What’s the first thing that comes to mind when you hear the word “lips”?
You may think: kissing, smiling, or cosmetic lip balm products, right?
Well, believe it or not, your lips play a much more important role in your body than just kissing and smiling.
Not to mention, they’re one of your most visible body parts.
But have you ever stopped and thought about the importance of your lips?
Or what it would be like if you didn’t have lips?
You'd probably look a little different. But not much would change, right?
Wrong!
According to research, our lips house a number of muscles, nerves, and blood vessels, all of which play a huge role in our facial expressions, chewing, speaking, and intimacy.
And as luck would have it, your lips also work as a mirror of your body signaling when something deeper is going wrong. In other words, you can tell a lot about your health from the appearance of your lips.
So what exactly are our lips telling us when they’re not looking full and healthy?
Chapped lips: what it means
When it’s cold outside, the first thing we do is cover our body up with a coat, scarf, gloves, socks, and hat. Our lips are usually the last thing we think of to protect in colder weather.
In fact, according to Melissa Piliang, a dermatologist MD, “The cold weather has a significant effect on our body, and that includes our lips… Plus, keep in mind that when you go out into the cold you may take steps to cover the rest of your body. But too often, your mouth is one of the last things you cover. Sometimes you might not even do it at all, leaving you lips exposed to those harsher winter conditions.”
Just think about it… Your lips are constantly being exposed to all environments, temperatures, and climates, making them vulnerable to getting dried out, chapped, and swollen.
And it’s all because the skin on your lips is completely different from the rest of the skin on your face and body.
Dr. Melissa Piliang said it best, “Lips are a special type of skin that is very thin and delicate –– which means they really do require some extra TLC… Our lips dry out 10 times faster than the rest of the skin on our face, so it’s really important to use extra protection.”
For the most part, chapped lips are caused by drier and colder weather, but that’s not all. They can even be affected by the UV rays of the sun and by extreme wind.
But there are other reasons your lips might get crusty and dried out, and guess what? The weather isn’t always to blame.
For example: Dehydration can cause extreme dry lips and may even cause them to chap.
Even nervous habits, or habits in general, could be the reason your lips are dried out or chapped, like:
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Constantly licking your lips
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Biting your lips
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Picking at your lips
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Chewing on metal
Now the health of our lips goes beyond chapped, crusty, and dried out. Some people experience blisters, tingling, burning, itching, and/or swollen lips.
Again, extreme weather could be a factor for the symptoms mentioned above.
For example: prolonged exposure to sunshine could burn your lips. Think sunburn, which may cause blisters and/or cold sores.
But other reasons may be linked to underlying health issues, like:
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Food sensitivities
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Actinic Cheilitis –– a precancerous condition that turns one or both lips dry and scaly.
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Allergic reactions
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Yeast infections
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Reactions to certain pharmaceutical drugs
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Reactions to certain lip products
And let’s not forget that whenever our body is fighting off a cold or virus, our lips may break out with cold sores from a fever or become chapped from dehydration. This is because everything in our body is connected.
When our immune system is down, our body is more susceptible to illnesses and infections such as the herpes simplex virus (a scary name for cold sores or fever blisters).
Even detox diets and supplements could affect our lips.
So how do we take care of our lips naturally?
How to take care of your lips
As we mentioned earlier, weather and environmental toxins can greatly affect the health and appearance of our lips.
So what do we do?
Here are a few tips that may help protect your lips, no matter the season or habits you might have.
1. Don’t lick your lips
We get it, when our lips suddenly feel dry, the first thing we want to do is lick them to bring back moisture. It’s only natural to assume that by wetting your lips, you're preventing them from getting dried out, right?
The truth is, the more you lick your lips, the more you dry them out. This is because our saliva evaporates very quickly, and when it does, it makes our lips dry out much faster than before you licked your lips in the first place.
In fact, according to Dr. Melissa Piliang, “Once you put saliva on your lips it actually makes them dry out faster, making your lips even more dry overall… Plus, the enzymes that are in saliva that are meant to digest food are irritating to the lips.”
2. Don’t bite or pick your lips
As for biting and picking your lips… Well, it not only irritates them but it prevents them from healing, thus causing more damage.
In fact, the more you bite and pick your lips, the more damage you do to the muscles and nerves found in your lips. Not to mention, biting your lips not only dries them out from excessive saliva, but you also create more loose skin, which then entices you to want to pick at them.
If the skin on your lips is broken and cracked, bacteria can set in and cause infections like yeast infection or the herpes simplex virus.
Thankfully, these illnesses clear up within a couple of weeks, but they can be painful and annoyingly impossible to cover up.
3. Don’t chew on metal
Chewing on metal actually irritates the sensitive skin on your lips and can be harmful for your teeth as well. In fact, metal should never enter your mouth, unless of course you have braces or other dental-correcting apparatuses.
4. Drink plenty of water
If your lips are chapped and dried out, then you may be dehydrated. The best way to moisturize your lips is from within.
And since our body is mostly made up of water, it would make sense that chapped lips would be the first sign that you’re in need of some water and electrolytes.
And we don’t mean just drinking water when it’s hot outside. It’s important to drink plenty of water even during the winter. Just because you don’t feel hot or sweaty, doesn't mean your body doesn’t need water.
So stay hydrated if you want to prevent crusty or chapped lips.
5. Apply SPF lip balms in the sunshine
Exposing your body to sunshine is a great way to get vitamin D. But too much sunshine, whether it's in the summer, winter, spring, or fall, can highly affect your lips…. and not in a good way.
If you want to protect your lips from developing blisters or becoming chapped, you need to apply lip balms that offer protection from the sun's powerful UV rays.
Non-irritating SPF 30 lip balms that contain Titanium oxide or Zinc oxide are great options for lip protection.
6. Steer clear from camphor, menthol, and eucalyptus
Contrary to what you might have heard, these three ingredients actually dry out your skin.
We know, it might not seem like it. After all, when you first apply these ingredients to your lips, they feel soothing. But the truth is, researchers warn people not to apply these ingredients to wounds or damaged skin.
Which means, if your lips are already cracked and chapped, applying these ingredients could cause further damage and pain.
7. Apply high-quality lip balms everyday
Strangely enough, our lips have absolutely no sweat glands, which means it’s impossible for them to create their own moisture.
This may explain why they dry out so easily. Thankfully, that’s what lip balms and lip oils were created for.
Applying high-quality lip balms actually lock in moisture and help prevent cracking, splitting, and chapped lips.
They also help heal cracked lips as well, but the key is to find lip balms that are filled with organic, high-quality ingredients, and here’s why…
It’s inevitable that you’re going to lick your lips at some point, and you want to be sure that you’re not ingesting harsh chemicals that can disrupt your overall health.
Thankfully, as luck would have it, there’s a new lip balm that has been getting rave reviews across the globe.
Introducing…
CBD lip balms
Ok, ok, we know. CBD is in practically everything and everywhere, but hear us out for a minute.
According to Grentchen Frieling, MD, triple-board certified dermatopathologist, “With a well-made CBD lip balm, the CBD oil will seal moisture in your lips, preventing them from becoming dry or flaky… “
She also added that, “CBD can help skin stabilize free radicals and [better protect itself from] overexposure to the elements… It can also help reduce redness and irritation around the lip area, and can be helpful if you are experiencing cold sores, the aftermath of allergies, or have inflamed lips due to a dehydrated epidermis.”
But don’t just take Dr. Grentchen Frieling’s word for it. Scientific studies also show that CBD contains pretty potent antimicrobial and antibacterial effects.
In fact, Mark Blaskovich, PhD, senior research officer at the IMB’s (Institute for Molecular Bioscience) Centre for Superbug Solutions from the University of Queensland in Australia, made this statement:
“Given Cannabidiol’s documented anti-inflammatory effects, existing safety data in humans, and potential for varied delivery routes, it is a promising new antibiotic worth further investigation… The combination of inherent antimicrobial activity and potential to reduce damage caused by the inflammatory response to infections is particularly attractive.”
In one study, Mark Blaskovich tested CBD against various bacteria, “including bacteria that have become resistant to the most commonly used antibiotics... In every case, CBD had a very similar potency to that of common antibiotics.”
He went on to say that, “we looked at how quickly the CBD killed the bacteria. It's quite fast, within 3 hours, which is pretty good. Vancomycin (vancocin) kills over 6 - 8 hours.”
And he found that “CBD is much less likely to cause resistance than the existing antibiotics.”
While it’s still unknown how CBD is able to kill antibiotic resistant bacteria, these study findings are quite thought provoking to say the least.
Other studies, led by Mark Blaskovich, showed that pure topical CBD was able to treat skin infections on mice within 48 hours. While it didn’t kill all the bacteria on the mice, it did so more than common antibiotics.
But in order for your lips to receive CBD’s amazing therapeutic properties, you need to purchase high-quality CBD lip balms.
Purchasing high-quality CBD lip balms
Dr. Grentchen Frieling stated, “Benefits from CBD products depend on how much of the mixture’s composition is made up of CBD and how much the marketing plays up the presence of CBD…”
So it’s imperative that you look for reputable companies that focus on the following:
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American grown hemp that's free from pesticides, herbicides, insecticides, GMOs, and other harmful contaminants.
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Contains only organic or natural ingredients and lists all ingredients on the label of the product.
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Steers clear from synthetic or harmful extraction methods
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Has all their products thoroughly third-party tested
In the end, the health of our lips is often overlooked and taken for granted. However, it’s great to know that there are some natural, highly effective products out there that can help restore our lip health and even address some of the internal health issues that might be causing our lip problems in the first place.
Thankfully, lip balms infused with CBD can be highly effective in relieving pain, inflammation, irritation, and bacteria. Just be sure you pay close attention to the safety and quality of your CBD lip balm before you apply them to your lips.
