Heal dry and peeling lips!

For as long as I can remember I have suffered from dry, chapped, and peeling lips. Everyday I would wake up to a new layer of dry and hard skin on my lips, and by the end of the day that new layer of skin would be peeled off by myself to reveal red, cut, sore, and inflamed lips. It was not attractive at all.

It became such an annoyance to my life that I ended up going to the doctor to see if anything could be done to help. Unfortunately, that doctor's visit was pointless. They mentioned how it was likely that I had a mild form of  'exfoliative cheilitis' which actually had no cure or any product to help, so I left the doctors surgery with nothing. Since this diagnosis I have googled the condition and I have to stress to you that I must have had a VERY mild form of it because some of the pictures I saw during my search were vile and much worse than what my lips looked like. But still, the condition did seem to outline my problems.

Since this diagnosis, I have tried and tested plenty of natural and chemical products to see if anything would help. And hallelujah, I think I have finally found my cure. I understand that this routine may not work for everyone, but I thought I better blog about the products I used just incase someone wants to try it out.

First off, this may be obvious to some but you must stop licking your lips. I found out when I started this search just how much I unconsciously licked my lips to make them more hydrated. But in fact, by licking your lips you are instead dehydrating them. To avoid myself from licking my lips I made sure to always carry my trusty ol' Vaseline lip balm around with me. If I ever felt the need to lick my lips, I would instead apply Vaseline. I have got to admit, this was surprisingly very hard for me to get use to during the first couple of days. But on day three, I became much more conscious of my lip licking and the use of Vaseline.

The second thing you must do, or should I say you must not do is to peel the dry skin on your lips. Do not touch them! By peeling the skin off is like picking off a scab..... you are not allowing your lips to heal. You may find that over a couple of days the skin will naturally fall off, but this is absolutely fine. I should also mention now that it would be best to start this routine during a period when you haven't got much planned, because having obvious dry skin hanging off your lips is not a great look.

The third and final thing I do is apply castor oil and Vaseline petroleum jelly onto my lips every night to create a lip mask that will help hydrate my lips throughout the night. Castor oil is basically just a vegetable oil that has been claimed to help hair growth, help skin infections, help acne, and help hydrate the skin. And this last point is exactly why I thought it would maybe work well for my lips. Each night I get a cotton bud and dip it into my castor oil bottle and then apply a generous amount to my lips. Fortunately, this oil is odour free, but sometimes you will get a taste of vegetables in your mouth if you accidentally digest a bit. After the oil has been on my lips for about ten minutes I will then add a bit of petroleum and massage it onto my lips with the amount of oil that remains on my lips. Try and do this just before you go to bed so that it hydrates through your sleep. Sometimes, I will even apply a small amount of castor oil onto my lips in the morning as it is a clear substance so it will look like you have just applied some clear lip gloss.

And there we have it, this is my routine to help heal peely lips. It took me about a week to actually start seeing some results, but do persevere because it is totally worth it. I now have smoother lips and I can now even wear matte lipstick for the first time in my life!

x x