The lip is a glaring part of the body; despite its small size, it gives enough description of the body. This soft, movable part of the body functions as the opening for food intake, and the articulation of sound and speech. Your lips are also a tactile sensory organ, and can serve as an erogenous zone when used for kissing and intimacy.
Nonetheless, if you don’t take your lips seriously, you stand a risk of developing some lip diseases, as well as have a poor-lookking lips.
That said, here are simple, but practical tips on how to keep your lips healthy.
1. Avoid Dehydration
Unlike the other skin parts, the lips lack oil glands, so they are susceptible to dryness, and dry skin leads to various diseases. Therefore, you should drink an adequate amount of water daily. There are also many other ways to stay more hydrated, and replenished.
2. Get more vitamin E
Vitamin E is suitable for your lips; the nutrient plays an influential role in softening your lips. It achieves this by improving blood circulation around the lip tissue. Furthermore, our lips hate harsh weather, especially the winter. Vitamin E can salvage this condition by stimulating skin cells regeneration.
As we age, our lips become thinner and wrinkled, thereby becoming less attractive. Vitamin E prevents this by mopping up free radicals that might initiate skin aging. You can get vitamin E from almonds, sunflower, wheat germ oils, etc.
3. Moisturize regularly
Skin dryness, otherwise known as chapped skin, occur due to the weather, medication, or infection. Moisturizing your lips frequently is one hack to put this condition at bay.
You can start by drinking clean water regularly. Also, hyaluronic or aloe vera helps moisturize your lips and reverse a dry lip to a moisturized one. Use good skincare products to keep your lips soft and clean.
4. Exfoliate your lips frequently
Exfoliation helps keep your skin healthy; the simple technique removes dead and dry skin to facilitate the regeneration of new and healthy ones.
Although it is advisable to exfoliate regularly, you do not have to overdo it; you could start by practicing it once a week. Get an exfoliating agent(sugar), mix it with shea butter, apply it around your lips, and wash it off after some time.
5. Quit smoking
A straightforward way to identify chronic smokers is by looking at their lips. Most of them possess dry, dark, hard, and unattractive lips. The culprit indicated in this unfavorable condition is nicotine, the main constituent in cigarettes. The substance restricts the blood vessels, thereby affecting the transportation of blood, oxygen, and other nutrients to the lips.
On the other hand, the skin houses collagen and elastin, two components that confer elasticity on the lip. Chronic smoking destroys these two proteins, therefore the skin becomes wrinkled, dry, and sagged in no time.
6. Protect your lips from the sun
Although the sun benefits the body through vitamin D production, it is advisable not to stay under it for an extended period. Your lips are susceptible to sunburns and chronic sun damage which can cause pain and increase the risk of developing skin cancer. According to studies, the lower lip is 12 times more likely to be affected by skin cancer than the upper lip.
The ultraviolet rays destroy the structures that preserve the skin resulting in skin soreness, ulceration, and cracks. Hence, you should protect your lips from sunburn.
7. Practice safe sex
Oral herpes is one of the main diseases that affects the lips. It is usually caused by the herpes simplex 1 virus, or HSV-1. The disease is spread through intimate contact with an infected person, either by kissing and oral sex. However sharing drinking cups, eating utensils, and other items can also pass along the virus. The herpes sores or lesions appear on the lips and typically last a week to 10 days. You should always use condoms and dental dams during oral, anal, and vaginal sex.
Bottom Line
These tips on how to keep your lips healthy are exactly what you need to ensure your lips are always looking great.
