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Loading...Treat Your Lips
- Mel, selected from Natural Solutions magazine
- March 17, 2009
- 5:15 pm
- 14 comments
Cold weather is your lips’ worst enemy–cold, wind, and dry air create chapped, peeling, and dehydrated lips that can easily become a casualty of the season. However, with proper care, your lips will stay hydrated and render chapped lips so last year!
The key to healthy lips is proper care. Simply rubbing any balm or ChapStick on your lips may create more of a problem than a solution. Kat James, author of The Truth About Beauty (Beyond Words Publishing, 2003), warns that “phenols in medicated lip balms will dry out the lips. Other ingredients in these lip balms may still form a physical barrier from moisture loss–but they aren’t really moisturizing. Furthermore, standard lip products contain such ingredients as petrolatum, which research has shown to cause acne. Petrolatum (and other petroleum derivatives, like mineral oil) may also increase photosensitivity and interfere with your body’s own moisturizing abilities, creating even drier lips than if you had left them alone. If you look further down the ingredient list of some conventional lip balms, you’ll likely find such additives as parabens, which are used to extend the shelf life of beauty products but are generally considered toxic and have also been linked to allergic reactions.
“Consider this,” says Tara Grodjesk, president of Tara Spa Therapy and certified ayurvedic practitioner, “we end up eating most of our lip balm. Do you want to eat petroleum?” While we don’t set out to eat our lip balm, we inevitably do. By choosing organic and non-toxic lip products, you’ll not only moisturize your lips, but you’ll also eliminate any chance of consuming toxic ingredients when you lick them.
“Look for natural, plant-derived oils,” advises James. “Avocado oil, shea butter, and cocoa butter are good oils to look for, while essential fatty acids from oils like hemp and cranberry seed can truly nourish the lips.” John Masters Organics Lip Calm, made from organic avocado and olive oil is downright tasty, while protecting lips from dry conditions; Eco Lips Gold, made with organic jojoba, beeswax, and marigold, is an excellent blend for healing dry, chapped lips. To protect your kisser from the sun’s damaging rays, try Tara Spa’s Cool Mint Lip Balm, featuring hemp and olive oils, calendula, mint, St. John’s wort, comfrey, and vitamin E. Juice Beauty also makes a delicious tinted lip moisturizer, providing a just-kissed look with a tint derived from minerals instead of synthetics.
Finally, adds Grodjesk, “Dry chapped lips are a response to dry conditions, both internally and externally. In the body it is a response to internal dehydration; externally it [is] exposure to a dry climate.” So, to keep your lips silky smooth, be sure to stay hydrated–both internally and externally–and soothe your lips with natural lip products.
Natural Solutions: Vibrant Health, Balanced Living offers its readers the latest news on health conditions, herbs and supplements, natural beauty products, healing foods and conscious living. Click here for a free sample issue.
Read more: Beauty, Make-Up, Skin Care, balm, chapped, gloss, lips
By Melissa B. Williams, Natural Solutions
Mel, selected from Natural Solutions magazine
Natural Solutions: Vibrant Health, Balanced Living offers its readers the latest news on health conditions, herbs and supplements, natural beauty products, healing foods and conscious living.
Disclaimer: The views expressed above are solely those of the author and may
not reflect those of
Care2, Inc., its employees or advertisers.
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i always have heard things like this and have been trying to stick with beeswax brands (burts bees) or a natural brand for a while. but now, i am tempted to throw away all of my chapsticks and lip balms that are not green. clearly, they could have been the cause of this problem all along!
this is great because sometimes you forget that your lips need treating too.
When your lips are constantly dry, peeling and/or cracked it can be a frustrating experience to get them healthy again. We will examine the causes of your lips becoming chapped, different ways for preventing this condition and treatment for those that have already reached this painful state. try to choose one that has a moisturizer listed as an ingredient. Matte lipsticks tend to dry out your lips, so at least stick to a creamier texture.
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good informative article
I'm a chapstick addict. Thanks for the article.
i always bite my lips. i dont notice im doing it, its horrible. i use that berts beeswax, and it works for me. although im almost certain it has some of those 'no-no' ingredients in it.
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