We have all experienced it at one time or another. Your lips are dry and cracked from the cold weather and harsh, chilled wind. We become self-conscious and bite at or lick our lips, only making our appearance worse and increasing the painful sensation of burning and tingling. Heaven forbid you eat anything salty or spicy, which will only further irritate your poor lips.
Despite how many times you apply your store-bought chapstick, it doesn’t seem to help. Why?
Bad Habits
-First, we have to clear up some common habitual mistakes we make. Even though it is a normal instinct to lick your lips to make them less dry, you are actually making it worse. Yes, at first, your lips will feel better, but once your saliva drys, your lips will be even dryer, causing them to be more chapped, cracked, and irritated.
-Drinking more water is another way to make your lips less dry. If you stay hydrated, your lips will be hydrated, too.
-This kills me, do not pick. The more you pick at your lips, the more inflammation you are creating, and it might just be the nurse in me, but the more you pick, the more opportunities for infection you create! (I am sure all the nurses are agreeing haha)
Ingredients Matter
Store-bought chapstick is full of unnecessary ingredients and chemicals, some of which will cause even more irritation to your dry, chapped lips. These include ingredients like chemical fragrance, artificial flavoring, salicylic acid, menthol, phenol, and more. Fragrances like peppermint, cinnamon, and citrus can be especially irritating, and those are the most common ones during the holiday months when you need chapstick the most due to environmental exposure.
Not to mention that according to the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences and other resources, these artificial fragrances are causing endocrine disruption. This means that many of these perfumes or EDCs mimic or block your hormones, which can disturb the production and release of certain hormones (chemical messengers). Evidence supports that these chemicals found in our cleaners, cooking utensils, beauty products, and food and beverages can have adverse effects on us and our surroundings. EDCs have been linked to increased risk for cancers, disturbed reproductive health, developmental malformations, and central nervous system dysfunction.
If you find this interesting and want to make a change in your household products, you may be interested in my blog post with recipes for homemade cleaners. I will link it here: https://wonderfullymade-kmk.com/how-to-make-all-natural-homemade-cleaners/
Instead, you should look for rich ingredients that will nourish your chapped lips, such as shea butter, coconut oil, olive oil, vitamin E, and beeswax. You can even make your own balm that will be exceptionally more effective than what these big corporations make. If that sounds too daunting, then I would love to be a source for you.
All-natural Homemade lip balm
Well, here is the big announcement… drum roll, please…
I will be selling some homemade, all-natural products on the blog website. I have been on a journey to find efficient products with clean ingredients, good values, and a decent price, and to be honest, things were quite expensive for us and our budget right now. I would find some good brands, but it usually costs about $8-10 dollars for lip balm with good ingredients, and that is before tax and shipping.
Knowing the alternative was chemical-filled store chapstick that cost close to $5- 6 dollars for terrible ingredients that could affect my body—no thank you! I decided I could do this. So, I worked on my recipe for lip balm. I know exactly what is in it, so I don’t have to worry about artificial flavoring, fragrance, artificial dyes, preservatives, or endocrine disruptors—and neither do you!
This is the perfect timing for Christmas. It would make a great stocking stuffer or an addition to a cute gift basket for a friend or loved one. I utilize my lip balm all the time and have yet to run out of the first tube, which I am still working through. With each application, my lips feel velvety smooth and rejuvenated. Soon enough, I will be adding some homemade lye soaps to the blog shop as well as soon as they cure! I hope you enjoy it as much as I have!
Creator of ALL
Lord, we only create because we are image bearers of you, The Uncreated creator of all things! Thank you for the opportunity to make items from outward objects. God, you are the only one who can make something from absolutely nothing. Praise be to you, for there is no other like you in all existence. Lord, I pray that in all we do, we will do it for your glory alone. To you all praise Forevermore. Amen.
SOURCES
U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. (n.d.). Endocrine disruptors. National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences. https://www.niehs.nih.gov/health/topics/agents/endocrine