5 Ways that Using Regular Lip Balm is Making Your Lips Drier
Unfortunately, lip care is often overlooked. We understand that our skin needs moisture, but it’s easy to miss, the source of a kiss. The skin on our lips is especially thin and the blood flow is very close to the surface, which gives our lips their pink appearance. Unlike the rest of our skin, the lips do not have any natural oil glands, so they become dehydrated much more easily.
Most people experience some degree of chapped-ness during the winter months; as the air gets colder and dryer, our lips often suffer first. And we all know the feeling of chapped lips; often times painful, and at the very least: uncomfortable!
On top of that, the temptation to lick our lips when they’re dry is ever present, but only provides temporary relief. Once the saliva dries, any natural moisture that was present is gone with the wind. You’re left with drier skin than before and few options to replenish your natural sebum.
Drug store lip balms are so mainstream and widely accepted that ChapStick itself is an eponym! However, if we knew what we were putting on our lips, would we really be using a low quality name brand to describe something designed to hydrate one of our most sensitive areas? Probably not.
Have you ever stopped to think what’s really in the Cherry Chapstick you grab last minute at check out in the grocery store? A glance at the back of the package reveals a bunch of ingredients that are difficult to pronounce, not to mention hard on your skin.
Ingredients in ChapStick include: Arachidyl propionate, camphor, carnauba wax, cetyl alcohol, fragrance, isopropyl lanolate, isopropyl myristate, lanolin, light mineral oil, menthol, methylparaben, octyldodecanol, paraffin, phenyltrimethicone, propylparaben, red 6 lake, saccharin, and white wax.
Here’s a closer look at some of the harmful products: Camphor Camphor is a flammable substance used for explosives, nitrocellulose plastics, and pest deterrents. Most specialists advise against applying the substance to broken skin, because it can enter the body quickly and reach concentrations that are high enough to cause poisoning. In the past, it has been a well-established folk remedy, but now doctors deem it completely unsafe to ingest camphor. Isopropyl Myristate According to the National Institutes of Health, Isopropyl Myristate is classified as a human skin irritant. Specialists stress looking carefully at the condition of the skin before application. Isopropyl Myristate will penetrate the skin as an active substance, which means it has the potential to cause harmful bacterial growth. Paraffin Paraffin is a waxy substance, known for its role in beauty products. It’s actually a by-product of kerosene. People with chemical sensitivities will often breakout upon contact. Once criticism is that paraffin doesn’t actually moisturize the skin. It may reinforce the skin’s natural barrier, but provides a sensory illusion instead of healing. Applying a chemically based ChapStick to your lips regularly leaves far too much room for ingestion of toxins and breakouts. In an effort to replenish our natural moisturizers, sooth the lips, and actively heal, Ora’s Amazing Herbal has created a unsweetened and paraben free line of lip balms made with our BASE OIL, including organic calendula, and burdock (just to name a few). They protect, moisturize and soothe lips but also actively heal. Unsweetened, and paraben free. We want to provide you with a peace of body and a peace of mind. You should feel good about the products you’re using on yourself and for your loved ones! Check out our lip balms here or browse our site to check out the rest of our organic and sustainable products.
