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Guys, do your lips always get chapped? Yeah… that might be your fault.
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Hey everyone! Lissette here for DNews. Chapped lips are terrible. It’s that uncomfortable
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dry sensation on your lips, flaky or cracking skin, and in some of the worst cases, bleeding.
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They're more common in certain seasons or climates.
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But what causes your lips to chap in the first place?
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To start, the skin on your lips is much more sensitive than the rest of the skin on your body.
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Your lip structure is just different. While it is made up of the epidermis and dermis
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like the rest of your skin, the outermost layer of the epidermis - the stratum corneum
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is much thinner on our lips. So thin, that it allows more visibility into our blood vessels
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giving our lips that reddish color. What’s more, lips don't have sweat glands to provide
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moisture or hair to provide protection from the sun.
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This helps explain why lips get more chapped in the cold winter months or after catching
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some rays on a hot sandy beach. The excess wind, lack of moisture in the air, and UV rays
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can cause your lips to lose moisture, burn, and they end up being chapped.
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Yeah, chapped lips can just be a sunburn...on your lips. But it isn’t always the weather’s fault.
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Sometimes you end up doing it to yourself.
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Sorry. Have you ever woken up with super dry lips, especially when you’re congested?
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Well, this could be because you were breathing through your mouth,
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removing the moisture from your lips!
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And perhaps even worse, is the act of licking your lips excessively.
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It may sound counter-intuitive, but as the saliva evaporates from your lips,
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it sucks away heat and moisture,leaving your lips potentially drier than before you licked them.
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Many products we use and foods we eat can also be the culprits. These range from irritating cosmetics,
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toothpastes, medications, figs, food colorings, and, wait for it… even lip balm.
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While some lip balms may be helpful, others can make chapped lips worse. I know,
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this one really got me too. But, the problem is ingredients in some lip balms…
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Like propyl gallate, or phenyl salicylate, can be skin irritants,
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and another, salicylic acid, can cause skin slough off more easily!
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One super common lip balm ingredient that you may love is Menthol
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it tastes and smells delicious but it's also an alcohol and can dry out your lips.
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So what can you do restore moisture to your dry, chapped lips?
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Staying hydrated, breathing through your nose, and using a humidifier during dry months,
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definitely helps, not to mention avoiding licking your lips,
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staying away from harmful products, and reducing sun and wind exposure.
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But if you've just gotta get your lip balm fix, the Mayo Clinic says to try some good oil petroleum jelly.
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But, the trick here, and with anything you use for your chapped lips,
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is to make sure that it works for you. We all have different allergies, sensitivities, and reactions
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to different products. So, what may work for your pout, may not work for someone else’s.
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This is a pretty common problem for people in the winter, but different seasons will
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affect our bodies in surprising ways! For example, did you know winter can alter your genetics?
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Julia has the scoop in this video.
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Guys, do you have any science questions? What should we look into next?
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Tell us in the comments, subscribe for more DNews and thanks for watching!