Chapped Lips Hacks: 5 Ways To Get Softer Lips

By Olivia Emily

9 months ago

Dermatologist approved


It’s a truth universally acknowledged that a person existing in winter must be in want of a cure for chapped lips. But this doesn’t have to be the case: here are five ways to get softer lips and beat chapped lips before they arrive, dermatologist approved.

How To Cure Chapped Lips

Avoid Flavour & Fragrance

The flavouring in your lip balm can actually be the culprit for your chapped lips, says Dr. Shah on TikTok. ‘Sometimes it’s the flavour making you lick your lips more often, causing dermatitis, or ingredients like menthol and fragrances that directly irritate your lips,’ he says. Goodbye Carmex, my old friend.

Use Hyaluronic Acid

Hyaluronic acid is ‘like a gigantic sponge for water,’ says Dr. Scott Walter on TikTok. For softer lips overnight, he recommends spraying water on the lips, and then applying a hyaluronic acid serum on top (he uses one from Trader Joe’s with a ‘very simple formula’), before locking it all in with classic Vaseline.

Lip Basting

Another TikTok dermatologist, Dr Shereen Idriss, recommends glycolic acid instead. Firstly, put some glycolic acid on your lips, but make sure you use a serum with only five to 10 percent. Plus, ‘if you have a history of coldsores, avoid,’ Dr Shereen says. ‘If you have active irritations, I would be very careful. But if they’re just dry like this, the reason why glycolic acid helps is because it makes your skin smoother on your lips. It helps your mucus membranes descomate nicely, instead of scrubbing them and making them all rough.’

Next: ‘Take a rich ointment, maybe something with zinc, apply a thick layer on your lips and voila, lip basting,’ she says.

Don’t Scrub

‘Don’t pick at the scale or the skin that’s hanging,’ says Dr Daniel Sugai on TikTok. ‘I know it’s tempting, but the more you pick, the more you break up your skin barrier.’ Instead, rely on your lip treatments and ointments to do the job.

‘The same goes for lip scrubs,’ he says. ‘If your lips are all torn up, don’t tear it up further with a lip scrub. Respect the skin barrier on your face and on your lips.’

Read The Ingredients

Ingredients To Avoid
  • Fragrances
  • Spearmint
  • Steroids
  • Peppermint oil
  • Limonene
@dr.ljmaxfield Dry? Chapped? Cracked? Avoid fragrance, menthol, flavor, essential oils, oxybenzone and other known allergens. These may make things worse. Thankfully there are some amazing options and they keep getting better and better! Fragrance-free, minimal allergens, hydrating soothing ingredients and an occlusive component. Good products to pick biossance Squalane + Rose Vegan Lip Balm. Great for those who want gloss or have allergies to bees wax. paulaschoice Lipscreen SPF 50 sunbum Mineral SPF 30 Sunscreen Lip Balm vaselinebrand White Petrolatum: Make sure you get a fragrance-free version larocheposayusa Cicaplast Lips Hydration Restore Lip Balm #lips #chappedlips #lipcare #skincare #skincaretips #skincare101 #chapstick #lipbalm #chapstickaddict #dermatologist ♬ Riptide – Connor Price & Nic D

Ingredients To Look For
  • Squalane
  • Ceramides
  • Plant waxes
  • Shea butter
  • Jojoba
  • Zinc oxide
  • Panthenol
  • White petrolatum

Best Treatments For Chapped Lips

Lip balm