I have to keep my lips coated with something or they dry out terribly - and licking makes it so much worse, since the enzymes in saliva actually break down skin.

I've been using this one from Walmart, and other stores carry it too. I stay away from products containing petrolatum, and have for a very long time, since that's something I'd rather not be ingesting.

Melem

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00P0U2NVO?ref=nb_sb_ss_w_as-ypp-ro-model_ypp_ro_model_k1_1_5&amp&crid=7O1SMTRGSJUB&amp&sprefix=melem

This stuff was recommended to us when we were skiing one year. DGD‘s lips and around her mouth got really chapped (she was 6 at the time). We have used it for a variety of things since. It only recently was available in a swivel tube.

YES, @carolb_w_fl_coastal_9b, "licking makes it so much worse, since the enzymes in saliva actually break down skin."

***The best lip treatment, IMHO, is one you like and will use frequently to create and maintain a skin barrier.*** (I just use this lightweight lipstick, applied before leaving house in AM and then as needed/desired.)

Wearing mask, even outdoors if cold, has decreased my dry face skin/lips.

Some years I have terrible chapped lips. Carmex is the only thing that helps mine.

Agree @carolb_w_fl_coastal_9b. The one I use is very lightweight and long wearing, and I only use a little, so it does not transfer. I'd look for a clear balm I like but don't want to go through the waste of trial & error, since wearing a mask most of the day seems to prevent it.

I don’t get chapped lips often, but when I do, I use Blistex ointment. Works great!

My sympathy, JoAnne. Geez, and youre in Florida.

I go through lip balm like an ant through sugar. I have tubes, jars inevery pocket, on my nightstand, under my pillow, in the car, kitchen, coffee table, kitchen counter, in my purse and maybe inside my shirt, under my tongue.

The old fashion type of Chap Stick at least stay on. The smooth greasy types come off the first time I smile, then close my lips. The mentholated ones smart a bit. The flavorted, sugarry ones have me headed towards a bakery.

Some of my ’favorites” I’m shy about using so that I dont use them up. (makes sense?)

An example of this is a sort of hard to come by Burt’s Bees flavored with Thai/Vietnamese aromatics like Lime Leaf. Nice. Found it in a healrth food store for $5, so of course I hide it away in an innaccessible secret pocket of a purse. It might be three years old now and still almost new (because it is good and I have to make it last and so rarely use it whwn I do find it.) This one doesnt have any cloying Dunkin Donuts sugary flavor, but clean, fresh lime leaf, no fish sauce or hint of soy. Nevertheless, I find myself ordering Vietnamese food.

Its always a bunch of tradeoffs with these things.

Vanilla scented has me thinking of icecream. Hops flavored, to a bar.

I’ve not yet found lobster, shrimp, or oyster, so thats something to be thankful for.

I’ve read that its a myth that ”its addictive,” or the more tyou use lip balm, the more you will need to keep using more.

Lard doesnt work, nor salmon fat — they would probably attract flies.

I just put on some Blistex ’Lip Medex’ because I have two mini jars of it next to me and it was on sale a while ago. Its mentholated, so in a Calvinistic sense, its got to be healing if it stings a bit, right?

I have dry skin. Thin skin. People with oily complexions probably never get dry skin, wrinkles or need hourly teaspoo nfuls of lip balm slathered onto their lips and cuticles anf hangnails.

I suspect beeswax and unsalted Irish butter are best. I might experiment with Crisco as long as I am still wearing a mask for protection against Covid. There is probably a new formulation stuck on that bridge in Ottawa.

Avoid salty things, wine, beer, sandpaper kisses, fireplaces, arctic weather and wind.

carol, that EOS looks promising. does it come is fresh mountain spring scent?

Carmex works really well for me.

@nekotish, agree, used Carmex when I was skiing frequently; it does work well to exfoliate and then protect.

My lips got bad the past month. i tried everything, and they got worse. Finally, I remembered someone in the same boat years ago who got rellief using Neosporin. it helps. i use just a tiny dab, applying frequently.

Again, don't lick lips; enzymes in mouth saliva that help breakdown foods (incl. meats) breakdown skin on lips.

Found more Walgreens and other vendors

https://www.walgreens.com/store/c/burts-bees-100-natural-origin-moisturizing-lip-balm-ginger-lime/ID=300394828-product?ext=msnKBM_PLA+-+Personal+Care+(2019+Update)Personal+Care_&gclid=b53f9f1fbcd31168093cfd17a410873c&gclsrc=3p.ds&&gclid=b53f9f1fbcd31168093cfd17a410873c

Blistex here, the medicated formula in the blue-green tube. I also like the Revlon Color Stay lipstick mdln mentions -- non-drying. I had to hunt to find a tube of CeraVe Healing Ointment for my poor hands. There was ONE tube, stuck in the wrong place at the grocery. A clerk at CVS said they'd been out of it for months.

Neosporin is for external use only. Too easy to ingest on the lips.

If I had more of a choice, I'd buy unflavored lip balm, but I don't mind the vanilla, it's pretty mild. Natural foods stores around here have many lip balms to choose from, but some of the scents and flavors are just gross, IMPO, and they can be costly too. It's problematic because they're sealed and not really testable - especially nowadays.

The EOS brand is inexpensive, comparatively, and easily available for ordering online. I keep one in my purse, one in the bathroom and one on my desk.

And apologies, but I can't imagine that ingesting Neosporin can be good for anybody; it's labelled for external use only.

I swear by Burt's Bees beeswax lip balm. 100% natural and Burt's products are sold everywhere here. Even my local Safeway carries them.

I don't like Burt bees or any of them, none have actually worked for me. I recently bought one with hemp & shea and that didn't help either. My lips hurt!

If vaseline over night doens't do it--it's internal. My suggestion is drink a lot more water.

I'm another Blistex ointment user. I rarely have chapped lips as I wear a lip gloss most days. But I too got tired of it transferring inside masks and wasn't wearing tinted gloss daily. Somehow I developed about the worst case of chapped lips ever. Instead of almost overnight, it took about 3 nights with heavily applying Blistex at bedtime, reapplying more lightly 2-3 times during the day. Good again now.

Plain Vaseline.

I do wear moisturizing lipsticks from Revlon during the day. And have various lip balms stashed here and there, but Vaseline works the best for me.

Blistex always took care of the worst for me, but since I'm wearing a mask a lot, it's gotten so much better...the breath keeps the air under the mask, and the lips, quite humid and moisturized.

IMPE, all lip balms are not alike. Keep trying until you find one that works for you.

I've tried a lot of "natural" emolients, but I've found that nothing works anywhere near as well as Vaseline. Puting some on my lips before bed totally changed my lips from dry and peeling, to smooth and soft. Yes, it's petroleum, but I'm not eating huge amounts of it. (Although the inventor, Robert Chesebrough, was said to have eaten a spoonful a day and he lived to be 96.) Not quite as effective as Vaseline, but very nice, are Nivea's lip moisturizing sticks. The colors are subtle and the flavor is not strong.

Someone posted a few weeks ago about their good results using SkinCeuticals AntiOxidant Lip Repair. I ordered it and can echo the report that it works, not an immediate "miracle", but steady improvement over the weeks I've been using it (apply once or twice a day).

During the rest of the day I apply, frequently, plain unflavored ChapStick. As others mentioned above, it helps to have several tubes around the house, car, coat pocket, purse, everywhere.

They're cheaper to order in bulk on "A", then I put the reserve stocks in zip-locks in the freezer so they don't get rancid.

joann_fl I hope you find something soon that will help heal those chapped lips!

Aquaphor

I sometimes get lips so dry they crack and bleed. Carmex fixes them very quickly.

Ingredients in some of these ⬆️⬆️⬆️ (ceramides, lanolin, dimethicone) make me want to try them, but I don't haven't had dry lips since mask wearing.

I didnt know that about saliva…. So, it‘s ort of like a venus fly trap thing going on 🪴💋

Yes, Aquaphor is a good preventive!

We visited DS in his first apartment, and I noticed how chapped his lips were. He said yes, they hurt, what did I recommend. I pulled out a brand-new Carmex tube I’d just gotten from my purse for him, and he felt better quickly.

Lanolin cream. I'd tried pretty much everything and this stuff works. It's what nursing moms use to prevent nipple chaffing.

A&D ointment works better for me than all the lip balms in tubes. It's mostly petrolatum, and has lanolin as well as the vitamins

I am thinking It's an allergic reaction to something, maybe an old lipstick. I threw 1 out this morning. I had this happen 1 time before with a new lipstick.

Oh dear - that seems like something you'll have to wait to heal on its own. Maybe just a little plain vegetable oil/olive oil would be best until your lips heal.

FWIW, I look for lipsticks that have no parabens or petrolatum and are labelled as hypoallergenic to avoid problematic chemical additives. Some of the most popular conventional brands can have some harsh ingredients. Tarte and Bare Minerals are 2 I like.

It is hard to suggest something when everyone is different. I am also allergic to many lipsticks. Any time I buy something new, I will know within a day if I can wear it or not. My sister will swear by carmex which I tried...OMG I am so crazy allergic to that stuff! But she is allergic to things that I can use without issues! Weird!

When my lips were so chapped for a month and nothing was helping them, I started a research into something better for my lips. I purchased this Burt's Bees product from Amazon. Could not find it anywhere else. Absolutely love it. https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00F5CQSAO/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o05_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

Thanks for this thread. I used to swear by O'Keefe's Lip Repair. but this year I have the worst chapping problem I've ever had, and it's notworking at all. Pre-pandemic, I wore lipstick whenever I left the house, but for the past two years none of my lipsticks have even made it to my purse.

I read the whole thread and just ordered the Burt's Bees Ultra Conditioning product and also Aquaphor Lip Repair. They arrive tomorrow from Amazon. Thanks, all!

Hope it works as well for you as it has for me.

I took the advice here to drink more water, and the improvement was immediate. I had developed dry eyes, and that has been resolved by drinking more water too.

I like the products from Beesential. Their foaming soaps are also amazing!

Carmex works great, always have it. In the car, by the bed, in my purse and by computer. I put it one almost every night. Works like a charm. I like the "tube" one.

My DD had a bad experience with Eos - made her lips worse. Maybe a rash? I don't remember exactly.

We also found that eating raw almonds (one of my favorite snacks!) would consistently make our lips crack and peel. I never liked toasted almonds so much, so I don't know if the effect holds after toasting, but she tells me that almond milk has the same effect.

i started use Beekman 1802 lip balm

can get direct or through HSN or QVC

love that its cruelty free, petroleum free and free of any chemicals that you would not on your lips or in your body. have had great success with it. i walk my dog in all kinds of weather and this winter, which was unusually bitter cold and windy, and it has worked like a champ!!!

Beekman 1802 here's the direct link, but cheaper on HSN or QVC

The white Blistex. Never go more than a day with chapped lips. Regardless of how bad they get.

It's called medicated lip ointment. White tube, red stripe.

https://www.target.com/p/blistex-medicated-lip-ointment-3ct-0-63oz/-/A-14771007

I have that Blistex, it's not doing much. I am waiting for some Beekman's Goat's milk lip balm to come in. It is taking way too long from HSN. 4 more days to wait and I ordered it on Sunday.

joann_fl, HSN does take long, i guess i am so spoiled by Amazon!! but it's well worth the wait!!

what 'flavor' did u get? i bought the one with SPF15 first, and just received Arcadia and Sweet Grass, they were on sale, i think Arcadia is discontinued...

lmk what u think!!