12 Easy Home Remedies for Chapped Lips

The protective layer on the skin of your lips is far too thinner than the skin of your face. It has only three to five cellular layers whereas the skin of your face has up to 16 layers! This makes your lips prone to moisture loss in a big way. Not only this, there is no sweat glands too on your lips. If you think for a while, your lips never sweat! Also there is no hair on lips thereby no hair follicle that may secret sebum or oil to keep your lips moist and hydrated. Sometimes weather too contributes in making your lips dried and chapped such as winter months that lack humidity in air. Your lips are not safe even in summers due to over exposure to sun rays that make it more drier by sucking whatever moisture it has. Sometimes you knowingly or unknowingly lick your lips and the saliva of your mouth too contributes in making it dry as if all the above causes for chapped lips were not enough! So, what to do? Because your lips cannot remain moist themselves, you need to provide them with extra moisture. These home remedies for chapped lips are meant exactly for this, to tell you what all can lend moisture to your lips so that they remain wet and plump!

Home Remedies for Chapped Lips

1. Use Coconut Oil to Moisturize Chapped Lips

Coconut oil has these exclusive medium chain fatty acids that can be easily absorbed by your skin, including lips. This oil is an excellent emollient which softens your lips and keep them moisturized for longer periods. What is also important is that coconut oil contains vitamin E and antioxidants that go a long way to give you healthy hydrated lips.

How to Use Coconut Oil for Chapped Lips?

You just need to take a few drops of coconut oil and rub it gently over your lips whenever you feel them going dry. Also use this oil regularly before yo go to sleep at night.

2. Almond Oil to Cure Chapped Lips

Almond oil, extracted from almond seeds, is loaded with protein, vitamin E and B vitamins along with essential minerals and healthy fats. The riboflavin (vitamin B2) in this oil can boost the ability to retain moisture wherever you apply it- skin or lips. It also protects your lips from sun damage. Most importantly, almond oil has got emollient properties that rejuvenate and soften your lips. Like other oils, you just need to apply few drops of almond oil to your chapped lips several times a day.

3. Use Honey for Chapped Lips

Honey is a natural humectant which is capable of attracting and retaining moisture. There are certain amino acids in honey that help retain moisture. Chapped lips are usually accompanied by minor cuts over the lips. If that’s the case with your lips, honey is the remedy for you. The enzyme glucose oxidase is there in raw honey which, when mixed with water, produces hydrogen peroxide. It is a mild antiseptic which can cure superficial cuts and wounds. Honey is also a good natural exfoliant due to the presence of various organic acids. It can thus get you rid of dead cells to give you smooth soft lips. You just have to apply some honey to your chapped lips throughout the day. However, if you can’t stand the sticky sweetness on your lips all through the day, try other remedies like making a lip balm, of course using honey as one of its ingredients, which is also our next remedy for chapped lips. This way, you don’t have to place honey in raw form over your lips.

4. Homemade Almond Oil-Honey Lip Balm

Now when almond oil and honey, both are so good to get rid of chapped lips, why not use them to make an all natural lip balm at home! This is easy to make and also easy to use if you don’t like the oily feeling on your lips or even the sticky lips due to honey. Beeswax used in this lip balm gives it the appearance and feel of some commercial lip balm.

Get this:

• Sweet almond oil- 1 cup
• Beeswax- ½ cup
• Honey- 2 tbsp
• Heavy based stainless steel saucepan or double boiler
• Jar or container with lid

Do this:

• Place beeswax and the almond oil in the stainless steel pan.
• Turn on the heat and place the pan over it. Keep the heat at low setting. You may also use double boiler to melt the beeswax mixed with almond oil.
• Keep on stirring with a wooden spoon or whisk while the wax gets melted.
• When it completely melts, whisk in the honey. Stir well to mix them thoroughly.
• Let it cool down completely before you store this homemade lip balm in a container.
• You may even use the old lip balm stick containers to store this balm.
• Apply a little amount of this lip balm through out the day to get rid of dry chapped lips.

5. Make Olive Oil-Coconut Oil Lip Balm

Olive oil contains healthy fats that can moisturize your lips as well as skin very well. It is also rich in Vitamin E, yet another very good nutrient for skin. Due to its antioxidant and anti-inflammatory properties, olive oil makes a good remedy for your chapped lips. You can make it more effective by adding coconut oil and honey to give you an excellent all natural lip balm.

Get this

• Olive oil- 1 tbsp
• Coconut oil- 1tbsp
• Honey- ¾ tsp

Do this:

• Mix olive and coconut oil with honey.
• Stir them well.
• This makes enough quantity to give you your whole day’s required lip balm.
• Store it in a small container and apply to your lips throughout the day.

[Also Read: How to Lighten Dark Lips Naturally]

6. Sea Salt Scrub for Chapped Lips

When your dry lips begin to crack, it becomes flaky which is not at all good to see and feel! Therefore, along with your skin, you need to exfoliate your lips too. It makes the dead skin fall off so that you may get soft smooth lips that lie underneath your outer lip skin. While you can always rub your lips with a dampened soft cloth or soft brush, it is always more beneficial to use a lip scrub. When you buy commercially available lip balms, they come with chemicals and other such agents like phenol and alpha hydroxy acids (AHAs). That’s why, it is better to use natural ingredients to make a lip scrub. Sea salt is one such ingredient whose trace minerals help soothe and heal your inflamed skin having rashes and itching or even when its oozing. Because your chapped lips actually need healing due to all cracks and dried itching skin, sea salt scrub is a great choice for you.

How to Make Sea Salt Scrub for Chapped Lips?

Get this:

• Coconut oil- 1 tsp
• Sea salt- 1 tsp

Do this:

• Mix sea salt with coconut oil.
• Dab some of this mixture on to your chapped lips.
• Now rub your lips with your fingers gently.
• Do this for about one minute or a little more till you feel a softness in your lips. Don’t overdo though as sea salt has drying effect too. However, coconut oil takes care of its drying effect by providing moisture at the same time.
• Now wash off your lips and pat it dry.
• You may like to apply some moisturizer to your lips after scrubbing. Use natural ones if you like that. Any oil or even shea butter, coco butter or mango butter, will do.

7. Mango Butter for Softening Chapped Lips

If you step out to buy lip balms, you’ll find many good ones having mango butter or mango oil as their main ingredient. This is all for good reasons, especially the unique fatty acids combination of mango butter and its nutrients like vitamin A, and E as well as the antioxidants. The very soft mango butter is extracted from mango kernels and is used extensively in making soaps, skin care, and hair care products. When you touch mango butter, you feel it like shea or cocoa butter but it differs in its fatty acid contents that also make it an excellent emollient. The fats that mango butter contains are composed chiefly of oleic and stearic acids that are triglycerides. Human sebum too is largely composed of triglycerides. Oleic and stearic acids are both hydrophobic and hydrophilic, thus attracting and repelling water at the same time. Hydrophilic means the one which absorbs water and hydrophobic means the one which repels or pushes away water. These two triglycerides, therefore, will lock moisture in your lips along with making them waterproof so that they do not get dried off easily.

There are no specific steps involved in applying mango butter to your dried chapped lips. You just need to use it as you would use a lip balm. You may even use mango oil which is an oil fraction obtained during the processing of mango butter.

8. Aloe Vera gel for Chapped Lips

If you constantly have to stay out in harsh weather conditions, you may well think of using aloe vera gel for your chapped lips due to its hygroscopic property. This property makes aloe gel capable of attracting and holding water molecules from the surrounding environment. Thus, when you will apply aloe gel to your dry chapped lips, it will make them moist by absorbing the moisture from around.

Ways to Use Aloe Vera Gel on Lips

1. Cut open a piece of aloe vera leaf and take out its fresh gel. Apply this to your lips.
2. You may even buy pure aloe vera gel but make sure it doesn’t contain any chemical.
3. Make an aloe vera lip balm by adding ½ tsp of coconut oil and a few drops of vitamin E oil with 1 tsp of aloe vera gel. Apply this to your chapped lips several times a day.
4. You may also mix aloe vera gel with olive oil and apply this to your lips.
5. As aloe vera is a very good carrier for essential oils, you may mix it with any of such oils to make your lips soft and smooth. Rose hip oil is one such essential oil which is our next remedy too.

9. Rose hip Seed Oil for Chapped Lips

Rose hip seed oil is usually considered an anti aging essential oil as it helps in producing elastin and collagen that make our skin stay firm and younger. When you apply this oil on your dry or chapped lips, it not only makes them soft but can turn them pink by helping produce newer skin there. It also reduces scars and protects from sun rays damage.

How to Use Rose Hip Oil on Lips?

Get this:

• Rose hip seed oil- 1-2 drops
• Coconut oil- ½ – 1 tsp

Do this:

• Combine the essential oil with coconut oil and mix well.
• Apply this to your lips many times a day.
• You may also apply this as your night time lip balm.
• Instead of coconut oil, you may use any other carrier oil like olive oil or can mix rose hip oil with aloe vera gel or some butter and then apply to your chapped lips.

10. Sugar Scrub for Chapped Lips

Sugar, when consumed, may make you gain weight but when applied on skin or lips, may give you ultra soft smoothness that you’ll love to touch, feel and have! Why is sugar so good for skin care? Because sugar is a natural humectant. It draws moisture from the surrounding environment and hydrates your skin as well as locks the moisture into the skin. And why is sugar a good scrubbing agent? Because it is one of the natural sources of glycolic acid and also because its small particles make it suitable for exfoliating rough, dried, cracked or chapped skin. Glycolic acid is an alpha hydroxy acid (AHA) having the ability to penetrate the skin and destroy the bonds within skin cells. This makes weaker and dead skin cells fall off giving way to fresher, younger skin. When using sugar scrub for sensitive skin such as that of lips, you should prefer using brown sugar because it is softer than granulated sugar and will not harm your sensitive skin while exfoliating the dead cells off your chapped lips.

1st Way to Make Sugar Scrub for Chapped Lips: Honey-Sugar-Scrub

Get this:

• Sugar, preferably brown- 2 tsp
• Honey- 2 tsp
• Warm water

Do this:

• Mix honey and sugar.
• Apply this to your chapped lips.
• Let it sit there for a couple of minutes.
• Now rub the sugar honey mixture on your lips gently with fingers.
• Do this for about a minute.
• Wash off with warm water.

2nd Way to Make Sugar Scrub for Chapped Lips: Olive oil-Honey-Sugar-Scrub

Get this:

• Brown sugar- 1 tbsp
• Olive oil- 1 tsp
• Honey- 1 tbsp

Do this:

• Mix all the ingredients- oil, honey and sugar.
• Mix them to make a gritty paste.
• Apply this mixture to your lips.
• Gently rub it on your lips for about a minute.
• After rubbing, leave it there for about 2 minutes.
• Then wash off with warm water.
• Store the remaining scrub in a small container for next use.

11. Rose Petals Remedy for Chapped Lips

Rose is one of the oldest ingredients used for skin and its problems, in fact, more to increase the beauty of skin! It is a herb which is suitable for all skin types, especially fro dry and aging skin. Rose petals have natural oils that can lock moisture into your skin giving you relief from dryness and of course cracked and chapped skin. Rose petals also have natural astringent properties with a toning effect on the capillaries underneath your skin surface. It is thus capable of decreasing the redness caused by enlarged capillaries which is shown off as inflammation. Its vitamin C and antioxidants protect you from the damage caused by sun rays too. So if you want soft pink rosy lips, use rose petals in one of the following ways.

1st Way to use Rose Petals for Chapped Lips: Milk-Rose Lip Mask

Get this:

• Rose petals- a handful
• Milk- enough to soak rose petals

Do this:

• Wash the rose petals thoroughly.
• Soak them in milk for 2-3 hours.
• Now mash the petals along with the milk. You’ll get a thick paste.
• Apply this paste on your lips.
• Leave it there for 5-10 minutes.
• Wash off.
• Repeat 2-3 times a day. Also do this before going to sleep at night.

If you are allergic to dairy products and cannot use milk, read the steps below to use honey and water with rose petals to make lip mask for your chapped lips.

2nd Way to use Rose Petals for Chapped Lips: Honey-Rose Lip Mask

Get this:

• Rose petals- 8-10
• Water- 1-2 tbsp
• Honey- 1-2 tbsp

Do this:

• Soak the rose petals in water for 2-3 hours.
• Mash the petals to get a paste.
• Add honey to this.
• Mix well and apply this to your lips.
• Leave for 10-15 minutes.
• Wash off with water.
• Repeat 3-4 times a day.

12. Apply Mustard Oil to Navel- Ayurvedic Remedy for Chapped Lips

This might be a little awkward to you but its an age old practice in India. Not only mustard oil but ghee (clarified butter) and many other medicines are also administered to the body through navel or the belly button, especially to small children. Why is the question? It is the navel only through which you get all your nutrients when you are still unborn and in your mother’s womb! Just remember this crucial information and let go all your doubts. Rubbing mustard oil into your navel will not do any harm except staining your clothes a little that too when you are not careful enough. Mustard oil has good amounts of Omega Alpha – 3 and Omega Alpha- 6 fatty acids along with antioxidants and vitamin E that make it a good moisturizing agent for your chapped lips. However, because it is a bit too strong, its better not to apply it directly on to your lips. Just dab a little mustard oil into your navel after bathing and before going to sleep at night. If you can’t handle it after bathing, use it only at night. And be patient as you will definitely see the results in a few days in the form of soft supple lips.

Some Tips to Avoid and Cure Chapped Lips

1. Along with using home remedies for chapped lips, remember to drink a lots of water during the day. Dehydration is one of the causes of dry and chapped lips. When you keep your body hydrated by drinking enough water, it helps cure peeled and flaky lips.
2. Sometimes deficiency of vitamin A in your body also causes dry chapped lips. Include vitamin A rich foods in your diet such as carrots, green leafy vegetables, tomatoes, legumes, whole grains etc. to fight off dryness from within your body.
3. If you are a woman fond of using lipsticks, try to use chemical free lip products as these harmful substances too make your lips dry and crack. Its better to use moisturizer-based lipsticks. Also let your lips breathe by not putting lipstick all the times. Remember to clean off your lips at night and apply a moisturizer before you go to bed.
4. Most importantly, avoid licking your lips with your tongue. Wetting the lips often make your lips go dark, dry and chapped.