Exfoliate your lips to remove dead skin cells.
Exfoliating dead skin cells on your lips helps you achieve a rosy, plump, healthy, and attractive pout. With smoother lips due to the absence of dead skin cells, lip cosmetics such as lipstick, lip liner, lip balm, and lip gloss will undoubtedly have a longer-lasting effect on your beautiful lips. Excessive dead skin on the lips is also a direct cause of cracked and dry lips. Every day after brushing your teeth, gently rub a soft cloth or towel on your lips for about 10 seconds. Alternatively, you can use a soft-bristled toothbrush instead of a towel to exfoliate dead skin more easily. Be careful not to scrub too hard as it may damage or cause bleeding on your lips.
Adding leafy greens to your diet can prevent lips from becoming dry and flaky. Foods like dark green leafy vegetables, bananas, apples, pears, animal liver, salmon, tuna, milk, and eggs are rich in vitamin B2. They quickly supply vitamin B2 to the lips, preventing them from becoming dry, cracked, or peeling. Boldsky recommends including leafy greens and other fruits and vegetables in your daily diet. Leafy greens are considered superfoods because they contain all essential nutrients such as vitamins, minerals, calcium, iron, and fiber. Leafy greens are packed with beneficial vitamins for health, especially vitamin A, which aids in healing wounds. Eating leafy greens will help heal dry, cracked lips, even to the point of bleeding. Remember to drink plenty of water to facilitate metabolism. In addition to preventing dry skin and lips, leafy greens also help with weight loss, reduce the risk of diabetes, increase blood pressure, and prevent cancer. But how do you consume more leafy greens every day? Some studies suggest that consuming 2-3 servings of leafy greens (cooked, steamed, fried, sautéed, or raw) per day is best for adults.
Leafy greens contain many beneficial vitamins for health, especially vitamin A, which aids in healing wounds.
When your lips feel dry and cracked, the reflex is to lick them. But right after licking them, your lips feel even drier, so you lick them again. Licking your lips multiple times a day worsens the dryness. This cycle causes your lips to lose moisture as saliva evaporates quickly and reduces lip moisture. Additionally, saliva may contain food particles, exacerbating the severity of dry, cracked lips.
Our lips lack sweat and oil glands, making them very sensitive. Therefore, our lips have very low moisture. In cold, dry weather, the moisture on our lips evaporates quickly, causing them to crack. Many people mistakenly think their lips are dry due to lack of water and try to moisturize them by licking. However, each time you lick your lips, you remove moisture from them, making them even drier and more prone to cracking. Therefore, to prevent cracked lips, you should avoid licking them.
Exercise your lips to avoid them becoming dry and cracked.
Dry, cracked lips are a symptom where the lips become dry, flaky, or cracked. Cracks may appear on the surface of both upper and lower lips, which can be painful and may bleed. In most cases, cracked lips are not a serious condition and do not pose a health risk. However, dry, cracked lips cause inconvenience in daily activities and can diminish confidence. Exercising the lips may sound unconventional, but it is essential because the lips are also a part of the body. Lip exercises will help you have firm, smooth lips. After exfoliating, stand in front of a mirror, pout your lips, and then relax. Perform this movement 20 to 30 times a day to have healthy lips.
Use coconut oil
The biggest advantage of coconut oil is its moisturizing effect. This makes applying coconut oil an ideal solution for cracked lips. Lips are always a particularly sensitive area to moisture loss because of their thin skin and frequent exposure to environmental factors, more so than other areas of the skin. In medicine, coconut oil also has a primary role in treating burns. This is thanks to the moisture of coconut oil as well as its pain-reducing and anti-inflammatory properties. These similar effects can translate into benefits when applied to dry and cracked lips. In addition, coconut oil is also considered a softening agent. Softening agents inherently moisturize without being cosmetics, helping to retain moisture in the skin, so they tend to work best immediately after bathing. However, everyone can apply them throughout the day if needed, especially considering applying them to lips, where moisture loss occurs more quickly than in other parts of the body.
Use honey
Honey is a sweet liquid produced from flower nectar, collected and produced by the unique process of bees. The flavor and color of honey depend on the type of flower they have gathered nectar from. It contains almost no fiber, fat, and protein. It also contains less than 1% of the daily required vitamins and minerals. Light-colored honeys contain a large amount of bioactive plant compounds and antioxidants. These compounds are even higher in darker-colored honeys. Honey has moisturizing and healing abilities, making it an ideal treatment for dry, cracked lips, keeping lips soft and plump. Honey has antibacterial properties, helping to prevent infections from developing in cracked lips. It also has high antioxidant properties, eliminating harmful cells, reducing skin darkening, stimulating the production of new cells, making lips always shiny and rosy. The most common and effective way to treat chapped lips is to use honey.
Use pumpkin seed oil
Pumpkin seed oil for dry lips works quickly due to its extremely high nutrient content of fatty acids, provitamin A, vitamin E, carbohydrates, and protein, which nourish, repair damage, soften lips, quickly treat dry lips. Pumpkin seed oil has extremely high levels of lycopene and beta-carotene. These two antioxidants both act against cell damage, helping to increase the natural protective oil layer of the lips, enhancing moisture retention, and minimizing the effects of weather changes on delicate lip skin, quickly treating dry lips with pumpkin seed oil. Furthermore, the beta-carotene content, precursor to vitamin A, helps boost immunity, push back bacteria, fungi, harmful bacteria that can affect the lips through dry cracks. Pumpkin seed oil is rich in vitamin E, also supporting antioxidant effects, preventing dry, chapped lips, effectively retaining moisture for the lips, reducing the common occurrence of dry lips and lip wrinkles. Pumpkin seed oil is also very rich in unsaturated fatty acids, protein, and many vitamins good for health, supplementing complete nutrition to keep the lips healthy, vibrant from within. Every time you eat pumpkin seeds, you will notice your lips become as red as if you were wearing lipstick, that is pumpkin seed oil. The benefits of pumpkin seed oil are numerous, but for the lips, pumpkin seed oil is like a special lip balm. Every day, eat 5 - 7 pumpkin seeds steamed with honey, after a week you will feel your lips become smoother and naturally redder.
Cucumber, consisting of 95% water, is an excellent hydrating food that cools and detoxifies the body. It alleviates internal heat symptoms and helps maintain skin moisture, preventing dryness and sunburn. Vitamin C in cucumber enhances skin health, ensuring smooth, moisturized lips. Moreover, its high potassium content supports blood pressure regulation, reducing the likelihood of stroke and cardiovascular diseases.
Cucumber is a powerhouse of hydration, with 95% water content, making it an effective coolant and detoxifier. It relieves internal heat symptoms and aids in skin hydration, combating dryness and sunburn. Vitamin C in cucumber promotes skin radiance, ensuring supple, hydrated lips. Furthermore, its abundant potassium content regulates blood pressure, mitigating stroke risk and improving heart function.