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  • Guys, do your lips always get chapped? Yeahthat might be your fault.

  • Hey everyone! Lissette here for DNews. Chapped lips are terrible. It’s that uncomfortable

  • dry sensation on your lips, flaky or cracking skin, and in some of the worst cases, bleeding.

  • They're more common in certain seasons or climates.

  • But what causes your lips to chap in the first place?

  • To start, the skin on your lips is much more sensitive than the rest of the skin on your body.

  • Your lip structure is just different. While it is made up of the epidermis and dermis

  • like the rest of your skin, the outermost layer of the epidermis - the stratum corneum

  • is much thinner on our lips. So thin, that it allows more visibility into our blood vessels

  • giving our lips that reddish color. What’s more, lips don't have sweat glands to provide

  • moisture or hair to provide protection from the sun.

  • This helps explain why lips get more chapped in the cold winter months or after catching

  • some rays on a hot sandy beach. The excess wind, lack of moisture in the air, and UV rays

  • can cause your lips to lose moisture, burn, and they end up being chapped.

  • Yeah, chapped lips can just be a sunburn...on your lips. But it isn’t always the weather’s fault.

  • Sometimes you end up doing it to yourself.

  • Sorry. Have you ever woken up with super dry lips, especially when youre congested?

  • Well, this could be because you were breathing through your mouth,

  • removing the moisture from your lips!

  • And perhaps even worse, is the act of licking your lips excessively.

  • It may sound counter-intuitive, but as the saliva evaporates from your lips,

  • it sucks away heat and moisture,leaving your lips potentially drier than before you licked them.

  • Many products we use and foods we eat can also be the culprits. These range from irritating cosmetics,

  • toothpastes, medications, figs, food colorings, and, wait for iteven lip balm.

  • While some lip balms may be helpful, others can make chapped lips worse. I know,

  • this one really got me too. But, the problem is ingredients in some lip balms

  • Like propyl gallate, or phenyl salicylate, can be skin irritants,

  • and another, salicylic acid, can cause skin slough off more easily!

  • One super common lip balm ingredient that you may love is Menthol

  • it tastes and smells delicious but it's also an alcohol and can dry out your lips.

  • So what can you do restore moisture to your dry, chapped lips?

  • Staying hydrated, breathing through your nose, and using a humidifier during dry months,

  • definitely helps, not to mention avoiding licking your lips,

  • staying away from harmful products, and reducing sun and wind exposure.

  • But if you've just gotta get your lip balm fix, the Mayo Clinic says to try some good oil petroleum jelly.

  • But, the trick here, and with anything you use for your chapped lips,

  • is to make sure that it works for you. We all have different allergies, sensitivities, and reactions

  • to different products. So, what may work for your pout, may not work for someone else’s.

  • This is a pretty common problem for people in the winter, but different seasons will

  • affect our bodies in surprising ways! For example, did you know winter can alter your genetics?

  • Julia has the scoop in this video.

  • Guys, do you have any science questions? What should we look into next?

  • Tell us in the comments, subscribe for more DNews and thanks for watching!

Guys, do your lips always get chapped? Yeahthat might be your fault.

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