Has Your Lip Balm Stopped Working?
I get emails, direct messages, and comments on social media posts almost daily from people with flaky lips asking for help. They describe the same experience: no matter how many times they apply lip balm, their lips still feel dry, tight, and flaky. In the vast majority of these cases, I suspect allergic reaction.
The people usually don’t believe me. They say things like, “But I have used this lip balm forever, and I have never reacted to it before. It can’t be my favorite lip balm.” But that is exactly how it starts. When you use a product on your skin (especially the thin, sensitive skin of the lips) over and over (such as a lip balm that you apply several times every day), you can develop a reaction over time. This type of allergic response is called a Type IV Hypersensitivity Reaction and you can learn all about it in this past blog post.
Dry, scaly lips from lip balm allergy
Early Signs of Allergic Skin Reaction
When these kinds of reactions first start on the lips, it can easily be shrugged off. First, the lips feel a bit dry, parched. Maybe they even feel a little tight. They can itch just a tad. They flake a little bit, just enough that they feel a little rough. You might even catch yourself peeling off a flake along the edge of your lips now and again. And your lip balm no longer helps to moisturize them and keep them soft. In fact, over time, it seems like maybe your favorite lip balm is making them feel even drier!
As the reaction worsens, itching can become more uncomfortable. Your lips might feel swollen. You notice redness around the border and more scaling. Eventually, the lips can become very inflamed with blisters and even weeping of the skin.
The Culprit
The best thing you can do if this is happening to you is to switch to a new lip balm that has different ingredients than the one you have been using. Next to artifical colors and flavors that are added to some lip balms, beeswax (or rather, a component in the beeswax) is the most common ingredient that triggers allergic reactions of the lips. Fifteen years ago, I discovered I had developed an allergy to beeswax. It led me to formulate our best-selling lip balm: BeeswaxFree Herbal Lip Balm. You can learn all about beeswax allergy and how I discovered this was my problem here.
Our BeeswaxFree lip balm was a savior for my lips. But then, a few months ago, I started noticing that my lips were constantly dry no matter how often I applied it. It is really dry here in northern Colorado, so I didn’t think much of it…until I started to notice the hint of itch along the outer border of my lips. Then came a faint touch of redness around the outside of the lips. That’s when my brain finally got out of denial - I had developed ANOTHER allergic reaction to something in my favorite lip balm. DAMMIT!
After some detective work, I figured out I had indeed developed an allergy to the plant-based wax (candillila wax) that is in the BeeswaxFree lip balm. This is not a common allergen, so I was surprised. I tried to find other lip balms on the market that would soothe my lips, but every one of them had beeswax or candelllila wax in it. So guess what? I went to work formulating a new lip balm that would fix my sensitive lip problem.
The Newest Lip Solution
I am beyond thrilled to introduce to you our newest lip balm: the AuNaturel Triple Butter Vegan Lip Balm! Within 48 hours of applying this new formulation, my lips stopped itching, the flakiness reduced, and the skin no longer felt tight. After a week of using it, my lips felt as smooth as if I had never had a lip problem in my life - they felt totally healed. And now, after a few months of using it, my lips are as soft as can be. I rarely even need to apply it (maybe once or twice per day, max). It is now available for you and I am so excited that those of us who have sensitive lips have this unique lip solution to keep our lips supple and moisturized.
AuNaturel lip balms is specifically formulated for sensitive skin:
NO beeswax
NO nut butters
NO artificial flavors
NO artificial colors
NO essential oils
It is a creamy balm with 5 simple ingredients that surely will restore softness to your lips. The 3 unique skin-softening butters (murumuru butter, cupuaçu butter, and kokum butter) are sustainably-sourced and uncommon in lip balms. Carnauba wax is a vegan plant-based wax that rarely triggers allergic reaction. Sunflower seed oil is a gentle antioxidant oil that protects the barrier function of the skin and is far less likely to trigger allergic reaction than other carrier oils commonly found in lip balms. Your lips are going to love this buttery, soothing balm.