important to remove the dry, flaky appearance of the skin and reveal the healthier skin beneath the damage. Milk also has excellent moisturizing properties, so with regular use of this remedy, you can quickly make them softer, rosy and more supple.
5. Cool and soothe with cucumber
The dry and flaky outer layer of skin cells on the lips can easily tear off if it is picked at by you. This can cause cracks in the skin which may bleed and cause irritation. Cucumber is perfect for such a condition to get immediate relief from the pain. It can give a cooling effect on your lips and soothe the irritation. To use cucumber to treat your chapped lips, all you need to do is cool it in a refrigerator for a while and then cut out a few thin slices to use. Place these slices on your lips and let them sit while you relish the immediate cooling sensation that the vegetable will have as it soothes your lips. You can even use cucumber juice to apply to your lips for a similar effect. Cucumber has a lot of water content, so it can also moisturize your lips in the process of the treatment and replenish them with vitamins and minerals.
6. Detoxify with some green tea
If you assumed that you could only reap the benefits of green tea by drinking it, then you were not entirely right! In fact, green tea is rich in tannins and antioxidants. Both of these ingredients naturally help in the process of healing and soothing the cracked skin on chapped lips. Take a green tea bag and put some water to boil. Dip the tea bag into the hot water for two minutes. Do not leave it in too long, or all of the nutrients will dissolve away into the water. Cool the bag for a while till it is at a comfortable, warm temperature and put in on your lips. Leave the bag for a while so that its contents may permeate deep into the layers of skin on your lips and then just rinse them with water.
7. Get soft, rosy lips with actual rose petals
Actual rose petals are precisely what you need to make your lips as soft to the touch as a rose! Rose petals are rich in Vitamin A, which can nourish the skin on lips and heal cracked and dry skin. You can use the rose petals in combination with milk for the best possible results. The lactic acid present in the milk will exfoliate your lips and remove all dead cells gently, which will aid the healing process of the chapped lips. Fill a fourth of a cup with milk and add some rose petals into it. Let the milk soak into the petals for at least two to three hours. This will make the petals soft and soggy, so it will become relatively easier for you to mash the mixture until it blends together and takes the form of a paste. Apply this paste to your lips and let it sit for around half an hour before you wash it off using cold water. You will start seeing results after a week if you do this every day.
8. Savour that chocolate and put it to use
There is no remedy that will be more delicious than treating your chapped lips with chocolate. It is better to use dark chocolate in this treatment as it is a form of chocolate that is richest in cocoa and antioxidants which can stimulate the growth of new, healthy cells to replace the damaged cells on your chapped lips. It will fight the cracks in your lips and moisturize them. It can even remove dead skin cells and give your lips a natural glowy look. Melt the chocolate, stir it well and apply a thick layer of the mixture to your lips. Let it stay for at least fifteen minutes before you remove it and resist the occasional urge to lick it off! This method might work even better if you add a little cocoa butter into the chocolate as it melts. You may even store it into a small container for using it as a lip balm later.