Overview
Healthy, plump lips are the strong point of a beautiful face. Not only do they add charm to our personality, but they also help express a myriad of emotions. When compared to the skin on your face, the skin on your lips is significantly more fragile. Because of this, it's essential to take good care of your lips and apply a nourishing lip balm.
They moisturise your lips and give them a tinge of colour. It aids in enhancing your appearance and gives you a youthful aspect. Here are a few advantages of using a lip balm that will make it clear why it's essential to include one in your daily regimen.
Lip balm
A lip balm is a wax-like mixture that hydrates and moisturises our lips. It shields our lips from the chilly and dry air that dries them out. Lip tissue is delicate and devoid of oil glands. Lips become more prone to dehydration as a result. Petroleum jelly and other products like lip balms stop lips from drying out and treat chapped, dry lips.
Beeswax, camphor, paraffin, acetyl alcohol, and other dyes, scents, and flavours are frequently found in lip balms. But over time, skincare companies have come to understand how important it is to make skincare products with natural components.
They have launched lip care items free of dangerous substances like parabens and sulphates. The best lip balms for everyday use include grapefruit and macadamia, which provide your lips with natural sun protection and use vital nutrients to hydrate chapped lips.
Benefits of using lip balm
Lip balms are a must-have in any woman's purse. There are numerous advantages of using lip balm. In the absence of lipsticks, they moisturise your lips and give a pop of colour to your face.
Here are a few additional advantages of lip balms that make their inclusion among other cosmetic products a necessity.
Defend lips from UV rays:
Our lips lose moisture when they are exposed to the sun's harsh UV radiation on a regular basis. Lip balms that contain grapefruit's natural goodness and its UV protection shield your lips from the sun's rays while also hydrating, keeping them soft and plump.
Heal chapped lips
Lip creams with nourishing ingredients like castor oil, almond oil, and macadamia nut oil calm the skin and treat chapped lips.
Good exfoliants
Lip balms contain specific ingredients that help repair and rejuvenate drab lips and softly exfoliate dead skin.
Overnight lip mask
Lip balms make excellent overnight lip treatments when applied before bed. By eliminating toxins and rejuvenating the face, they nourish the lips. Using lip balm before bed helps keep the lips supple all night.
Add a dash of colour
Many lip balms contain dyes that give lips a little bit of hue. The best lipstick substitutes are tinted lip balms because they moisturise, pamper, and colourise your mouth while hydrating your lips.
Best ingredients to use for lip balm
Lip balms contain a range of ingredients. Check the ingredients before committing to a brand to ensure your lips receive the finest care possible. You only need a few effective ingredients to make an impact, not many.
Honey - Honey is a humectant, which means it draws moisture. Honey can help exfoliate lips and keep them moisturised and healthy when used as a component of lip balm.
Castor oil - Castor oil, produced from castor seeds, has been used for many years in a variety of medications. Compared to other vegetable oils, it absorbs into the skin better. Castor oil and hemp seed oil can be used to treat dry lips.
Petroleum jelly, petrolatum, and mineral oil- Humans had used petroleum jelly or petrolatum as a lip balm since before it was commercially discovered in the 1800s. One of the components of petroleum ointment is mineral oil. Because they both retain moisture, petroleum jelly and mineral oil are frequently used in lip balms. They can aid in the recovery of chapped lips.
Shea butter and cocoa butter-The shea tree and the cocoa bean are the sources of the natural lipids known as shea and cocoa butter, respectively. Butters that help your lips retain moisture and repair chapped lips include shea and cocoa.
Lanolin - Woolly creatures like sheep produce wax known as lanolin. Due to its role in retaining hydration, it can soothe chapped lips. According to one research, it can lower skin water loss by 20% to 30%.
5 Best lip balm recipes you can try at home
Pure Essential Oil Lip Balm
Ingredients
- ¼ cup mango or cocoa butter
- A little soy wax or beeswax
- Several drops of your favourite essential oil
- One teaspoon of beetroot powder
Steps
Melt soy wax in a makeshift double boiler.
blend them and the mango butter into the wax
Add your favourite essential oil like grapefruit or peppermint.
Add a few amounts of beer root powder and stir well for the colour until there are no lumps.
Let the lip balm cool down, and then carefully pour it into a lip balm container.
Rose lip balm
Ingredients
- One tablespoon beeswax
- ½ tablespoon castor oil
- One teaspoon of vanilla extract
- One tablespoon of cocoa butter
- Three tablespoons of rose-infused oil
- ¼ teaspoon powdered alkanet root
Steps
Melt the beeswax and add cocoa butter, castor oil, and rose-infused oil.
Add vanilla extract for some fragrance.
Add your alkanet root powder for natural colour.
When the mixture cools down, pour it into a lip balm container and place it in the fridge to set.
Hemp and honey Lip Balm
Ingredients
- One teaspoon of hemp oil
- Four teaspoons of almond oil
- Two teaspoons honey
- 10g beeswax
- 15g shea butter
- 10g cocoa butter
Steps
Beeswax, cocoa, and shea butter should all be melted in a double pot.
Stir in the honey, hemp oil, and almond oil until the mixture becomes watery.
This combination should include honey.
Stir the mixture with a milk frother.
Pour the balm into jars to set once it achieves a medium-thick consistency.
Shea butter lip balm
Ingredients
- 1 tablespoon shea butter
- 1 tablespoon beeswax
- 1 tablespoon raw, organic coconut oil
- 1 teaspoon raw honey
- 4-5 drop of lemon essential oil
Steps
- Shea butter, beeswax, and coconut oil should first be added to a pot and heated in a double boiler on the burner.
- Whisk in the natural honey and essential oil after they have melted.
- Transfer it into tubes or jars as desired once it has cooled.
- When your lips seem to need some moisture, apply this. Additionally, it is fantastic for cold sores.
Grapefruit lip balm
Ingredients
- One tablespoon of castor oil
- One tablespoon shea butter
- ¼ -½ teaspoon grapefruit essential oil
- Powdered beetroot (optional to add colour)
- Two tablespoons of coconut oil
Steps
- In a small saucepan, combine the castor oil, shea butter, and beeswax, and heat them all over medium heat.
- Add the grapefruit essential oil and mix well after turning off the heat.
- If you're using a natural colour, only apply a small amount until you achieve the desired shade.
- Put the lip balm in containers.
Tips: Preparing, using, and storing lip balm
Here are some tips that will be useful while preparing and storing your lip balm.
- It is essential that the jars or containers you use for your homemade lip balm be clean and dry to prevent any contamination.
- It's best to store homemade lip balm or DIY cosmetics in the refrigerator because these products do not contain preservatives.
- Beeswax should always be crushed before melting when used as a component. This will hasten the melting process.
- It's best to leave your newly made lip balm at room temperature for it to solidify.
- Avoid freezing your homemade lip balm because it might lose its shape and effectiveness.
- Beeswax, cocoa butter, and other ingredients have natural SPF qualities, so including them helps your lips get sun protection.
- Cocoa butter is a great ingredient for a winter lip balm.
- To soothe severely chapped and dry lips, add ingredients like menthol or camphor to ease any pain from the dryness.
Lip balm ingredients to avoid
The peculiar addition of rose oil or honey extract to a lip balm sounds wonderful, but they are typically only featured. You might be disappointed by what you discover if you take the time to peruse the complete ingredient list.
Paraben
One of the first ingredients we typically find in lip balms is parabens, a contentious element in the cosmetics industry. Many low-quality lip balms, mainly those marketed towards younger consumers, contain them as fragrances or flavours. Synthetic fragrances used to make products "tastier" are commonly found in lip balm "tints," which are frequently found in the cosmetics section.
Synthetic colours
Avoid synthetic colours, frequently used in tinted balms or merely added for aesthetic purposes. These undesirable colourants are frequently made from coal tar, petroleum residue, or heavy metals.
BHA
BHA, a common preservative in makeup. Using it on your skin or lips is fairly risky because it has been shown to have carcinogenic effects in test animals. Watch out for it (and its cousin BHT) because it also appears on the component lists of some of the 'healthier' lip balms.
Conclusion
Lip balms are essential skincare products that keep your lips soft, supple, and healthy. It is essential to use organic lip balms made from natural ingredients to nourish the lips and improve lip health. Avoid lip balms containing harmful chemicals that can damage your lips in the long run.
