Best and Simple Grandma Remedies for Chapped Lips

The term ‘grin and bear it’ was born with the first case of chapped lips. That’s why so many people walk around with a frown on their faces, especially in wintertime, since even the tiniest grin through those cracked and sore lips is almost too painful to bear.

• Few parts of our bodies are more sun-sensitive than our lips, but for some reason, they are the parts we protect the least.
• Children are especially likely to get chapped lips from too much bubble gum, or from running outside to play without drying them off properly after washing.
• Dry, cracked and peeling lips are caused by dry air, too much sun, cold weather, and even by licking your lips.
• People who nervously lick their lips may actually be peeling off the natural protective oils. Also, the moisture from the saliva evaporates quickly, leaving your lips drier than before you licked them.
• Sun-blockers, particularly those containing zinc oxide, provide good protection. Lip screens in stick form are more convenient, but one study found that the more waxy or greasy they are, the greater the tendency to lick them off, removing whatever protection they offer. Liquids or gels absorb better and therefore last longer.
• Even colored lipstick helps, but a sunscreen should be applied for full protection.
• Since it is impossible for millions of people to avoid cold, dry weather entirely, be prepared with plenty of lip balm when the chapped-lip season rolls around.
• A diet high in B-complex vitamins and iron seems to help shield the lips from the elements. Another inside-out preventive measure is lots of fluids. Most people drink enough in the summer, but it’s just as important in the winter. High moisture content in the cells means your lips are less likely to dry out and become chapped.
• Zinc oxide, applied at night, protects lips while you sleep and aids the healing. There are a few old-time products still on the drugstore shelves that contain beeswax and phenol, a combination of ingredients that do a good job of soothing and healing cracked and sore lips.
• Avoid toothpaste until the chapped condition clears up. Some products may increase the dryness and thus aggravate the soreness. Dr. Goodman recommends brushing with baking soda until the lips heal.
• In rural areas, oldsters say that when they are outside in the cold, dry wind without lip protection, they rub their finger across their cheek or along their nose and then across their lips. It works because that transfers some of the protective oil from the skin to the lips – which don’t secrete it themselves. It’s better than nothing. And it works.