Chapped lips can be a miserable thing in winter. Your lips are in pain, the skin peels off constantly, and it's hard to get lipstick to go on evenly or stay on. What can you do to avoid chapped lips in winter?


Steps

1. Drink plenty of fluids. Your lips chap due to a lack of moisture in your lips and your body. The first step is to stay hydrated in the winter by drinking enough fluids. This will help your lips have enough moisture to decrease the chance of them becoming chapped in the first place.
2. Moisturize by using lip balm. In winter, it is easier for the moisture in your lips to be taken away by the elements. This is because winter is generally drier than summer in most climates. There is less moisture in the air. So, you have to protect your lips. The best way to do this is to purchase a lip balm especially for this purpose. The best is Blistik, which comes in a tube as a solid like Chapstick. Chapstick tends to be waxy and doesn't protect as well.
3. Avoid the dry cold. Exposing your lips to the harsh winter weather may cause chapping. Stay indoors when possible, especially if it's windy or bitterly cold.
4. Purchase and use a humidifier. Even indoors in the winter, the air is dry. Purchase a humidifier, which will put the moisture back into the air in your household. Some heaters have humidifiers attached to them, so you can change the setting to be more humid.
5. Wear something over your face, like a scarf. You can wrap the scarf around you so that it covers your lips to avoid exposing your lips to the winter weather.
6. Avoid licking your lips. If it's windy outside, the wind will remove the moisture from your lips even more quickly if your lips are wet.
7. The higher the elevation, the worse the winter weather will be on your lips. The air is dryer and thinner in higher elevations. Also, there is more sun exposure.
8. Use a lip balm which provides protection from the sun. If you will be at higher elevations, and even in general at lower ones, you need to protect your lips from the sun as well as the cold and wind. Use a lip balm with an SPF factor of 15 or above (Blistik has an SPF of 15). The sun acts to dry out your lips just like the dry air and wind.
9. Moisturize chapped lips to encourage healing. It is hard to get them to heal. Keep them moisturized as much as possible and avoid as much exposure to the elements until they are healed.

Tips

• Some lipsticks now contain protection for your lips. They have added moisturizers and some even have an SPF factor included. These are the best lipsticks to use in the winter.

Warnings

• If your lips are dry and cracked, don't lick them. This will just make things worse as the water leaves your lips and dries them out more. Instead, lock the moisture in with a lip balm.