chapped lips

It’s the holiday season, and harmattan has once again filled the air. For a lot of reasons, the harmattan season isn’t so friendly, and it makes us question the quality of care we give to our skin. One part of the body you don’t want harmattan ruining for you is your lips.

The lips are very delicate parts of the human body. One reason why most people pay attention to their lips is that the face is the first part of your body that people are drawn to when they see you.

For ladies, wearing lipstick is one way to look beautiful, plus every lady wants kissable lips whether your lips are thick or thin. The lips and the area surrounding it are so sensitive that if not properly cared for you may begin to notice vertical lines and dryness that may cause discomfort while a person is eating or talking.

As we begin to age, our lips become prone to dryness, hypersensitive, may crack easily, may easily become flaky or chapped.

Did you know that the surface of your lip is an extension of what coats the inside of your mouth, which means it is a mucous membrane?

While your skin has a protective layer that keeps it moist, your lips do not have that. There are plenty of factors that may be responsible for lip dryness, chapped lips, irritation, or cracks on the lips.

Some of these factors include a change in weather condition, season, and climate, the use of low-quality beauty products for your lips, poor circulation of blood around the lip area, lack of moisturization, smoking, and even certain allergic reactions.

When you engage in conversations with people they are attention most of the time is focused on your lips and when you have healthy good looking lips, you’re considered beautiful and attractive which is a feeling everyone craves to have.

Engaging in unhealthy habits like smoking and not drinking enough water can leave you with a dry, chapped, and dark looking lips.

This would draw unnecessary negative attention towards you and also make you feel very uncomfortable especially during the harmattan season when your body get easily dehydrated because of the dryness of the air.

When it comes to lip care, there are various methods you can adopt. Taking care of your lips does not entail only one routine, and it isn’t something that you do once and relax about.

In this article, we’ll be looking at the different methods of maintaining healthy lips, especially in this dry, harmattan season.

Hydration

Before now, I have always wondered why it is difficult for the lips to retain moisture. And then I discovered that the flesh on the lips does not have oil glands, that is why it is easy for your lips to become cracked and dry which is why one of the most important things when it comes to lip care is hydration (drinking enough water).

Staying hydrated is not only important for your lips but the general well being of your skin. Water does a lot of good to the human body especially during this harmattan season when it is very easy for your body to lose moisture.

Eat healthily

Eating healthy is one of the ways to maintain a healthy good looking set of lips during the harmattan season make sure your diet is balanced, and it consists of fresh leafy greens, fruits, veggies, nuts and healthy oils.

Eating clean and healthy will not only give you good looking lips it would improve the quality of your skin and your overall health.

Get a lip balm

If you’re already beginning to experience chaps and cracks on your lips, a lip balm might just be all the solution you need. Lip balms come in different styles and consistency.

You can get them in gel form; you can get one with a creamy base, and even some coloured ones. Making use of a lip balm width sun protection properties would help you lock in moisture for longer.

Lip balms are usually very affordable. However, many products may not actually be healthy for you which is why it is better to look for a lip balm that contains vitamin-E or better still if you have vitamin-E capsules, you could break one and massage it into your lip every night before you go to bed.

One advantage of having lip balms is that they are easy to carry so whenever you feel the need to use one you can easily pull it out of your pocket.

Besides both guys and girls can use lip balms because most of them are colourless so sharing one with your sister pending when you get yours isn’t a bad idea.

In a situation where you do not have access to a lip balm, you can make use of a tiny portion of a neutral coloured body or face cream like vaseline and oil your lips with it pending when you have access to an actual lip balm.

Exfoliate

If you have dry lips, it would be healthy if you exfoliate the dead skin and begin to care for the fresh skin that will be revealed.

To peel dead skin from your lips, all you have to do is brush your lips while you brush your teeth. This way the bristles of your toothbrush will help get rid of the dead skin on your lips. However, make sure you do not rub your toothbrush on dry lips.

Apply a little amount of water to your lips so that you do not get hurt. You can also exfoliate your lips using your finger, all you also have to do is apply some amount of water then rub back and forth with your fingers.

Do not forget that after exfoliating your lips, you must keep them moist by applying little products so that they do not crack or dry up again.

Use lip gloss

Lip gloss is a beauty product that almost every lady who wears makeup has one good thing about lip gloss is that it leaves your lip moisturised and gives it a very nice shine if you masturbate lip gloss opt for one with vitamin E.

Use Shea butter

If there is any beauty product whose value has been underestimated, it is shea butter. Even though beautiful women in history like the queen Cleopatra of Egypt used shea butter, lots of ladies in the 21st century still do not know how important shea butter is.

Applying a tiny amount of shea butter on your lips will keep it moisturised and healthy during this dry season. Shea butter also repairs flaked and dry lips.

Unhealthy habits that must be avoided in harmattan

Some practices you may need to stop during the harmattan season is licking of your lips and sleeping with makeup on. It is not healthy to go to bed wearing lipstick or any makeup as it could be damaging to your skin.

Always ensure to properly clean off every makeup and apply a tiny amount of lip balm or shea butter before going to bed. Licking your lips would strip them off every bit of oil or moisture, and that would cause dryness which is what you’re trying to avoid.

To repair cracked lips or to improve the colour of your lips, you can continuously rub a finger on them or brush your lips while brushing your teeth to improve blood circulation. This would leave your lips looking brighter and fuller.

You can also put a black tea bag in hot water and run the water on your lips to improve circulation. These are the few tips we have on lip care, enjoy the holiday season and remember to stay hydrated during the harmattan. Happy Holidays!