Chapped Lips? Here’s The Lip Care Step Your Dermat Wants You To Skip

By Trisha Chawla  

 
So you wore your liquid lipstick all night and woke up to dry, flaky lips. You make your way to your dresser, grab that chocolate-scented lip scrub and go to town. A perfect remedy that tastes like the dessert you skipped last night, right? Think again.  

Dermatologists all over the globe have been advising the scrub-obsessed that exfoliating your lips can do more harm than good. It’s not like exfoliation is bad as a practice. But the reason it’s not recommended for your pout is because the skin on your lips is very different from your body. “The stratum corneum, which is the protective layer of skin on your lips is much thinner than the skin on your body. It is practically devoid of melanin, collagen or oil glands,” explains dermatologist Dr Jaishree Sharad.   
 

 Scrubbing it down 
“When you scrub your lips, you remove the protective layer of the skin that is already thin by nature. This comprises your skin’s barrier and makes the lips more susceptible to chapping or dryness. And because your lips don’t have sebaceous glands that secrete oil to keep your skin hydrated naturally, this can put you into a cycle and lead to more dryness,” says Sharad. The long list of concerns doesn’t end there. While most of us exfoliate our lips to reveal baby pink lips, lip scrubs do few favours. Sharad says, “Exfoliation can cause microinjuries to the capillaries in the lips that lead to darkening/pigmentation.”  
 
Show some lip love 
So if you’re not scrubbing away at the dead skin, how do you ensure your lipstick glides on easily? Sharad says, “Avoid lip balms with menthol or fragrance and steer clear of lip plumpers that are packed with capsaicin, which is chemical derived from red chilli peppers to give that tingling effect.”  
 
She also recommends you become more conscious of your everyday habits. “Licking your lips and wearing long-lasting lipsticks can lead to dryness too,” says Sharad. So unless that slice of pizza is truly lip-smacking, it’s a big no.  
 
Instead, apply balms which contain ingredients like lanolin, hyaluronic acid, shea butter, jojoba oil, aloe vera or dimethicone. These will prevent dryness and chapping that leads you to use a lip scrub. Now that your lip care collection needs an upgrade, here are our favourite balms: