Lips are delicate tissue that require special care to stay in good health. Dryness, flakiness, cracked lips, bleeding and cold sores are all telltale signs that indicate poor lip health.

Licking your lips may seem like a quick solution for dry lips, but it actually dehydrates them more. To avoid this mistake, consider investing in lip products with occlusives (such as shea butter, shea oil or oils) along with humectants to provide moisture to the skin and seal in moisture for maximum benefit.

1. Apply Lip Balm

Lip balm is a soft waxy substance you apply to your lips to moisturize, protect from dry air, and ease chapped lips. Having lip balm in your bag or pocket during winter is especially useful, as applying it several times daily is recommended.

Be mindful that using too much lip balm may lead to dependency and prevent your lips from naturally moisturizing themselves. To counter this tendency, avoid licking or biting your lips; while it may feel intuitive to do this when your lips feel dry, doing this actually draws moisture out and exacerbates the situation further.

Instead, it is best to refrain from eating or drinking anything that might aggravate your lips and apply lipstick with natural ingredients such as shea butter, cocoa butter, coconut oil or beeswax that could potentially dry them out.

Apply lip balm the most easily using your fingertips, however small balm applicators are available if preferred. By doing so, these applicators help maintain clean hands that remain free from germs; an alternative to using saliva alone.

Dehydration is another key cause of dry lips, as your body draws from other areas to moisturize your lips when dehydrated, so drinking plenty of water every day is highly advised for healthy lips.

To use lip balm effectively, start by dabbing a small dollop on your index finger of either hand and applying it over both lips with circular motions from one corner to the other. Finally, apply another vertical line across the center of both lips as necessary – but take care not to overdo it! If your lips become chapped over time, use additional product if necessary but not excessively!

2. Massage Your Lips

Your lips accumulate dead skin cells just like the rest of your face, and if these are not exfoliated regularly, you could end up with dry, flaky lips as the delicate skin around your mouth doesn’t contain oil glands that keep it moisturized.

As with facial exfoliation, exfoliating lips is simple with a lip scrub or even just some granulated sugar. But just like facial exfoliation, overdoing it could cause redness, sensitivity or even bleeding on your lips if done too aggressively.

If you’re uncertain which lip exfoliator will best meet your needs, select one marked as gentle and contains moisturizing ingredients such as shea butter or oil – like Sara Happ The Lip Scrub – that contain moisture-restoring elements such as shea butter. Once exfoliation has taken place, add nourishment with some nourishing lip balm.

An effective way to keep lips soft is through massage therapy. Begin by creating a compress using a warm washcloth and placing it over your lips for two minutes; after which gently press your thumb inside of your upper lip while placing your forefinger outside surface of your mouth as part of this massage process for lower lips as well.

If you’ve recently undergone filler treatments, gentle massaging the bumps in your lips to stimulate collagen production and alleviate any puffiness or swelling can help improve overall appearance. Italian Aesthetic Physician Michela Zazzaron advises doing this by rolling them between thumb and forefingers as though you were making Italian pasta.

This easy lip massage uses oxygen and nutrients from blood circulation to stimulate new tissue development, creating plumper lips with increased health and reducing fine lines around your mouth. Try it today; you will be amazed at its amazing effects!

3. Scrub Your Lips

As our lips lack sweat glands, they’re more prone to becoming dry and chapped than other areas of the body. To keep them hydrated and soft, gently exfoliate a few times each week using either store-bought lip scrubs or homemade versions from your beauty supply store or make one yourself at home.

Sara Happ’s Pink Grapefruit Lip Scrub ($26) is an extremely moisturizing solution, using ultra-fine sugar crystals and jojoba and grape seed oils to slough away dryness. We also highly recommend Wonderskin’s Wonder Blading 3-in-1 Lip Scrub ($19), which exfoliates, moisturizes, and preps lips ready for lipstick application all in one handy package!

Doing your own lip scrub at home is easy: mix equal parts brown sugar and coconut or olive oil until they form a paste, or try mixing in peppermint essential oil for an invigorating experience. Raw honey’s natural antibacterial properties help brighten discolored lips while its antibacterial properties also fight bacteria growth naturally. Make sure to exfoliate once every week followed up by moisturizing lip balm or lipstick!

If you regularly exfoliate your lips, considering using a lip oil with occlusives may help. Occlusives form a barrier on the lips to keep moisture from simply evaporating off – our favorites include shea butter, cocoa powder and jojoba oil as options; there may also be others available.

Picking, peeling and over-licking lips are behaviors to avoid in order to prevent dry and chapped lips; make an effort not to do these activities! Also consider carrying lip balm or moisturizer throughout the day along with an SPF protection cream in case an accident should arise that requires medical intervention.

4. Drink Water

Lip skin is thin and sensitive, which means it shows the first signs of dehydration immediately. Drinking eight glasses of water every day is one of the best ways to keep lips soft and healthy; unfortunately many don’t follow this recommendation due to preferring other beverages like coffee for breakfast, iced tea or juice during the day, or wine with dinner – but these can all damage our lips greatly!

Consuming liquids that increase saliva production causes lips to dry out further, making them even more flaky and vulnerable to chapping and peeling. One effective solution for keeping lips hydrated is using a lip balm formulated with shea butter, coconut or olive oil and vitamin E which will seal in moisture and protect the delicate skin on lips.

Foods high in sodium should also be avoided to help hydrate lips, such as lean proteins (such as chicken and fish), vegetables and fruits, complex carbs like whole grains etc.

After applying a high-quality lip balm, it’s also beneficial to regularly exfoliate with a natural exfoliant like aloe vera gel to remove dead skin cells causing flakiness while simultaneously improving circulation and increasing lip health.

If you want to show your lips some extra love, look for a high-quality lip balm made of ingredients such as shea butter, coconut or olive oil, beeswax, and vitamin E that is safe for ingestion. Products known to cause irritation like camphor should also be avoided. In addition, consider investing in a quality lip brush to remove dead skin buildup on lips; or use a toothbrush and wet washcloth gently rub off any dry or dead skin buildup and improve circulation by gently brushing against them both ways.https://www.youtube.com/embed/xUMfesBDqfA