Ok, so, one video I did post back in the summer was a little short about exfoliating your lips. Let me go over this again, covering the important of lip exfoliation.
First of all, there's the obvious reasons for exfoliating: having soft, kissable lips, and lips that feel good and aren't cracked and chapped, which not only can look unsightly but also be painful. But keeping your lips exfoliated and well hydrated, as well as using a lip product with an SPF is also important to prevent age lines and the eventual "feathering" of lip products when those lines begin to appear. Aside from that, if you have lips that have cracks and/or dry skin that's peeling, you really limit your choice of lip products. It looks absolutely terrible if you try wearing a lip color (lipstick) when your lips are in bad condition. The lipstick sinks into the cracks and make the dead skin and cracking look 10 times more obvious. Really the only lip product you can get away with when you have dry, peeling, chapped lips is an uncolored lip balm or clear lip gloss. Sometimes you can get away with a tinted gloss, but it depends on the variety.
Now, if you haven't seen the video, it just shows the simplest way you can exfoliate your lips. I'll cover that now, too. There are two very basic ways to exfoliate this area. For my preferred method, you'll need a small toothbrush (a cheap one will do just fine, just don't use one that you've used for brushing your teeth- that one would contain bacteria, and you don't want to be rubbing that on your lips) and a small jar of petroleum jelly, like Vaseline. For this method, wet your toothbrush and then, using your finger or a lip brush, apply a generous coating of the Vaseline all over your lips. Then, using the tooth brush, brush small circles gently all over your lips, focusing on the dry, peeling areas. Sometimes you might have to put a little more strength behind the scrubbing to remove stubborn dry skin. Once you're done, use a piece of tissue to wipe off your lips, wiping away and of the dead skin you scrubbed off. Then apply your favorite moisturizer lip product, like Carmex, Burt's Bees, Nivea, etc, or you can even just smooth on a little more of the petroleum jelly. I purchased a variety that is scented like cocoa butter, and it's great for my lips. Use a damp wash cloth or tissue to wipe off and clean the toothbrush and stow it away for your next use. This is my preferred method, and after a couple sessions, my lips look and feel awesome.
The second option I cover in the video is basically the same procedure, except instead of using a toothbrush, you use a wash cloth. Dampen a corner of a clean wash cloth and use it in place of the tooth brush. The application of the petroleum jelly is the same in this method.
Your third option is a lip exfoliating product. Philosophy sells an exfoliating lip scrub ($15 a tube on Amazon.com) which I've heard good things about and will likely try in the future. Or you can make your own. A super simple recipe for a lip exfoliator is to take a small amount of petroleum jelly, lip product (such as carmex) or even a bit of olive oil and mix equal parts of it with sugar (white or brown are both fine). Mix it up and then use it to scrub your lips. Wipe it off when your done and apply your favorite lip moisturizing product.
There you have it- easy, simple ways to keep your lips looking and feeling wonderful. So I don't want to see anyone bearing cracked, peeling lips, because you now have no excuse! :-P
Give one of these methods a try a time or two, and then put those awesome lips to good use- get to kissing someone special!
Have fun,
XoMuah!
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