A Surprising Way to Treat Chapped Lips

by Elizabeth Siegel


Getty Images
Getty Images


Here's something really surprising that I learned recently: "Eating a lot of citrus fruits in the winter can make it harder to heal chapped lips, because juice from oranges and grapefruits irritates them," says Jeanette Graf, a dermatologist in Great Neck, New York. "The same goes for certain toothpastes." Use a lip balm right after you brush your teeth or eat an orange, and your lips won't become as dry. And then there are two more things you should know about treating chapped lips, including the fastest way to rehab them:


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Soothe chronically chapped lips, fast. "The quickest way to fix them is by dabbing on an over-the counter hydrocortisone cream before bed, and then smoothing on Aquaphor the next morning," says Graf. "Keep using the Aquaphor morning and night until your lips are back to normal."

Pick the right lip balm for everyday. One that's creamy or viscous penetrates and heals the cracks in your lips better than a wax. Look for ingredients like hydrating shea butter and hyaluronic acid. If your dry lips are persistent, a treatment with ceramides will help repair your lip's natural moisture barrier (try By Terry Baume de Rose with ceramides and shea butter).

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