Why Your Lip Balm’s Failing Your Lips

By BR Kellie

You know those moments in life when the clouds part and angels sing as you discover the answer to a problem that has plagued you for years? I had that this weekend and now I need to make an apology… 

Lip balms, I’ve been hating on you something wicked during the last decade or so. If you go back through the reviews I wrote when I was a Beauty Review member you’ll find that most of my reviews saw a very dissatisfied Kellie grumping about how you and yours would leave my lips drier than ever. Well, lip balms. I’m sorry. Kind of. You see you weren’t totally to blame. I mean I’d love to say it wasn’t you it was me. But in this case while it wasn’t all about you, it was a little bit, and well it was also was a little bit to do with me and a lot to do with where I was working at the time I was applying you.

What the heck am I going on about? Well according to this article from Stylecaster the effectiveness of a lip balm comes down to the ingredients in it and also, to some extent, the environment you’re in.

Basically if your balm contains glycerine or hyaluronic acid it could well be sucking the moisture from your lips, an action made worse if you happen to be working or living in a dry environment. In my case it was an air conditioned office. 

So does that mean lip balms containing hyaluronic acid or glycerine are a big old waste of money? Not at all. You just have to make sure they contain ingredients to counteract the potential for drying, such as shea butter or beeswax, which provide a barrier and keep moisture locked in. 

You know what I’ll be doing now? …Reading the ingredients list of every balm I’ve ever purchased and kept and sussing out which are good and which are not so much. Don’t you love that you’re never too old to learn something new?

So have you had problems with your lip balms in the past? Will you be hitting up the ingredients list and seeing if the problem lies in the formulation? Chat away…