The dry truth on lip balm addiction

MANILA, Philippines - It’s no secret that beauty junkies are always on the look out for a high from the latest beauty product — promises of looking magazine-worthy at the swipe of the season’s must-have lip color.

Speaking of lips, there is one particular addiction that has brought about a beauty urban legend: lip balms. There’s been much universal speculation that lip balms are actually infused with ingredients that can be addicting. One may be led to believe this “urban legend” since we have seen those incessant lip-balmers, carrying their flavor of choice, like a pill they need to pop every 20 minutes. One must wonder if their puckers truly are supple, succulent and worthy of true love’s kiss.

Read my lips: it just ain’t so.

What a lot of people don’t know is that some lip balm brands actually have ingredients like salicylic acid in them. As we know from Skincare 101, salicylic acid is a basic acne-fighter that aids in drying up breakouts. In this case, the lip balm initially moisturizes the skin but eventually dries up causing it to flake. Hence, this makes one want to keep reapplying more lip balm, when what one is actually doing is feeding a vicious cycle of soft-then-dry.

Solution? Simple. We need to understand that the skin on our lips is, well, skin, as it is on our face, neck and more. So why not treat it as you would the rest of your face when it comes to moisturizing?

Given that the skin on the lip area is thinner, treat it with extra care. You may use your tried and tested lip balms or dab on some eye cream or oil-based moisturizer instead. Eye creams are oil-based and we actually need all the emollient moisture we can get since our lips age as well. Just avoid creams/moisturizers with retinols, AHAs, BHAs, acids and other ingredients that cause the skin to peel, even in the mildest way.

Through time, smoking and yes, sipping from too many straws, thin out the lips. This is shown through the fine lines and wrinkles that form at the corners of the mouth. So do your lips a favor by saving yourself a few bucks by giving your fave moisturizer some double-duties that your sweet puckers will truly thank you for.

Now, how’s that for lip service?!