Lips are one of the most prominent features on our face. Plump, healthy lips are often perceived as a marker of youth. They are also unique in their physiology and need extra attention to keep them looking their best. 

Why Do Lips Need Extra Attention?

Our lips have some of the thinnest skin on our bodies. To give you a better understanding, the skin on your face can be up to 16 cell layers thick while the skin on your lips is only 3 to 5 layers thick. The thinness gives them that natural pinkish color, as blood vessels show through more easily.  

Lips do not have any sebaceous glands. These glands are responsible for producing hydrolipidic film, which protects the skin and keeps it hydrated. Therefore, lips are more vulnerable to external aggressions (wind, cold, sun, etc.) and tend to dry out more quickly than other areas of your body. 

As we age our upper lip can thin out as much as 40%. Your lip’s plumpness is due in large part to the collagen it contains. As you age, your body produces less of this protein and your lips slowly decrease in volume. Because our lips do not produce much melanin, UV rays can also affect the plumpness of our lips. 

What Should We Do To Keep Lips Healthy?

The longer lips go without moisture, the more dehydrated, chapped and cracked they can become, so it is important to treat them daily as a preventive measure. 

These three simple steps will help keep your lips healthy and smooth. 

1. As a first step, it is important to gently exfoliate the lips to remove any dead skin. You can use a washcloth, soft toothbrush, or a lip scrub.
2. Follow with a balm of your choice. The purpose of all lip balms (sometimes called butter or salves) is to protect and hydrate the lips. They all have moisturizing ingredients (petroleum jelly, shea butter, lanolin etc..) that prevent water loss. Wax can be added to help lip balm adhere to the lips.
3. Now is the time to apply lipstick or gloss. The balm is a great moisturizing base that gives the products extra staying power.

There are many great balms and treatment products out there. Some of my current favorites include: 

Exfoliate, prime, and prep your lips with this multi-tasking powerhouse kit.

A leave-on jelly treatment of Squalane and Japanese peach that restores lips to full lushness.

A transformative treatment that visibly plumps, contours, and enhances lips with a 3-D cushion-effect Fine lines and wrinkles look diminished, while density is noticeably restored for dramatically improved texture, shape, and color. 

This lip treatment increases the density of the tissue and increases lip volume. After prolonged use, lip fullness is enhanced, and fine lines are noticeably smoothed and plumped.  

The active ingredients in this balm nourish the lips in-depth and reduce dehydration, wrinkles, fine lines, and cracks. With a rich, smooth, and non-sticky texture it will protect, hydrate and repair lips. 

This cooling and plumping lip balm contains shea butter, eucalyptus oil, and hyaluronic spheres that hydrate and soothe the skin.