“If you listen to your body when it whispers, you won’t have to hear it scream.”
Tibetan wisdom.
Hello, young Padawan
Due to the sun or cold, the end of winter, synonymous with school holidays, outdoor activities, and perhaps even skiing, is often the cause of chapping and cracking, even for the lightest smiles.
Therefore, we will dedicate today’s article to repairing our lips, damaged during this winter. So, let’s repair and smile with elegance, defiance, and panache!
Before repair
When it comes to repairs, the sooner, the better. In other words, ideally, don’t wait until your lips are very chapped to act.
To begin with, exfoliating your lips once to three times a week is a doubly excellent idea, and here’s why: firstly, since dead skin cannot accumulate thanks to regular exfoliations, you apply your balm to healthy skin so it will really benefit you, and not clump into a patch of dead skin and prevent real hydration.
Secondly, and you will see this in your forties, exfoliating your lips regularly stimulates blood circulation in this specific area and other mechanisms, such as stimulating collagen synthesis, so your lips will not lose volume. So, jealous people will ask you if you had injections in your mouth when the truth comes down to thirty seconds of making little circles all around your mouth, ideally three times a week after 25—guaranteed effect. And if you add facial yoga to that, you’ll keep Angelina Jolie’s mouth all the way to the cemetery.
There are three solutions for an efficient lip scrub. The homemade grain scrub: a teaspoon of caster sugar + a teaspoon of rosehip oil in a small pot. Otherwise, the “not homemade” grain scrub, like this one, is in stick form, which scrubs well.
The third solution is a grain-free scrub, like bubble bubble mask (currently on sale for 6 bucks!). To apply on dry skin. The cream will gradually transform into foam, which will swell. It’s very fun. Then, gently scrub in small circular movements, rinse, and you will never have had such a soft mouth.
The deep care
There are two types of deep care. Masks, to apply either after exfoliation or every evening, just before sleeping, in a thick layer. For my part, I do both because it is quick and highly effective. The beginnings of chapped lips will not resist a thick layer of mask working all night. My two favorites are those from La Neige, whose big pot lasts more than a year, and that from Seraphine, 100% natural, certainly a little more expensive, but of excellent quality.
The second type of deep treatment is a serum to apply morning and evening, like a lip balm, but on bare, clean lips, just before the lip balm. The one from Odacité is by far my favorite and lasts a long time: it’s my second vial in three and a half years. It has an aventurine ball to diffuse the oily serum. I take the opportunity to give myself a mini massage for a few seconds to make the treatment penetrate well before applying the lip balm. This product helps maintain luscious lips for anti-aging purposes and fights against possible “barcode” wrinkles, well known to smokers or those who drink exclusively through straws.
Permanent care
Apply lip balm throughout the day, after brushing your teeth, eating or drinking, or when needed. Nothing is more effective against chapping than applying lip balm with passion and delight.
So be careful; there are two types of lip balms, and only two types are effective. To put it simply, all the supermarket crap, sorry, but forget it. Anything that contains mineral oils will “dry out” you under the layer of fat, not to mention the endocrine disruptors in direct contact with your mucous membranes. So, for years, I didn’t understand why I was constantly experiencing dryness and cracking even though I was a lip balm ayatollah until this famous meeting with a dermatologist student 25 years ago.
The two effective balms are those containing either beeswax, shea, or cocoa butter for the nourishing/repairing category or those with vegetable oils (castor, rosehip, etc.) for the lighter ones. For my part, I prefer those with beeswax, shea, or cocoa, but since I talked about them in my article here, where you will find my two favorite references, namely the balms from Lush and Burt’s Bees brands, we are going to talk about those with vegetable oils.
These two balms were tested on subjects not keen on care or beauty (recalcitrant male specimens like teenagers and adults with weakened lips from mountain hikes, ed.). Hurraw lip balms, such as the Moon lip balm, which contains rosehip and argan oil, are super effective and easy to carry thanks to their small size. Kadalys lip balm, in a pot, is a lighter formula that contains sunflower oil, castor oil, and banana extract. It has the advantage of having an irresistible banana scent, which invites those not fans of lip balms to use it anyway!
Those uncomfortable with lip balm’s “shiny” effect will turn to beeswax formulas, such as Burt’s Bees lip balms. Invisible.
And finally, because a bit of color, while nourishing and reducing small sores, is always welcome, my favorite colored treatment oil, with a finish like a gloss, is without hesitation that of Typology. Here, the plum shade. It cares for, repairs, and provides a light-colored tan with the most divine effect.
Here is my little selection of lip care products for this end of winter; I hope to have provided you with some helpful and pleasant information!
Have a lovely weekend, and see you next Friday!
XO💋
