It’s Valentine’s Day, so presumably, it’s a day filled with plenty of kisses for people in relationships. But with Valentine’s Day being in mid-February and the dry skin that accompanies winter, if you aren’t careful you could end up kissing your significant other with dry, cracked lips on the most romantic day of the year.
In addition to the general stresses of winter weather on skin, our lips are often dried out by toothpaste, the lipsticks and other cosmetic products we use and things as simple as talking. Lip care definitely has the potential to turn into a full time job as temperatures drop.
To avoid this, many have turned to lip scrubs. They’re in almost every cosmetic store you could think of, and come in fun, fruity flavors. On the surface, they seem like an easy and simple way to keep lips exfoliated and moisturized.
But no matter how much fun they are or how good they taste, as a dermatologist I can’t recommend them. They’re much too harsh on skin that’s already more sensitive than most other body parts. Lip skin is much thinner than most other skin, and lip scrubs can do significant damage and cause hyper pigmentation.
Lip peels are a superior alternative to lip scrubs because they take into account the fragility of the skin. They’re much more delicate and gentle. By blending glycolic and lactic acids, they give our lips the ingredients they need to look and feel smoothe and kissable without unnecessarily stripping layers.
So if you’re looking for something to refresh your lips and be smooch ready all day, I recommend this Hydrating Lip Peel. I also recommend taking breaks from heavy products to let your lips recover, and stick to a light petroleum jelly or my personal favorite; Vaniply ointment.
However, if you suffer from dry or irritated lips for reasons besides weather, cosmetics and other natural factors, consider seeing a doctor; as your lips may be symptomatic of eczema, extreme sun damage, skin cancer or allergic dermatitis.
So whether you’ll be kissing your husband or a box of Dominos Happy Valentine’s Day!