The harmattan season tends to take its toll on us in one way or the other. Even when you take preventive measures, the cold, dry weather sneaks up on you and before you know it, you’re nursing cracked lips.
Dealing with painful cracked lips is unpleasant, all the more so as lip balms seem to do little or nothing to relieve the pain of the sore. It’s comforting to know that you can just walk into your kitchen and find a soothing relief for painful cracked lips.
We’ve put together a list of foods, fruits and vegetables that can totally cure painful cracked lips.
1. Cucumber
(Photo: Leaf TV)
Cucumbers are known to have great anti inflammatory and healing properties. Their cool, soothing nature also makes them a great choice over oily lip balms that end up worsening the pains of cracked lips. To apply, cut cucumber into thin slices and refrigerate for five minutes. Then place one or two slices over your lips and leave them on for about five minutes. The cool juice from the cucumber will re-hydrate your lips, easing the pain and speeding up the healing process.
See other ways you can use cucumber for skin care here.
2. Green Tea Bags
(Photo: Jenier World of Teas)
Green tea bags have been used to ease painful cracked lips and cure dry lips for as long as we can remember. They are super effective. Green tea is also known for reducing bloating and killing belly fat. To use, simply press a used, damp green tea bag onto your lips for about four minutes. Repeat this process every two hours for immediate results.
Note that the tea bag should not be hot.
3. Sugar And Honey
(Photo: Kokos Kitchen)
When nursing painful cracked lips, the last thing you might want to try is a scrub because of the pain. However, a soothing lip scrub is exactly what you need at the time. This will help remove dead skin and re-hydrate your lips. Try this easy sugar and honey scrub. Mix an equal portion of sugar and honey together (preferably 1 tbsp of each) and apply the paste on your lips. Leave it on for about five minutes to allow your lips absorb the juices and then rinse off gently. Ditch the sugar and use only the honey if the cracked lips are too painful to exfoliate/ skip this process till the lips heal, you don’t want to end up irritating the lips more.
(Check out other easy DIY lip scrubs for cracked lips here.)
4. Lemon Juice
(Photo: Edison Institute)
Lemon juice contains amazing anti-aging and anti-inflammatory properties that nourishes and revitalizes the skin. To soothe painful cracked lips, create a mixture of half tablespoon of cream (butter cream or whipped cream) and three drops of lemon juice. Put the mixture in the fridge for an hour and then apply it on and around the lips right before bed. The cream will reduce the acidity of the lemon juice which could cause irritations if applied directly on already sore skin. Continue this routine until your lips are completely healed.
(Featured Image: Medium via Claire Mulligan)