All Natural Lip Balm

Oil slick for chapped lips? No, thank you..

Lip balm has been around for over 100 years. But it took a wrong turn rightat the beginning. The inventor of lip balm, Dr. C. D. Fleet, started anunfortunate trend by using petroleum jelly in his Chap Stick lip balm, and it'sonly become clear in recent years just how ineffective petroleum jelly is as alip balm. At best, since petroleum jelly isn't absorbed by the skin, itprovides only a short-term fix for dry, chapped lips. And since it keeps theskin from breathing, it can -- if used frequently -- actually make your lips morechapped. Many conventional lip balms that contain petrolatum-based ingredientslike mineral oil that appear slick and emollient, but because the skin can'tabsorb them, they don't actually condition or heal chapped lips. In fact, theyjust lie on the surface, creating an impermeable barrier that can actually clogthe skin and lead to breakouts and bacterial infections.

Instead, look for natural moisturizers like shea butter, beeswax, sweetalmond oil, jojoba oil, or hempseed oil, all of which actually penetrate theskin.  Shea butter's effect on the skin is different from that ofpetroleum jelly. Instead of lying inert on the surface of the lips, it isabsorbed by the skin cells. If you're prone to breakouts or bumps on the lips,look for lip balms with antibacterial essential oils like rosemary andmint.  Because it improves the moisture retention capacity of your lips,your lips become dry and chapped much less frequently.The delicate tissue onthe lips, easily chapped and prone to bacterial infection, is vulnerable in anyweather. Wind and winter chill sap moisture from the lips, but so does exposureto the sun, surf, and chlorinated swimming pools.

Why Our Lip Balm Works

In early adulthood, all of our skin cells -- including those in our lips --begin to become more porous and less elastic. If shea butter -- a substancethat both moisturizes the skin and restores the skin cells' elasticity -- isapplied to the lips, then not only are the cells hydrated, but they graduallyregain their natural elasticity so that they are better able to keep moisturefrom escaping. Because unrefined shea butter contains both a high moisturizingfraction and an extraordinarily high healing fraction, it is a wonderful agentfor revitalizing our skin cells so that they get back their moisture retentioncapacity.

Why Petroleum-based Lip Balm Doesn't Work

Petroleum-based lip balm doesn't pretend to fix the problem that causes drychapped lips. Instead, it basically acts as a band-aid -- slightly moisturizingthe surface of the lips and trapping the moisture there, thus temporarily makingthe lips less dry. But to keep your lips moist using petroleum-based lip balm,you need to frequently reapply the lip balm. Well you might as well just lickyour lips all the time -- that has the same temporary effect, it's a lotcheaper, and it doesn't run the risk that bacteria will be trapped between thegreasy lip balm and the skin, causing further irritation and even infection.