Harsh winter weather is here, and it can wreak havoc on some people’s skin. The cold can easily dry out your hands, nails, and hair, but it can also take a toll on your lips.
Even if you’re into skincare, it’s not uncommon to neglect the lips in the wintertime. According to the Cleveland Clinic, chapped lips, medically known as “chelitis,” is an acute and prolonged inflammation of the lips. And if you’ve ever experienced chronically dry lips, you know that it can be extremely painful. While a little bit of dryness is inevitable, you don’t want your lips to be completely vulnerable to the elements.
That’s where a good lip balm comes in handy. But the dryness and generally chapped appearance that you’re struggling with this season may actually be the fault of many of the ingredients present in bad lip balms.
In particular, there are two types of lip balms you should avoid because instead of hydrating your lips, they’re actually making them dryer: balms with hardening ingredients and balms with dirty ingredients. Hardening ingredients include paraffin or beeswax while dirty ingredients are anything with excess chemicals like parabens or petroleum.
To learn more about the downsides to these products, we spoke with makeup artist Mary Winkenwerder about hardening and dirty ingredients in lip balms. She told us that, especially in the winter, ingredients like petroleum and paraffin dry out your lips. Find out more below!
“Some lip balms are made with ingredients that are not clean. Excess parabens and other long-term problem-causing preservatives are among them,” Winkenwerder notes. “Some lip balms are created with petroleum products. Some of these petroleum bases are not refined, making them a non-therapeutic ingredient that may worsen the condition of lips in need of care.”
Lip balms with hardening ingredients
You may be tempted to reach for lip balms with beeswax or paraffin like Burt’s Bees or Badger Balm because you’ve heard that they are the best at protecting your lips from environmental factors like wind, cold, and sun damage. However, that’s not always the case.
But before we get into the dangers of these ingredients, what are beeswax and paraffin? Beeswax is a natural wax produced by honey bees, and, paraffin is a white or colorless soft, solid wax made from saturated hydrocarbons. Both of these waxes have many other uses like lubrication, electrical insulation, crayon wax, and candle wax.
"Paraffin and beeswax are ingredients used to bind traditional stick lip balm and help it keep its shape. A high concentration of these ingredients in any lip product causes the product to become hard," Winkenwerder says. "Rubbing a hard surface onto chapped or weathered lips in need of care can cause further damage to the lips. While these types of lip balms may have essential therapeutic ingredients, they do not offer the creamy core binding ingredient that makes them capable of working into the skin."
While beeswax and paraffin create a physical barrier to prevent water loss, they may actually cause more damage if your lips are especially chapped or sensitive. So, just be careful that you aren’t overapplying balms with hardening ingredients or they may worsen cracked lips (tips for getting rid of chapped lips may surprise you!).
Lip balms with dirty ingredients
The skin on your lips is one of the thinnest, most exposed surfaces on your body. Whatever you put on your lips can be absorbed through your skin and into your bloodstream. That’s why it’s so important to avoid lip balms with dirty ingredients.
According to the Environmental Working Group, EWG, parabens are a group of man-made chemicals that are used as artificial preservatives in cosmetic and body care products. They prevent mold and bacteria growth so products can last longer. Recently, parabens were found in the cells of breast cancer patients and can cause changes in cholesterol, blood sugar, thyroid, and immune function. The risk of allergies, obesity, and infertility has also been associated with the use of parabens. And when you put them on your lips, they could make dryness worse.
Petroleum jelly, on the other hand, is a gel-like byproduct of petroleum which is a semi-solid mixture of hydrocarbons. It was originally promoted as a topical ointment for its healing properties. When properly refined, petroleum jelly is said to have no side effects. But petrolatum is often not fully refined in the US, which means it can be contaminated with toxic chemicals called polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) which will worsen your lip's conditions and clog pores. Winkenwerder recommends using lip balm brands with refined petroleum jellies like Vaseline or Aquaphor.
Just remember that fragrance formulations are considered a “trade secret” and therefore protected from disclosure–even to regulators or manufacturers. So, companies don’t have to tell you about all the hidden chemicals they added to make your lip balm smell or taste good. These synthetic fragrances not only dry out your lips but can trigger skin conditions like eczema and increase your risk of diseases such as asthma and lung cancer.
Healthy and hydrating lip balms
Your skin is the largest organ in your body and it’s important you take care of it! While there are many types of lip balms that are harmful to your lips, Winkenwerder recommends lip oils and lip serums as healthy alternatives.
Lip oils are made with natural oils that nourish and hydrate the lips. They have a consistency somewhere between a lip gloss and a lip balm. They add a glossy shine to your lips and can be worn alone, under lipstick, or on top of lipstick to protect the lips from cracking and dryness.
"Lip oils penetrate the surface of the lips quickly and address care issues. Sometimes these formulas are small amounts of therapeutic ingredients set in a core or base oil that binds well with a proprietary blend. They keep lips plump to their full natural potential (cosmetic) while addressing care issues," she says.
Unlike lip gloss, lip serums offer relief from irritations and provide deep hydration while helping with discoloration. Some lip serums are hygienic botanical formulas that are always better than the parabens and petroleum found in many lip balms. Although one issue is that a lot of lip serums do not provide surface protection from open elements.
"Serum lip 'balm' formulas often work quickly into the lips without leaving residue on the surface of the lips. They keep lips plump to their full natural potential (cosmetic) while addressing care issues," Winkenwerder says.
The good news is that there are plenty of natural, organic-based lip balms on the beauty market that contain no harmful chemicals and won’t dry out your lips. Winkenwerder says if all else fails: always check the ingredients. And be sure not to overapply. Applying once or twice a day should be enough to keep your lips hydrated and healthy. Your lips will thank you!
