Both extreme heat and frigid temperatures can cause dryness and flaking, particularly on the lips, where skin is thin. For a lot of us, chapped lips are inevitable in the cold weather and dry air. “In the winter there’s way less humidity in the air and so the cold air pulls moisture from the skin,” says Dr. Kiran Mian, a board-certified dermatologist at Hudson Dermatology and Laser Surgery in New York City.
The best way to treat and prevent chapped lips is to target the causes by keeping your body and environment hydrated whenever possible, dermatologists say. (That includes drinking lots of water and using a humidifier.) But not all lip hydrators are created equally: “One of the most important things is making sure that you are applying the correct type of lip care,” says Dr. Carmen Castilla, a board-certified dermatologist at the New York Dermatology Group in Manhattan.
Below, we rounded up everything you need to know about treating chapped lips and keeping them smooth all year long.
What causes chapped lips?
Chapped lips can be caused by a combination of different things, depending on where you live and certain genetic factors. Below are a few common reasons you might have dry, chapped lips, according to dermatologists:
- Environmental factors, including cold air, low humidity and indoor heat, are the biggest culprits causing dry skin in the winter. (If you have dry air in your home, invest in a humidifier to prevent chapped, flaky lips, dermatologists say.)
- The biology of the lips, however, also plays a role. Lips don’t have oil glands like the rest of the skin, making them particularly vulnerable to dryness, says Dr. Hadley King, a board-certified dermatologist in New York City. On top of that, the skin on the lips is thin, meaning moisture is more prone to escaping.
- Certain medications, including acne treatments like Accutane or isotretinoin, can also cause chronic chapped lips, says Castilla.
- Individual habits might make you more prone to dryness, like if you tend to breathe out of your mouth (especially when you’re sleeping). “The constant airflow over the lips is drying,” says Castilla.
The best products to prevent and treat dry, chapped lips
The below lip balms, masks and chapsticks are recommended by dermatologists and NBC Select staff to help you prevent and treat dry lips all winter.
Best overall
Vaseline is an NBC Select favorite for a reason: It’s budget-friendly, fragrance-free and hypoallergenic, meaning it’s great for sensitive skin. It’s also incredibly versatile; it’s featured in our best lip mask, best face moisturizer and best dry heel treatment guides, just to name a few. Vaseline’s Original Healing Jelly has a thick consistency that helps lock in moisture on your lips, making it great for those dry, winter months.
Best travel-friendly
Aquaphor makes some of our favorite lip balms, including its Lip Repair Ointment, which softens and heals dry, flaky lips. It has occlusive ingredients like petrolatum and lanolin that create a protective barrier on the skin to lock in moisture. It also has an angled applicator, so you don’t have to use your fingers to apply it.
Best multipurpose
“When my lips are extra dry, peeling and cracked, I need a lip balm that’s as basic as it gets to add moisture without causing irritation. Lanolips’ 101 Ointment is exactly that,” says NBC Select reporter Zoe Malin. “It’s on the thicker side, and it creates a barrier over my skin to protect it from the elements while hydrating.” Malin describes Lanolips as being the luxe version of Aquaphor due to its rich texture, which helps lock in moisture on your lips, cuticles and other dry spots on your body.
Best exfoliating
“I use the Eadem Le Chou Chou every single day,” says NBC Select editorial operations associate Jem Alabi. “It really is a lip-care product that just so happens to double as a fabulous semi-sheer, non-sticky gloss, but isn’t so shiny and glistening that I can’t wear it casually on no-makeup days.” It has glycolic acid and peptides to hydrate and gently exfoliate lips, plus a cooling metal applicator to soothe discomfort, according to the brand.
Best scented
If you love how hydrating the Vaseline Healing Jelly is but don’t want to use your fingers to apply it, consider the brand’s Lip Therapy Stick. It has petroleum jelly and comes in a convenient stick form. It’s one of the most affordable options on this list and has a 4.6-star average rating from over 2,800 reviews on Amazon.
Best with SPF
Colorscience’s Sunforgettable Color Balm lets you achieve the “no-makeup” makeup look by hydrating your lips and adding a pop of color. It also has SPF 50 to protect your lips from the sun and it’s highly rated, with a 4.4-star rating from over 2,400 reviews on Amazon.
Best water-resistent
If you are frequently in the sun or water, or you simply sweat a lot, consider this Elta MD lip balm. It’s water-resistant for up to 80 minutes and has SPF 36, so it protects your lips from the sun’s harmful rays (which can dry them out, experts say). “My hometown is close to the beach, so I always have this lip balm on hand to keep my lips from flaking due to the sun,” says NBC Select updates editor Mili Godio. However, keep in mind that it might leave a slight white cast.
Best long-lasting
This healing ointment comes recommended by experts for cracked heels, dry hands and dermatitis, but it can also soothe chapped lips with hydrating ingredients like ceramides, hyaluronic acid and petrolatum. It also helps strengthen the moisture barrier on your lips over time, which prevents chapped lips in the first place, according to the brand.
Best splurge
U Beauty’s The Plasma Lip Compound is not your typical lip balm. In addition to moisturizing the lips, it reduces fine lines, exfoliates and softens lips over time, according to the brand. It comes recommended by Crown Affair founder Dianna Cohen, who says it’s one of her favorite lip products to throw in her purse. It has hydrating ingredients like peptides, ceramides and hyaluronic acid, plus the metal applicator feels cool on your lips. It’s available in a wide range of tints, all of which leave a shiny, glossy finish.
Best budget-friendly
This medicated lip balm is a great budget-friendly option to grab when dealing with severely chapped lips. The 1% hydrocortisone helps reduce inflammation, while beeswax and petroleum jelly hydrates your lips. Godio grabs this lip balm whenever she’s dealing with dry, cracked lips during the harsh New York winters. “It gives a slight tingly sensation, but that feeling goes away after a few minutes,” she says.
Best no-frills
This lip balm is the ultimate no-frills product to help your lips survive the harsh winter weather. It’s unscented, which is ideal for sensitive lips, and has hydrating ingredients like avocado oil, shea butter and petrolatum. It has a 4.6-star average rating from over 200 reviews on Amazon.
Best pump
Skinceuticals' Antioxidant Lip Repair is a creamy treatment that smooths the lips’ surface with vitamin E and hyaluronic acid. It addresses a variety of skin concerns, including chapped lips, sun damage and aging, according to the brand. “I use this lip balm on days when my lips feel particularly dry. It’s a thick and creamy treatment that gets rid of flakes and painful dry spots almost instantly,” says Godio. “It does take a few seconds to rub in since it leaves a slight white cast, but it’s so worth it.”
Best tin
This small, tinned lip balm is easy to throw into your purse or work bag, and it has a light rose scent that’s pleasant but not overpowering, according to our editors. It leaves a glossy, non-sticky finish on your lips and you can use it to moisturize other parts of your body, including your hands and cuticles.
Best fragrance-free
La Roche-Posay’s beloved cicaplast line includes this lip balm, which has a 4.4-star rating from over 6,400 reviews on Amazon. It repairs dry and damaged lips, plus it’s safe for sensitive skin because it’s fragrance-free and hypoallergenic.
How to prevent and treat dry chapped lips
No one is immune to chapped lips, even those who have oily skin. To prevent and treat chapped lips this winter, experts stress the importance of finding a lip product that works well for you. Below, we gathered dermatologists’ tips to consider when you shop.
Look for the right type of moisturizer
To heal damaged lips, experts recommend looking for formulas that have the following types of moisturizers:
- Occlusives: Moisturizing ingredients and waxes that form a physical barrier on the skin are the most important ingredients in preventing water loss from the skin in winter. The most common occlusives found in lip treatments are petrolatum (petroleum jelly), coconut oil and beeswax.
- Emollients: Ingredients such as ceramides or squalane help strengthen the skin barrier, repairing damage. “Think of ceramides like the building block of your skin barrier,” says Mian. “Using a product with ceramides in it is going to help your skin to heal and going to help it to become nice and strong so that it’s less prone to moisture loss,” she says.
- Humectants: Ingredients such as hyaluronic acid or aloe vera help to draw moisture into the skin by binding with water molecules.
To treat chapped lips, you’ll want to look for products with emollients and/or occlusives, says King. “Humectant ingredients need to be combined with emollients and occlusives to be effective,” she says. Without these key components, any water pulled into the skin by humectants can evaporate, leaving lips even dryer.
Avoid irritating ingredients
As a general rule of thumb, simpler is better. Paradoxically, many popular lip balms and chapsticks have ingredients that irritate lips and cause further dryness. “There’s a lot of products on the market and some of them can be very irritating,” says Castilla.
Added ingredients can increase the risk of putting your lips in contact with something that might be irritating to already damaged skin. Castilla says cooling ingredients like camphor and menthol (a type of alcohol) as ones to watch out for. “They give a nice cooling sensation but they can end up leading to more dry, irritated skin,” she says. If you have sensitive skin and/or skin conditions like eczema, Castilla recommends avoiding fragrances and certain irritating flavorings like cinnamon and peppermint, which are all more likely to cause allergic reactions.
Finding a nonirritating balm may require a little trial and error. “Some people might be totally fine using Burt’s Bees, which has menthol in it, but for other people, that product might cause more irritation,” says Mian. If you’ve been using a balm for several days and see no improvement (or worsening dryness), consider switching to something gentler.
Choose something you’ll actually want to use
For any product to be effective, you have to actually want to use it regularly. There’s room for personal preference in choosing the best lip treatment. Mian, for example, tends to like waxy, stick-based formulas that are easy to reapply throughout the day and don’t require the use of your finger, “which may or may not be dirty,” she says. Castilla, on the other hand, avoids chapsticks since they typically have beeswax, which can be irritating to some people. Appearance may also be important to you — choosing a balm with a matte finish over a glossy formula may make you more likely to reapply.
Frequently asked questions
Lip masks , lip balms and chapsticks can all treat and prevent dry chapped lips. While you can use them interchangeably, there are differences worth noting. Lip masks are typically the heaviest formulas and are generally designed for overnight use, says Mian. “Lip masks tend to have more occlusive ingredients that are going to act like a shield,” she says. Lip balms, which are designed to be reapplied throughout the day, are lighter formulas. Chapsticks tend to have a waxier texture.
It’s important to apply SPF every day, including on your lips. In fact, lips are particularly vulnerable to sun damage. In addition to lip skin being thin, lips have little melanin, which gives skin its pigment and protects it from sun damage, says King. That makes them more prone to UV damage, which can cause signs of aging, skin cancer and actinic cheilitis (a precancerous condition also known as “sailor’s lip” that creates rough, scaly patches on the skin).
“Skin cancers of the lip have a higher risk of becoming invasive compared to most other areas,” says King. She recommends wearing a lip balm with at least SPF 30.
Castilla recommends taking it a step further for optimal protection. “It's really hard to protect your lips from the sun by just using a lip balm that has sunscreen because we're constantly talking and licking our lips,” she says. “It's better to protect your lips using a wide-brim hat,” she says.
Below, experts list their tips for avoiding dry, chapped lips:
- Don’t lick your lips. While it may be a natural impulse when lips feel dry, lip licking will only dry lips out more. “The saliva evaporates quickly and leaves your lips drier than they were before,” says King.
- Avoid over-exfoliating. Exfoliating dry skin might also seem like a natural move when you have chapped lips, but dermatologists advise against it. “When you have dry skin, it's an indicator of damaged skin barrier,” says Castilla. It's more important to repair that skin barrier than cause further irritation by exfoliating.
- Resist the urge to pick. “The more you pick, you're going to cause fissures and more trauma making it even harder to fix the underlying issue,” says Castilla.
- Get a humidifier , which can help increase moisture in the air and prevent further dryness, says Mian.
- Reapply every two hours or after eating and drinking.
One hack Mian frequently tells her patients about is lip slugging, which is the process of applying a thick layer of an occlusive moisturizer as a final step in your evening skin care routine to help seal in moisture overnight. Use lip balm with ceramides first and then apply a highly occlusive layer such as Vaseline . “What you're doing is you're using something with ceramides to help heal the lip barrier and then you're applying a protective layer over it to help lock everything in,” says Mian.
Meet our experts
At NBC Select, we work with experts who have specialized knowledge and authority based on relevant training and/or experience. We also take steps to ensure all expert advice and recommendations are made independently and without undisclosed financial conflicts of interest.
- Dr. Navin Arora is a board-certified dermatologist and clinical assistant professor at the Ronald O. Perelman Department of Dermatology at NYU Grossman School of Medicine. He is the founder of Borealis Dermatology in New York.
- Dr. Carmen Castilla is a board-certified dermatologist at the New York Dermatology Group in Manhattan specializing in both medical and cosmetic dermatology.
- Dr. Hadley King is a board-certified dermatologist at her own private practice in New York City. Her areas of expertise include medical and cosmetic dermatology.
- Dr. Kiran Mian is a board-certified dermatologist at Hudson Dermatology and Laser Surgery in New York City. She specializes in holistic treatments to target issues relating to hair, skin and nails.
Why trust NBC Select?
Macaela MacKenzie is a journalist and former Glamour editor who has covered beauty and wellness treatments for over a decade. Mili Godio is an updates editor at NBC Select who has written about beauty and skin care for four years. For this article, MacKenzie and Godio spoke to dermatologists about the causes of chapped lips, behavior changes that can help prevent them and the best products for remedying dryness.
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