Winter time and chapped lips give new meaning to the expression "crack a smile." When your lips are sore, red, and peeling, even a little grin can crack them wide open. No wonder you feel—and look—like Oscar the Grouch. So I thought you might like a few tips to put those lips back in the pink.  They'll help bring a smile back to your face.
Chapped lips are a dehydration problem.  When you lick them, you momentarily apply moisture, which then evaporates and leaves your lips feeling drier than before. Besides, saliva contains digestive enzymes that don't do your sore lips any good.  Licking chapped lips can lead to something called lip-licker's dermatitis.  It's usually seen in kids but can occur in adults, too.  What happens when you lick your lips is that you scrape off any oil that might be on them from surrounding areas. (The lips themselves don't have any oil glands.) Pretty soon, you're licking not just the lips but the area around them. Eventually, you end up with a red ring of dermatitis around the mouth. The moral: Don't start licking in the first place.

But with the onset of cold weather we often get chapped lips whether we lick or not.  If the dryness affects you, try some of these ideas.

Try the balm solution.  The best way to deal with chapped lips is to avoid the dry, cold weather that can cause them in the first place, but since heading for the tropics is not too practical for most people, you can head for the drugstore instead.  Before you go out—and several times while you're out—coat your lips with a lip balm. Since lips don't hold anything on them very well, reapply it every time you eat or drink anything or wipe your lips.  Remember, too, that the sun fries lips—any time of the year, so look for a product with built-in sunscreen.

 Wear lipstick. (No, I am not talking to all of you men out there!) In addition to a sunscreen, a creamy lipstick will help soothe lips that are already chapped, in fact, just wearing lipstick gives some protection and may help prevent chapping in the first place because lipstick is opaque, and it filters out all light, including harmful visible light.
Soothe and heal. A danger with chapped lips is that they can become infected.  To prevent infection, apply an over-the-counter antibiotic ointment such as Bacitracin or Neosporin Ointment. Over-the-counter hydrocortisone ointments can also help with chapped lips, but they won’t prevent infection. If your lips are severely chapped, you may want to use both. Apply one in the morning and one at night.

Be wise. Nutritional deficiencies—such as those of B-complex vitamins and iron—can play a part in scaling of the lips. So make sure you're okay on that front with a multivitamin supplement.

Drink up. Moisturize your lips from the inside out by drinking additional fluids in the winter. I recommend drinking several ounces of water every few hours.  Also, as we age, the ability of our cells to retain moisture decreases, so the dryness problem will increase each winter.

Mind your own beeswax. A good product for chapped lips is Carmex. It's an old-fashioned product that comes in a little tin and contains, among other things, beeswax and phenol which can seal and soothe the lips.

Look for irritants and allergens.  Allergy and sensitivity to flavoring agents in toothpaste, candy, chewing gum, and mouthwash can cause chapped lips in some people.  The new tartar-control toothpastes can cause irritation and dryness in many.  Also several products for lips contain salicylates which can irritate chapped lips, so look at ingredients.

Think Lanolin Some people have a tendency to drool in their sleep, which can dry out lips or aggravate ones that are already chapped.  Sounds exciting doesn’t it!  If that's a problem, or if you just want to help your lips stay hydrated, lanolin is a wonderful product.  It acts as a barrier to protect lips.  My favorite product of all is one called Lansinoh.  It’s actually a cream for nursing mothers, but it works great for your lips too, so look for it in the nursing mothers section at the store.
Winter can be tough on lips, so give yourself a fighting chance to grin without cracking up by trying some of the tips I’ve suggested!  I hope you all have a wonderful Christmas and New Years.