Soft, smooth lips are ideal when it comes to applying your favorite lip gloss and lipstick. Don’t let chapped lips keep you from that!

We’re here to help you understand how you end up with dry chapped lips in the first place, so you can get rid of them and perfect your pout. Knowledge, like a statement lip, is power.

Why do lips become chapped? 

Lips can become dry and flaky for a number of reasons, but the primary culprits are climate-controlled settings, excessive mouth breathing, consistently licking your lips, and dehydration.

A climate-controlled setting refers to a place where the air conditioner or central air is constantly running, whether that’s an office, school or your bedroom. Recycled air lacks moisture, so temperature-controlled areas can be incredibly drying.

Excessive breathing through the mouth is a more obvious culprit — when your nose is plugged and you’re consistently passing air across your lips, it can easily dry out your pucker.

If you’re the type of person who habitually licks or bites their lips, you may be accidentally drying them out. While saliva temporarily hydrates the lips, it then dries and dehydrates them all over again. Over time, your lips produce less oils that keep them hydrated.

Dehydration is the most common culprit of dry lips, and it can result from diet, smoking, alcohol, or excessive sun exposure. Doctors recommend 2 liters of water a day for women (eight 8 oz. glasses), and remember that certain liquids (alcohol and sodas in particular) dehydrate your body more than they hydrate it.

What are the best ways to prevent dry, chapped lips?

1. Drink more water!

Self explanatory. Keep your body hydrated so it can function in the way that it should, keeping your lips silky smooth, instead of flaky and dry.

2. Try a humidifier.

Creating a more humid home or office environment will keep your lips from drying out and chapped skin from developing. Moisture in the air = moisture in your lips!

3. Hydrate that pucker.

Carry a hydrating lip balm throughout the day and apply frequently. When picking your chapstick, look for ingredients such as shea butter, natural oils (almond, coconut, jojoba, olive, hemp seed, avocado and grapeseed) and aloe. Make sure that camphor, phenol and menthol are not ingredients in your chosen lip products, as these are known to dehydrate.

If your lips are already feeling super dry and flaky, throwing on a simple chapstick won’t solve your problem. Try out a good lip scrub or a treatment lip balm, which will work harder to combat those dry, pesky flakes. Also, try patting a couple of drops of a serum like SLMD's Hyaluronic Acid Serum  directly onto clean lips. It can offer benefits in seconds, either as a hydrating mask or a primer before applying other lip products.