Treat Chapped Lips With a Layering of Moisturizer and Lip Balm
The perfect lip balm is thin enough to sink into your lips and thick enough to be coated with a waterproof, protective layer. In other words, it doesn’t exist, but you can fake it with clever layering.
If your lips are now very dry , try applying a small amount of your regular face moisturizer or eye cream to bare lips, and then apply a thick balm on top. Lotions and creams contain more water and moisturizing ingredients than lip balm, but more importantly, they are designed to really penetrate into your skin. Applying something waxy and occlusive will slow the evaporation process by trapping moisture exactly where you need it: on your dry, chapped, pathetic lips. This method is a godsend for those with stubborn chapped lips, but is especially convenient for people who cannot use lanolin. Sheep’s waxy sebum heals dry skin like nothing else on earth, but it is a fairly common allergen; Trying to find an effective lip balm without it is harder and more expensive than adding the two products you already have.
Any moisturizer you like will work here, as long as it doesn’t contain any active ingredients. Of course, the concentration of retinol, chemical exfoliants (AHA, BHA or others) and vitamin C derivatives found in moisturizers is low, but it’s not worth the risk. Don’t put your favorite retinol cream on your lips – use face oil, moisturizing serum, eye cream, hand cream, or even body lotion instead. Your lips will be grateful to you.