How to Safeguard Your Lips against the Ravaging Sun

Our lips are the most vulnerable body parts when it comes to the sun’s damaging effects. Somehow, they’re also commonly ignored. We tend to apply sun protection products to them either too early or too late. Sometimes, we forget to use protection at all.

Fortunately, there are comfortable and convenient ways to safeguard your lips against the sun – if you want to keep them full and healthy.

Why You Need to Protect your Lips

The skin of our lips is thinner and more vulnerable than any other skin area. It lacks melanin, so there’s no protection from the sun’s effects. Lips get their rose-pink color from the blood vessels which are right beneath their surface. The collagen they contain is sensitive to sun exposure too. Therefore, lips tend to get this over time if not protected.

Meanwhile, many women forget to use essential protection such as a lip balm with SPF, but they acknowledge the above facts when their lips get sunburned and they start looking for quick solutions. The sun’s ravaging effects are visible, uncomfortable, and sometimes painful.

According to experts, you can learn how to treat sunburned lips, in addition to how to treat sun blisters, with ingredients from your own home. However, you should first protect your lips against the harmful effects of UV rays.

How to Prevent Sun Burns on Your Lips?

According to the FDA’s guidelines, you should apply sunscreen all over your body, focusing on lips, nose, ears, neck, hands, and feet. There are also other ways to protect your lips and skin from the sun’s harmful rays.

By skipping the lip gloss, you decrease the chances of getting sun damage. Products that shine have a similar reflective effect as the surface of the water. Therefore, they expose you even more to harmful solar radiation instead of protecting you– even if some products have SPF.

If you can’t let go of that lipstick you’ve just bought, integrate the natural SPF balm into your makeup ritual. Apply the lipstick first and cover it with the balm. Remember that you still have to reapply the balm every one to two hours, as it may get absorbed through the lipstick.

How Natural Balms Protect Your Lips against the Sun?

The lips and other skin areas dry when exposed to the sun. Some conventional lip balms with high SPF also tend to dry the skin. Essential oils and extracts naturally contain SPF such as:

• Raspberry seed oil: SPF 25 – 50.
• Carrot seed essential oil: SPF 35- 40.
• Coconut oil: SPF 4 – 6.
• Almond oil: SPF 5.
• Shea butter: SPF 4 – 6.

The recipes, later in this post, use at least two of the oils necessary to create efficient natural sun protection which lasts for over an hour. If you accidentally run out of natural lip balm, you can tap your lips with one of the above natural oils on a napkin.

Protect Your Lips After Sun Exposure, too!

Your lips need constant hydration. You can refresh them when you get home by rinsing a soft washcloth in cold water or milk and placing it on your lips.

Aloe vera is soothing and has a calming effect that rebalances the lips. Get a vitamin boost from an aloe vera leaf by squeezing the gel off. Then, apply the gel to your lips. Such a solution also works when you feel your lips might have been sunburnt.

Here are five recipes of delicious and effective SPF lip balms you can make at home

#1 Grapeseed Oil Lip Balm

Ingredients:

• One tablespoon of organic cold-pressed coconut oil.
• ½ tablespoon of olive oil.
• One teaspoon of cocoa butter.
• ¾ teaspoon of grapeseed oil.
• ¾ tablespoon of organic shredded beeswax.
• Ten lip balm plastic tubes.
• 20 drops of your favorite essential oils – make a mix or two types.

Directions:

1. Melt the oils and beeswax in a pan over low heat.
2. Remove the pan and add the essential oils and grapeseed oil.
3. Pour the mix into the tubes while it’s still warm and melted using pipettes and let them chill in the fridge.

#2 Raspberry Seed Oil Lip Balm

Ingredients:

• Two tablespoons of coconut oil
• One tablespoon of olive oil
• ¾ tablespoon of organic shredded beeswax
• Two tablespoons of cocoa butter
• 2/3 teaspoon of red raspberry seed oil
• 15 drops of lavender essential oil
• Ten lip balm tubes

Directions:

1. Melt the oils and beeswax in a small pan.
2. Remove from heat and add the red raspberry seed oil, together with the essential oil.
3. Fill in the lip balm tubes.
4. If the mixture hardens before you finish filling the containers, merely reheat the pan for less than a minute.

#3 Vanilla Lip Balm

Ingredients:

• Two tablespoons of olive oil with calendula
• One tablespoon of jojoba oil
• One tablespoon of wheat germ oil
• Two tablespoons of beeswax
• 5 teaspoons of raspberry seed oil
• One teaspoon of shea butter
• 5 teaspoons of carnauba wax.
• 12 drops of vanilla essential oil
• Ten drops of carrot seed essential oil
• Five lip balm tubes

Directions:

1. Heat all the oils in a small pan.
2. Once they are melted, add the essential oils and stir with a small spatula until the mixture looks even.
3. Pour the result into the lip balm tubes and let the fresh lip balm harden.

#4 Chocolate Lip Balm

Ingredients:

• One tablespoon of sweet almond oil
• One tablespoon of castor oil
• ½ tablespoon of shredded carnauba wax.
• One tablespoon of cocoa butter
• One tablespoon of beeswax
• Nine drops of peppermint essential oil
• 6 drops of spearmint essential oil
• 5 lip balm tubes

Directions:

1. Melt the waxes, cocoa butter, and oils in a pan over low heat.
2. Remove the pan from the stove, add the essential oils, and mix.
3. Pour the mixture into lip balm tubes.

Remember that the key to success is to apply for solar protection anytime, anywhere. Ensure you wear a balm with SPF protection before leaving home instead of putting it on when you get to the beach. Reapply it more often in wet conditions and keep the balm away from the sun to prevent it from melting.

Ethel Huizar is a Dental Hygienist and a Co-Founder at HealthRow. She has a Master’s Degree in Public Health from the University of Colorado. While exploring health-related topics, writing, and doing research, she aims to inform her readers about the number of ways to lead healthier lives.