While vacationing in Florida for the month, I thought I had all my bases covered -- Lancome UV Expert 20 sunscreen with mexoryl for my face and body, zinc oxide to cover those delightful freckled age spots, a Coolibar hat that keeps out 99 percent UVA and UVB rays, but guess what I forgot to address? My lips! With lips beyond recognition, I traversed through the kitchen to find a quick, effective, and inexpensive remedy for my swollen and painful lips.
With lips like Angelina Jolie's, I should have been ecstatic, but not only did I have newfound plump lips, but I had a newfound speech impediment. With increased volume triple of my original lips, I couldn't enunciate my words. My first day on the beach, I made the unfortunate mistake of applying a conventional lip balm containing petrolatum-based ingredients, but because the molecules are too big, lip skin can't absorb the ingredients, and now my sunburned Angelina Jolie lips need TLC.
To return my lips from Botox plump and sunburned sexy to thin and deflated (oh, can't I hold onto the Angelina Jolie look without the pain), here are 2 effective remedies for sunburned or chapped lips:
- Mix a dab of honey with brown sugar and massage lips with a toothbrush. Sugar is a naturally abrasive exfoliant, and honey contains an exfoliating enzyme, as well as a mild antiseptic that kills bacteria and a natural humectant that helps the skin retain moisture.
- Another natural exfoliant is sugar cane, a source of glycolic acid, which exfoliates and hydrates. You can make a paste of sugar and olive oil and massage it on your lips with a toothbrush.
Natural moisturizers like shea butter, beeswax, sweet almond oil, jojoba oil, or hempseed oil, all of which can naturally penetrate the skin, is what I should have had in my beach lip and skin care arsenal. If you would rather buy a product, the two listed below offer you some of the same benefits as the do-it-yourself versions with more convenience, but you can save $30 by doing it yourself. That's brains on beauty.
Jane Iredale's Sugar and Butter Lip Duo ($24 Lovelyskin.com)
Buddha Nose Certified Organic Lip Balm ($6 Amazon.com)
You can find me at the beach. Between the sunscreen, my large Coolibar hat, dots of zinc oxide, and my Angelina Jolie lips, I'm not sure you would recognize me. But if you do, pull up a beach chair and chat a while.
