7 Ways to Heal Severely Dry, Chapped Lips in a Few Days
Your dazzling smile is the feature that adds to your attractiveness. However, dealing with severely dry, cracked lips, or even bleeding lips, may deprive you of the confidence that your smile brings. Your lips' skin is thinner and more delicate than the rest of your body. Moreover, it has no oil glands. That is why this area of skin becomes prone to moisture loss and rapid drying at any season of the year.
Table of Contents
If you need to know how to heal your lips, we prepared a helpful guide to restore their natural and healthy glow with My Dear Design (mydeardesign.com). Here is the dermatologist-approved step-by-step recovery plan that helps heal dry lips in just a few days.
Here are 7 highly effective ways to restore your lips:
1. Seal In Moisture (Find the Best Ointment for Chapped Lips)
Chapstick usually helps with minor dryness on the lips. However, it is not always effective against severely dry lips. Such balms simply cover the skin but fail to moisturise it. The key to healing is locking moisture in with thick and occlusive formulations.
According to dermatologists, the best ointments for chapped lips are petroleum jelly, pure shea butter, lanolin, or healing ointments with ceramides (like CeraVe Healing Ointment). These ingredients form a strong physical barrier that will lock moisture much longer than any waxes do. Put a thick layer of the chosen ointment multiple times during the day and, especially, at night as an overnight lip mask.
2. Gently Exfoliate As Part of Your Soft Lips Routine
Once your lips begin to peel, it is natural to try to remove the extra layer by biting or picking it off. It is extremely counterproductive to do this, as you are damaging the skin barrier even more, causing it to bleed, and slowing down its healing process.
Use the following steps as part of your soft-lips routine: Start with softening the dead skin layer with a washcloth. Press it to your lips for one minute. Then, gently rub your lips with it. Another alternative is to use mild PHA-based lip serum. Apply a thick protective layer of ointment afterwards to help your lips seal in moisture.
3. Remove Irritating Ingredients (Best Way to Get Rid of Cracked Lips)
Unfortunately, there are many commercial lip balms available on the market which seem to relieve dryness but actually worsen the situation and slow down your treatment of cracked lips. If your lip balm tingles or burns after applying it, you should get rid of it immediately.
Irritation of the skin barrier of the lips is caused by the following ingredients: camphor, menthol, phenol, eucalyptus, and artificial fragrances. Use products that are labelled as hypoallergenic to heal your lips properly.
4. Protect Your Lips Outdoors With SPF Lip Balm
Just like the skin of your face, the skin of your lips is very vulnerable to UV radiation. It can quickly burn your delicate lips' skin, causing peeling, dryness, and premature ageing.
Every time you go outdoors, whether sunny or cloudy, it is necessary to apply the broad-spectrum SPF lip balm with SPF 30 or higher to protect your lips from environmental factors and prevent dryness and ageing.
5. Add Humidity to the Air With a Humidifier for Dry Lips
The dry indoor air of your house caused by a heater or air conditioning during winter and summer can quickly deprive the skin of moisture. It can become even more problematic if you have a tendency to breathe through your mouth at night and wake up with extremely dry lips.
To solve this problem, put a humidifier for dry lips in your bedroom. It will add moisture to the air during the night and thus keep your lips moist during sleep.
6. Stay Away from Matte Lipsticks While Healing
Matte lipsticks can give you a gorgeous result, but they also have one serious drawback. Long-wearing matte liquid lipsticks are made to last on the lips due to moisture absorption and are very drying.
While your lips are healing, it is better not to wear matte lipsticks for a while. Instead of wearing them, you can use lip glosses or tinted lip balms, which moisturise your lips while giving your face a nice colour.
7. Stop Licking Or Biting Your Lips (Most Efficient Dry Lips Remedy)
Even though it is natural to feel a desire to lick your dry lips, it is one of the worst habits to overcome if you want to heal them efficiently.
Saliva has digestive enzymes that destroy the protective skin barrier of your lips. Also, saliva is very drying as it evaporates quickly and leaves the lips even drier than before. You can use petroleum jelly instead.
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)
How can I heal my chapped lips overnight?
You cannot recover severely chapped lips within one night, but still, you can improve them dramatically with the help of occlusive ointment (petroleum jelly or ceramide ointment) applied right before sleep and using a bedside humidifier.
Why do my lips stay chapped even if I drink water?
Hydration is not the only reason. If your lips are still chapped even after drinking plenty of water, then your skin barrier is damaged and cannot lock moisture, or you use irritating lip balms containing menthol, camphor, or artificial fragrances.
What is the fastest home remedy for dry lips?
The fastest remedy is to apply pure petroleum jelly or raw shea butter onto slightly wet lips. It locks in the moisture, allowing your skin to regenerate and heal.
When to Consult a Dermatologist
Following the described routine consistently, you should see visible results within a couple of days.
But if your lips remain severely cracked or painful and don't show any signs of improvement within two to three weeks of moisturising and protecting them, you should contact a board-certified dermatologist. It can happen that your dry lips are a symptom of another illness or cheilitis or a lack of vitamins.
