Anti Aging Tips For the Lips

When it comes to our faces, we try and invest on all sorts of anti aging creams, eye creams, serums, pills and treatments just because we want to look young as long as we can. But it's very rare to hear and read anything about age proofing the lips. Sadly, the lips are the most neglected part of most anti aging regimens. They do need a lot of care, but they are often overlooked and even totally neglected. Unknown to many, the lips can be a dead giveaway of how old or young a person is so it deserves the same amount of attention as the other parts of the face. With this, let me share to you some anti aging tips for the lips. Here are some of them.

1. Avoid constantly licking your lips. Contrary to popular belief, licking your lips has no moisturising or hydrating effect at all. As a matter of fact, licking your lips can actually dry them out. Saliva contains digestive enzymes that evaporates quickly as you lick, leaving your lips drier than before you licked them. Dry, cracked and chapped lips can make your face look ugly so enough with the licking.

2. Avoid unprotected sun exposure. Just like our facial skin, our lips can also get damaged when exposed to the sun. The sun's UV rays can darken, wrinkle and dry out the lips, making you look old and lifeless. To prevent this, try to avoid the sun between 11 in the morning until 4 in the afternoon because that is when the sun is at its strongest. If you really need to go outside, make sure to use a lip balm with SPF and reapply it after a couple of hours to protect your lips from damage.

3. Wear lip balm with sun protection factor (SPF). Sunscreen is an essential product of every skin care regimen, but let us not forget our lips. Our lips also gets damaged by the sun's harmful UV rays if left unprotected. This is why it is important to wear a lip balm with SPF every single day. Apart from protecting the lips from sound damage, it also prevents discoloration, wrinkling, dryness and chapping.

4. Exfoliate lips regularly. It's a good practice to exfoliate your lips at least once a week. Exfoliation can help get rid of the dry and dead skin on the lip's surface. It can also help lighten lips that are discolored due to sun damage. To exfoliate your lips, you can use a mixture of sugar and olive oil or if you want something fancy, you can buy those flavoured lip scrubs in the market. Make sure to moisturize your lips after exfoliating them.

5 Avoid smoking. Smoking is one of the primary causes of both the wrinkles in the skin around the lips and the lips itself. It also dries out the lips which can make it look unhealthy and old, so better ditch that stick before it's too late.-By Mich Ching

Home Remedies That Your Doctor Will Approve

Home Remedies aren't just for homeopaths, naturalists, or alternative physicians. Medical doctors often suggest home remedies that have been around for hundreds of years. Home remedies are useful at healing chapped lips, the cold, bad breath, stomachaches, etc. Next time your not feeling well choose a home remedy that's right in your kitchen cabinet. That way it will save you a trip to your local pharmacy.
Chapped Lips - Honey and Petroleum Jelly
Honey is both an antibacterial and a wound healer. Applied to the skin it can soften and heal cracks. Combine honey with petroleum jelly to get the added effects of moisturizer. This combination can relieve and cure your chapped lips. First wet lips with warm water, this will open up the pores to allow the honey to soak into your lips. Apply a thin layer of honey on the lips and allow it to dry for a few seconds to seal the moisture in. Now put a layer of petroleum jelly over the honey. Let it sit for 10-15 minutes. Remove the combo with a cotton swab dipped in warm water. Repeat the process once a day for a few days until your lips have softened and are no longer cracked.
Feeling Sick - Salt Water
Saline solution soothes inflamed tissues in the throat that becomes irritated by coughing. It also loosens mucus and flushes out bacteria and allergens, which irritate the tissues in the throat. Gargling with salt water reduces the risk of respiratory infections. Dissolve 1/2 teaspoon of salt in a glass of warm water. Gargle with the salt water three times a day.
Bad Breath - Parsley
Parsley is normally used as a seasoning or garnish, however it also can squelch your bad breath. Parsley contains chlorophyll, which fights against odor causing bacteria, which causes bad breath. Unfortunately brushing your teeth doesn't always remove all the bacteria from the mouth leaving your breath with odor. Next time your breath begins to stink, chew on a sprig of parsley for a minute of two.
Stomach Aches - Chamomile Tea
Digestive troubles can cause cramping, upset stomach and stomach aches. Chamomile tea is soothing to a troublesome stomach. Chamomile tea settles the stomach because it contains glycine. Glycine decreases contractions and muscle spaces in the lower intestines. When your stomach starts to cramp up sip on a cup of chamomile tea. As an added bonus add lemon and honey to your tea, to cleanse and detoxify your stomach and intestines of bacteria.

By Sarah Labdar

7 Tips For Soft Lips - Secrets to Soothe and Heal Dry Or Chapped Lips Naturally - Nurse's Guide

If you're looking for a way to heal chapped lips or dry lips or just want to have softer beautiful lips, I have a few tips for you.
If your lips are red, scaly, chapped, cracked, sore, painful or dry or if you just want to have softer lips I have a few natural solutions, treatments, remedies, warnings and tips for you.
Lip problems can have many causes. In the wintertime or cold winter months you may find you have more lip problems than in the summer months and the wind, the sun, and the cold and dry air can take their toll on your lips. When your lips get dry you may lick them more. You can end up with dermatitis of the lips and all around your mouth. Another cause is breathing with your mouth open. Or just getting dehydrated can cause them to be dry and cracked.
Also your lipstick, lip gloss, moisturizers and even your lip balm can cause irritation. There are many different types of chemicals in lip balms, and some people actually get addicted to them.
Here are a few tips for your lips:
1. Remember that whatever you put on your lips you are eating. Whether it is lipstick, lip gloss, moisturizers, or lip balm you are eating it throughout the day. There have been many estimates of how many pounds a day of lipstick women eat but they also consume other cosmetics and lip balms.
2. You may no doubt have read in the past to use Vaseline. But Vaseline is petroleum-based and do you really want to eat petroleum? Petroleum is crude oil. It will give you shiny lips but may also cause zits or breakouts as well. Two of its relatives - mineral oil and petrolatum do not penetrate the skin on top of your lips and they will seal in any bacteria that are present. I would not put petroleum on my lips.
3. Make sure to drink plenty of pure, filtered water or spring water throughout the day. Eat lots of fruits because they are high in moisture content. Water will hydrate you from within and keep your lips wet on the outside.
4. Avoid using any lip balms with phenol, lanolin, parabens and anything with a fragrance. No botanicals either. People can be allergic to many ingredients- even those from plants. Phenol is often used in lip balm. It feels soothing when you first put it on but it can be irritating and cause the skin under the lips to peel.
5. Many people become addicted to lip balms, so it's best to avoid them. There are even lip balm addiction anonymous groups set up for chronic, addicted users.
6. The secret to soft lips is natural, cheap, healing and easy to do. All you need to do to have the best soft lips with no exposure to irritating chemicals is to make your own lip balm by using virgin coconut oil. You can easily find coconut oil in whole food stores. Get the kind of coconut oil that smells like coconut and has not been bleached, refined or processed. You can put some in little jars and carry them with you in your car or bring to your office. Coconut oil becomes liquid at 77 degrees so don't keep it in your purse. A little will go a long way and you won't have to constantly reapply it. It is edible so there is no harm if you swallow any or lick your lips.
7. If you have a serious lip condition that doesn't respond to coconut oil for any reason make sure you see your skin specialist or dermatologist.
These are a just a few of the lip tips and secrets that helped many overcome their lip problems, whether it is a simple case of chapped lips, dry, red or scaly lips or a more serious eczema of the lips, dermatitis or skin condition. You should be able to enjoy smoother, softer, beautiful, healthy lips. Make sure to apply it around your lips on your skin at night.
By Helen Hecker 

Chapped Lips – Causes, Symptoms and Treatment

Chapped lips are the result of our lips being too dry. Chronic chapped lips can result from nutritional deficiencies and dehydration, or over exposure to sun or cold and windy conditions. The explanation for severe and chronic dry lips is that our skin has lost its moisture retention capacity. As a consequence, our lips become easily chapped. The chapping further reduces the moisture retention capacity and this vicious circle results in the problem becoming chronic and increasingly severe Avoid licking your lips.

Saliva evaporates rapidly and digests the slim membrane protecting lips, leaving lips drier than before you licked them. Because sunlight vulnerability can dry and blow the rind, take a lip ointment or salve containing sunscreen to defend the lips from detrimental rays. Medical care should be sought if symptoms continue without advance. Your doctor may select to dictate antibiotics or may regard prescription handling for dermatitis.

Primary Causes of Chapped Lips
Exposure to the seasonal elements - Dry air, wind, sun and/or cold temperatures can wreck havoc on sensitive, unprotected lip tissue.
Contact dermatitis should be considered and may be stemming from allergies and/or topical irritation.
Medications could be a factor. Suspect any newly started medications as the potential source of irritation.
Signs and symptoms of chapped lips

Your child's lips may be:

· Dry
· Red
· Cracked
· Peeling

Treatment of Chapped Lip
Some common treatment of Chapped Lip :
Apply lip balm or petroleum jelly. You can also try coating your lips with skin moisturizer, vitamin E oil or aloe vera gel. These greasy products help keep your lips properly moisturized.
Drink plenty of water to prevent dehydration.
Keep in mind that cracks at the corners of your mouth can indicate riboflavin deficiencies; you can treat this with vitamin B-2 supplements.
Use a humidifier to moisturize the air in your home, helping to prevent both dry lips and skin.

Use an oil-based lubricating cream, such as Aquaphor Healing Ointment, or lip balm containing petrolatum or beeswax.

Choose a lip cream or balm that contains sunscreen. Sun exposure contributes to chapped lips.

Treat chaffed, chapped and scaling lips overnight with a homemade ointment mixed from 1 tsp glycerine, 1 tsp lemon juice and 1 tsp castor oil. Spread on lips overnight, refrigerating the leftovers for future use.

Add humidifier(s) to your home. Lips, hair, nails and skin all thrive in humidified air.
Add a coat, when you wear a coat - Keep lips shielded against the elements with a coat of petroleum jelly, balm (non flavored, without phenol or camphor) or Aquaphor ointment (a celebrity favorite).

Seal in the moisture. Right after the compress, apply a thick coat of an emollient ointment like Vaseline or a lip balm containing waxes or lanolin to hold the moisture in.
Step up to cortisone. If a week of compresses and emollients don't do the trick, you can add over-the-counter 1 percent hydrocortisone ointment to your regimen. Use the hydrocortisone under your emollient ointment, he suggests. Try this for two weeks.

Corwin Brown