Lips How to keep `em happy

Better Nutrition, Nov, 1998 by Nancy Dodd Cates

Our lips frame one of our most notable features -- our smile. But if our lips are dry, cracked, chapped, or blistered, there's not much to smile about.

Since lips lack a barrier of dead, but protective, cells and have fewer and thinner layers of skin than the rest of our bodies do, they tend to dry out easily and are especially sensitive to extremes in weather, including summer sun, autumn wind, and winter sun glare.

Fortunately, there are a number of protective products -- in the form of balms, gels, salves, sticks, and tubes -- to keep lips happy, and looking and feeling good. So pucker-up and kiss those dry, chapped lips goodbye!

Know your allergies to certain ingredients before you buy.

When buying lip products in any form, especially cosmetics, be sure to check the list of ingredients for those to which you are, or may be, allergic. A condition called cheilitis, dermatitis of the lips, is caused by an allergic reaction to lip products. Because of its thinness, the skin on the lips is especially susceptible to allergies and reactions to common allergens, such as lanolin and dyes. The symptoms include dry, cracked, chapped, and peeling skin on the lips. Avoiding products with perfumes or staining dyes may help clear up the problem.

Protection from the elements: indoors & outdoors

Indoors, heating systems and air conditioners, which create a low-moisture content in the air, are drying to lips. While outdoors, sun, wind, and dry air are our lips' biggest enemies. Lips are especially susceptible to the sun because they lack sufficient melanin -- a skin pigment that screens out ultraviolet rays -- to protect them. The sun can cause damage ranging from serious -- like setting the stage for squamous cancer cells which appear as a non-healing ulcer on the lower lip -- to chapping, to first-degree sunburn.

Fortunately, many lip products now contain sunblocks and sunscreens. Because the sun is out year `round, be sure to use a protective lip product daily -- preferably one with a sun protection factor (SPF) of at least 15, but preferably 30 or 45, to protect lips from the damaging rays of the sun. Many of these products come in tasty flavors, too.

Adding some color to your lips -- naturally

Lip color products are comprised of: 1) the pigment (or color); 2) the emollients (or oils), which serve as the carriers for the pigment, and take the form of creams, lotions, moisturizers, or skin softeners; and 3)the wax, for product shape. The amount of wax and/or oil depends on the product form. A tube or lip pencil will contain more wax, while jar products or lip glosses have more oil.

The colors come in mattes, which are not shiny and usually last longer; creams, with a mixture of oils that melt on contact with the lips and help soften them, have the widest variety of colors, and, although they apply more evenly, look best when freshly applied; glosses, which contain less wax and more oils for a shinier look; and natural stains, which give only a hint of color and wear off more naturally. Lip foundations or primers are also available in a natural color as an undercoat, and most have some sun protection.

Tips for applying lip color

Whether you use a tube or a small round jar of lipstick, if you apply it with a small brush, you will add more color and avoid contamination. Start from the center of the upper lip and move to the corners then repeat for the lower lip.

Lip liners serve two purposes: redefining the size of the lip and stopping lipstick from "bleeding," or smearing off the lips. To redefine the lip shape, use the liner first by applying dots along the upper lip line and dashes along the bottom of the lower lip, then connect the dots and dashes. To stop lipstick from bleeding, apply the lipstick first and then use a lip pencil along the lip line as a boundary. Also, lip pencils can also be applied to fill in the lips as a matte color.

REFERENCES

"Natural Skin Care Ingredients from A to Z ... ," Natural Pharmacy, September 1997.

Duke, James A., Ph.D. The Green Pharmacy. Emmaus, Penn.: Rodale Press, 1997.

Irons, Diane. The World's Best-Kept Beauty Secrets. Naperville, Ill.: Sourcebooks, Inc., 1997.

Squier, Thomas Broken Bear. Herbal Folk Medicine: An A-to-Z Guide, An Owl Book. New York: Henry Holt and Company, 1997.

Stehlin, Dori. "Cosmetic Safety: More Complex Than at First Blush," FDA Consumer, May 1995.

Winters, Ruth. A Consumer's Dictionary of Cosmetic Ingredients. N.Y: Crown Trade Paperback, 1994.

RELATED ARTICLE: Keeping lips looking good

* A dab of honey across your lips provides a protective barrier and is rich in moisturizers.

* A blue-based lipstick, such as a burgundy or plum, will make the teeth look whiter. Orange-red and brown shades tend to enhance yellowed or discolored teeth.

* To determine whether your skin has pink or yellow undertones, compare to pink versus coral-colored lipsticks. If your skin color matches the pink, choose colors in that range; if closer to the coral, then you have yellow undertones and should choose Colors to match.