With no oil glands to speak of, your lips are especially vulnerable to cold temperatures, dry air, saliva (your own or someone else’s), and other whims of nature that can leave them dry, flaky, and chapped. They need your help! To be less alarmist about it, they could probably benefit from a weekly exfoliating session with one of the best drugstore lip scrubs.
Lip scrubs are composed of two key components: A physical exfoliant and an emollient. In the best lip scrubs, the former are some kind of natural granule or crystal — like sugar, salt, honey, or coffee — that gently sloughs away dead skin cells on the surface of your lips. To mitigate all that intense sloughing, emollients like cocoa butter, coconut oil, olive oil, macadamia oil, and/or jojoba oil help work to restore moisture so your lips feel hydrated and soft, instead of dry and raw. The oils and butters also provide scrubs with some slip for easy workability.
And a note on working it: You can apply a lip scrub to dry lips, but I think dampening your lips first with warm water feels nicer. Massage the scrub into your lips for a few seconds, wipe it off with a tissue or towel, then follow it up with a good lip balm. Try that out with any of the best lip scrubs ahead. It’ll cost you less than $10 to restore your lips to their smooth, soft glory.
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