4 Steps for an Easy Winter Lip Care Routine
Your lips deserve love all year long, but they could use a little extra attention during winter when cold outdoor air and dry indoor heat take a toll on them. But chapped lips aren't inevitable during the cooler season. A thoughtful (and easy) winter lip care routine can help you maintain kissably soft lips all year round.
Step 1: Avoid Licking Your Lips Throughout the Day
First, it's important to know what not to do before we get into all the possible winter lip care products you can use. Only providing temporary relief, licking your lips can make them dry out faster, as it can remove the oily surface film that protects your lips. The enzymes in saliva can also be irritating to your lips. Likewise, avoid rubbing, biting, or peeling your lips.
Step 2: Exfoliate the Lips with a Simple Homemade Lip Scrub Recipe
If your lips feel dry and flaky, they could use exfoliation to feel soft and smooth again. Creating a DIY lip scrub is easy, and you probably already have the ingredients in your pantry. All you need is an exfoliating ingredient and an emollient. The exfoliating ingredient (the scrub) can be sugar or coffee grounds. The emollient component (which helps soften your lips) can be oil (such as jojoba or coconut), honey or shea butter.
Mix an exfoliant and emollient, apply the paste onto your lips in small circles, and wash everything off. You can even use a soft toothbrush to rub the paste on your lips. In any case, wash your hands with soap before and after you apply your scrub.
Be as gentle as possible when you exfoliate, and try to keep exfoliation to once or twice a week to avoid irritating your lips.
Step 3: Apply a lip balm or lip treatment
When you're looking into how to care for your lips during the winter, lip balm is a must. For a nourishing treatment that you can apply multiple times a day, add hydrating lip balm to your daily routine. Good times to apply lip balm include after your morning and nighttime routines, as well as whenever you head outside. Desert Essence's Lip Protection collection features plant-powered treatments that keep the lips luscious in the face of different climate conditions.
Desert Essence Lip Rescue Ultra Hydrating - Shea Butter
Soothe dry, cracked lips with this blend of botanical moisturizers, natural waxes and plant extracts. Organic shea butter and organic beeswax replenish the moisture barrier as ingredients such as rosemary oil and ginkgo biloba help to relieve dryness.
Desert Essence Lip Rescue Moisturizing - Jojoba Oil Lip Balm
This minty fresh formula harnesses vitamin E, jojoba oil and aloe to soften the lips while sealing in hydration with organic beeswax. One application leaves you with soothed, luscious lips.
Desert Essence Lip Rescue Therapeutic - Tea Tree Oil Lip Balm
Treat your lips with this therapeutic balm where tea tree oil with antiseptic properties targets bacteria while nourishing vitamin E, aloe vera and organic beeswax soften and protect cracked areas. The result is ultimate comfort for your lips with a cool spearmint-peppermint flavor.
Step 4: Improve Air Humidity
Your home and office can be drying on the skin and lips, especially if you're near a heating unit. A cool-mist humidifier helps replenish the humidity in the air, which, in turn, helps your lip retain hydration. If you breathe through your mouth while sleeping, running a humidifier at night can also help replenish the drying effects mouth breathing has on your lips.
Chapped lips are extremely common during winter when you're faced with harsh winds, cold air and drying indoor heat. Keep them nourished and soft with these simple winter lip care tips — and remember to stock up on Desert Essence Lip Protection that blends botanical extracts and pure essential oils.