Chapped and dehydrated lips can not only leave you feeling uncomfortable and sore, but your lovely pout won’t look as polished as you’d like either. Whether it’s the bitter cold of winter, a burn in the summer or you’ve just been a little bit run down recently, find out how to exfoliate lips properly to enjoy smooth and healthy lips once again.
What Does Exfoliating Actually Do?
Exfoliating helps as it lightly brushes off the dry skin leaving you with smoother and softer lips. Your pout will look plumper and healthier all around.
How to Exfoliate Lips
The key with exfoliating lips is using a light abrasive to brush off the dead skin cells gently. It’s really important you are gentle as otherwise, you might do even more damage!
Option One: Use a Toothbrush
One of the great things about exfoliating your lips is that you don’t need a whole heap of equipment and expensive products to do the job. You can start off by just using what you find in your bathroom cabinet. One of the best methods is to use a toothbrush to scrub away the dry skin gently.
You’ll want to use an old toothbrush with straight and soft bristles, as anything too firm may be too rough for your delicate skin. If you have sensitive or damaged lips, you may want to use a child’s toothbrush as they’re even softer. Lightly pat some petroleum jelly or a lip balm on your lips and rub the toothbrush in circular motions onto your lips.
Use a damp cloth to wash your lips and apply an extra layer of petroleum jelly to lock in the moisture. Make sure you store away your toothbrush, so you aren’t using it on your teeth anymore!
Option Two: Use a Homemade Scrub
If you fancy going a step further, you can make your own homemade lip scrub to banish dehydrated and dry lips. It’s important you combine a moisturizing ingredient with a gentle exfoliant to make sure you are keeping your pout hydrated while gently brushing away the dead skin cells.
One of the easiest to make and find in your kitchen cupboards is an olive oil and sugar scrub.
How to make an olive oil and sugar lip exfoliator:
- Simply mix the two ingredients together in equal measures and gently massage the product into your lips.
- After 30 seconds to a minute, wash away the excess and apply an additional lip balm to lock in the moisture.
- For extremely dry lips, you may want to use even more hydrating oils such as argan or coconut oil.
Another favorite combination is honey and sugar. This thick and sticky mixture makes for a perfect overnight lip mask to intensely exfoliate and moisturize lips.
How to make your own honey and sugar lip scrub:
- Mix together with ⅓ parts honey and ⅔ parts sugar and apply to lips.
- Tap a small strip of paper towel onto your lips afterward to avoid getting the mixture everywhere as you sleep!
- When you awake, just wash off and apply lip balm for softer and smoother lips.
Option Three: Buy a Lip Scrub
While homemade options will do a good job, if you want to turn your lip exfoliating session into a pampering treatment you may want to splash out on a pre-made lip scrub. These lip scrubs are often even more nourishing as they contain more hydrating oils and lubricants than you can typically find in your kitchen and bathroom cupboards.
The Fresh Sugar Lip Polish uses brown sugar crystals to gently exfoliate the lips and shea butter and jojoba oil to nourish the lips deeply. Follow up with the Fresh Sugar Lip Treatment Advanced Therapy to lock in maximum moisture, enhance volume and improve the definition of the lip area.
How Often Should We Exfoliate Our Lips?
In winter and cold weather conditions, you will want to exfoliate your lips more often, however, any more than twice a week is getting into risky territory. In warmer weather conditions, only exfoliate your lips when they feel like they need it and if you’ve burnt your lips be extra gentle and pile on the SPF!
Finding out how to exfoliate lips is a great way to boost your skincare routine and this way you can enjoy even the boldest of lipsticks to enhance your healthy pout!
