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When your lips are so dry that it hurts to smile, lip balm is your sal(ve)ation—just as long as you use the right formula. Otherwise, your kissers might end up thirstier than they did before, which defeats the entire purpose of using a balm in the first place. That’s why dermatologists recommend lip balms for dry lips made with ingredients that impart and lock hydration into your pout, keeping it there long after your initial swipe. With so many options that promise to deliver the perfect kiss of moisture, searching for your lip balm BFF can be tricky. Fortunately, you don’t have to look far and wide to find “the one.” Below, dermatologists share everything you need to know about shopping for hydrating lip care and, better yet, their recommendations that they personally use themselves. Scroll to kiss dry lips goodbye for good.
Experts In This Article
The best lip balms for dry lips, at a glance:
Best overall: Vaseline, Lip Therapy Balm, $7
Best runner-up: Paula’s Choice, Hyaluronic Acid + Peptide Lip Booster, $33
Best budget: Aquaphor, Lip Repair Ointment, $5
Best lightweight: La Roche-Posay, Cicaplast Lip Balm B5, $10
Best natural: Farmarcy, Honey Butter Beeswax Lip Balm, $12
Best tinted: Kjaer Weis, Tinted Lip Balm, $17
Best gloss: Rhode, Peptide Lip Treatment, $16
Best with SPF: Cay Skin, Isle Lip Balm, $15
Best with retinol: Verso, Lip Serum, $65
Best for eczema: Marin, Lip Treatment, $18
Best overnight: Tatcha, Kissu Lip Mask, $29
Best lip balm alternative: Weleda, Skin Food Original Ultra-Rich Cream, $20
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How does lip balm help dry lips? “The skin on our lips is some of the thinnest found anywhere on the body, and unlike the skin on the rest of our face, doesn’t have sebaceous glands, which means our lips need more care to stay nourished,” says Geeta Yadav, MD, board-certified dermatologist and founder of Facet Dermatology. Plus, our lips are at constant risk of losing moisture. Sun exposure, cold and dry air, dehydration, and bad habits like constant lip licking can contribute to your parchedness. Suffice to say, your lips need all the moisture and protection that they can get—and the best lip balms will be up to the task.
That said, there are some instances in which lip balms may not be sufficient in staving off dry lips. According to board-certified dermatologist Nava Greenfield, MD, if you notice that you have painful or itchy lips or skin, cracked corners, or if, despite using lip balm, your pout is dry for more than a week, it might be due to an underlying issue that you’ll want to address with a dermatologist.
Ingredients to look for
According to dermatologists, selecting an ideal option all comes down to the ingredients. For one, you’ll want to look for options formulated with humectants, like hyaluronic acid and glycerin, which draw water into your skin to deliver moisture to the skin barrier. Dr. Yadav also recommends looking for lip balms containing occlusives—petroleum, lanolin, shea butter, and squalane—that create a protective layer on the skin’s surface that seals and locks in moisture.
Keep in mind that you’ll want a lip balm that contains both humectants and occlusives if your lips are very dry.
“Lip balms that only have ingredients that draw moisture—humectants—but don’t have ingredients that prevent the evaporation of the moisture can trigger a vicious cycle: water is being drawn into the skin, then evaporated,” says board-certified dermatologist Rachel Nazarian, MD, FAAD. “This makes you more dependent on the lip balm to replace the hydration.” The same applies, conversely, to lip balms containing occlusives and no humectants. “If you just apply occlusives to dry lips, you’ll just be trapping in dryness,” says Dr. Yadav.
In addition to these ingredients, Dr. Greenfield recommends selecting an option with emollients, which work to soften and smooth the lips while helping to repair the lip skin barrier; prime examples of emollients include butters, oils, lipids, and fatty acids. Together with humectants and occlusives, you’ll have a winning formula that helps to moisturize and repair even the driest of pouts.
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