Lip Balms: Benefits and Application

Lip balms are skincare products designed to moisturize and protect the lips from dryness, cracking, and environmental factors.

Lip Balms FAQ

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What is a lip balm?

Lip balm or lip salve is a wax -like substance applied typically to the lips to moisturize and relieve chapped or dry lips, angular cheilitis, stomatitis, or cold sores. Lip balm often contains beeswax or carnauba wax, camphor, cetyl alcohol, lanolin, paraffin, and petrolatum, among other ingredients.

Are lip balms good for your lips?

Along with smoothing the lips and giving them a healthy appearance, lip balms help create a barrier on the skin to prevent moisture loss and protect the lips from external irritants, explains Dr. Marisa Garshick, MD . But, which lip balms are the best?

Are lip balms medicated?

You can also find lip balms that are medicated, but beware -- those types of lip balms often include ingredients that can be habit-forming. Before you put your lip balm on, however, it gets formulated, tested, and manufactured. Ever wonder where it all began? When Was Lip Balm Invented?

How does lip balm work?

Lip balm differs from other lip products in that its main purpose is to moisture the lips and offer healing and/or restorative properties. Another one of lip balm’s main purposes is to help your lips retain water. They’re effective in doing this because they contain a waxy substance that creates a seal on the lips, helping keep moisture in.

Where can I find lip balms?

We considered lip balms you can find online as well as in drugstores and specialty beauty shops, and came up with a list of 22 popular lip balms to test. If they came in multiple colors, we tested both the standard or unscented formula and the most popular shade.

What are lip balms made of?

These days, balms run the gamut of conditioning to tinting and even sun protecting, and they’re made with traditional lip balm ingredients like smoothing beeswax and soothing menthol or inventive ingredients like sugar for a gentle polishing scrub (and even more moisture).