Is Moisturizing Enough? | The Best Lip Balms

Something as small as lip balms can help with everything from health problems to cosmetic effects. Especially in cold weather, our skin can dry and crack, and our lips are one of the most affected areas.

Lip moisturizers help your skin retain water by moisturizing your lips. Keeping our skin moist prevents our lips from being damaged and provides a healthier appearance. In addition, lip balms, especially when used regularly, heal cracks on the lips and make them shine all day long.

Lip balms are produced with a variety of ingredients and each has different properties. For example, some products contain natural ingredients like cocoa butter or shea butter, while others are formulated with ingredients like menthol or salicylic acid. Different products from different brands offer different options to meet everyone's needs.

As a result, lip moisturizers are very important in keeping our lips healthy, moist and shiny. That's why it's a good idea to have one in our bag during the winter months or whenever we encounter dry weather frequently. If you want to know more about lip balms, you can search the product reviews of different brands.

CLICK TO BUY ONE OF MY FAVOURITES!

The standard Burt’s Bees formula has a refreshing peppermint flavor that reminds you it’s there for the first few minutes after you apply. It coats your lips with a thin, waxy layer that lasts all day.

Burt’s Bees Beeswax Lip Balm is a traditionally shaped stick of minty-feeling and minty-smelling balm that goes on firm and light and lasts a long time. The peppermint tingle is more noticeable than I expected, and it has a strong smell (though it isn’t as intense as the Blistex’s menthol). If you don’t like mint, this balm comes in dozens of other flavors that tend to come and go frequently. Unlike some of our other picks that can be found only in beauty stores, the Burt’s Bees is widely available. You can pick it up at any drugstore or supermarket while you’re grabbing toilet paper.

The Burt’s Bees balm is thick and waxy thanks to its primary ingredient: beeswax. This gives it a firmer texture compared with the gel-like petroleum-based balms we tried. The formula hits you with a minty tingle that lasts a full five minutes after application. Peppermint oil, which is only in the original Beeswax, is a potential skin irritant. If you have sensitive lips, we recommend trying another flavor. Only the pomegranate flavor adds any color to your lips.

If your balm isn’t working, or if it’s irritating you, try switching formulas (and if your lips remain dry, see a doctor). Although there’s no single ingredient that always causes irritation—anecdotally, people get “addicted” to formulas as different as Vaseline and Burt’s Bees—ditching lip balm containing menthol and camphor is a good place to start. Glashofer said that any kind of added flavor or fragrance has the potential to irritate some people. If that’s you, we recommend buying the Glossier Balm Dotcom in Original; or, for SPF protection, try the Aquaphor Lip Protectant + Sunscreen, which panelists have loved in previous iterations of this guide, though it smelled less than ideal to testers this time around.

You can also try exfoliating your lips; just be gentle and don’t do it too often, as lips are particularly sensitive. (Some dermatologists, including Glashofer, advise against lip exfoliation entirely.) You can use a soft toothbrush—not the same one you use on your teeth, though—or buy a lip scrub (or make your own).

"A gentle lip peel can be beneficial for these individuals, especially when followed with a product designed to hydrate, nourish, and seal in moisture." Dr. Engelman warns, however, "People with mature, thinning, or sensitive lips should be careful with peels. They can still be effective but risk irritating more sensitive lip skin." Start off using a lip peel with a slow-and-low method of one to two times per week, and make sure to moisturize your lips after applying a peel.