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If you are one of those who keep their make-up boxes filled with lip food just to let them appear perfect, then you fall in the world’s majority.

Lip glosses, lipsticks, lip balms are good but they aren’t good enough. Infact when one can go for natural home remedies then why try cosmetics? After all, nothing beats nature! Chapped lips is one of those conditions which can be easily treated by simple home remedies.

The condition mainly arises in winters when the lips get cracked and sometimes bleed. Lips have a naturally produced oil cover which keeps them protected and healthy. Where, removal of the layer or evaporation of moisture leads to cracking conditions and sometimes can be intense enough to cause pain. Sufferers can try out some of the remedies below, for they require a little effort and are harmless.

Best Home Remedies for Chapped Lips

Water – The Ultimate Solution

70% of human body is composed of water, and ignorance in maintaining water levels within body leads to various problems, one of them being chapped lips. A lot of water evaporates through skin and water scarcity immediately shows over lips (due to sensitive skin) by chapping.

So, whenever you feel your lips getting chapped, it is a direct indication of low water level. Hence, drink as much water as possible! Actually, it is usually adviced to intake atleast 7 glasses of water in a day which is very important for a healthy and perfect body.

Exfoliation

Exfoliation is process of removing dead skin, which is essential to let the skin breathe. People usually exfoliate their facial skin, but forget to work over their lips. Chapped lips are in die need of exfoliation as they are layered with dead skin. The process can be easily performed at home by using certain easily-available material. Grab some sugar from kitchen and mix it with either olive oil or honey.

Apply the scrub over your lips and massage gently for few seconds using finger tips. Make sure it is a gentle massage, else one might end up hurting lips. Let the mixture stay for a minute or two and then gently wash it with a little water. Immediately apply a good lip balm over the lips. DO not leave your lips bare after exfoliation, the new skin requires a little care.

An easier method can be to use your toothbrush. Wet the toothbrush a little and gently massage it over lips. This is the easiest way for exfoliation and also enhances blood circulation. Don’t forget to end the process with a lip balm.

Avoid Licking Your Lips

Though in case of dry lips, licking them feels relieving. But the relief is temporary, in no time the lips would feel even more dry. Lips are covered with a natural oil layer, where licking lips removes the oil leaving behind a layer of saliva.

Saliva evaporates in no time leading to chapping and drying. Also, saliva has certain enzymes which are required for food digestion in mouth. On licking lips, these enzymes worsen the irritable situation. Hence, avoid licking your lips.

Lip Balms

To overcome the problem of dry lips, it is very important to keep them oily and equally important is to prevent them from drying. Lip balms can be used to keep lips wet and alive. Though one of the most famous lip foods is petroleum jelly. The main reason for using a lip balm or petroleum jelly is to keep lips moisture packed.

Since loss of moisture is a basic reason of chapping, keeping moisture locked will be a great help. Chapping gets worst in wind or sun, make a point to use a lip balm or a glossy lipstick while going out. Matte lip colours should be avoided as they add to dryness.

From the Kitchen

A lot of things available in kitchen can be used to cure chapping. Coconut oil, castor oil or olive oil can be used over lips to get them relieved. The basic idea behind the remedies is to add moisture to lips. Milk cream is an equally beneficial option. Apply milk cream all over lips (make sure you cover lip corners as they are very sensitive to chapping and are really painful) and let it work for about 10 minutes.

Remove the cream with a little water and let the lips retain the oiliness of cream. Cucumber also has remarkable results or chapped lips. Apply cucumber juice over lips and let it work for 15-20 minutes, after which it can be washed away with water. Any of the above technique can be used and should be repeated several times a day for better results.

Before Going To Sleep

Bedtime is the duration where body relaxes and repairs itself. It is the best time one can provide to lips for repair. But the duration is about 8 hours, hence it is important to use some kind of lip food before going to bed. One is free to use either a good quality lip balm, glycerin, coconut oil or any of the above mentioned products. Though honey and milk cream seem a little irritating to go to bed with, petroleum jelly or glycerin seem to be a better idea.

Drinking water, exfoliation and keeping lips moisture packed are the three basic fundamental steps required to get rid of chapped lips. The entire process would take hardly half an hour in a full day and the deal doesn’t seem bad to get a sigh of relief. The above mentioned remedies help in improving the conditions but avoiding any further problems is also important. Avoiding irritatbles such as acidic food like citrus family (orange juice) prevents the situation from worsening as they add to irritation and pain.

In case chapping is at it’s worst, the above remedies might not help alot. Since all the above remedies are home based, they are aimed at extremely satisfiable results with no side effects. Though the result might come up slowly but it would not be accompanied with any other problem. Worst cases require medication at a faster pace and hence should directly seek a doctor.