What can I do about my dry lips?

Vaseline works for me too. I carry a little pot of Pink Bubbly in my bag.

Blistex or Carmex- I keep it in handbag as well as on dressing table as I use it a lot. Works a treat.

I used to have the same problem especially in winter. After trying many lip balms I've found the one made by Active Silver is the best, it has a gentle exfoliating action as well as moisturising. Only downside is that it comes in a pot instead of a stick so a bit bulky for the pocket.
I also use their eye drops and throat spray, marvellous.

Lack of some of the B vitamins can cause cracked lips.

I use olive oil and rub it well in both morning and night and in between if need be.
You could also try Bepanthen,an ointment sore skin.
I used it after having a tattoo,brilliant.

Burts Bees for me.
I have breathing issues related to a medical condition and always sleep with my mouth open. My lips are always dry.
Burts Bees 3 or 4 times a day, really helps.

Good luck!

It might be worth getting your B12 levels checked.

I went tiny GP about dry, cracked lips years ago and it turned out that they are a symptom of Pernicious Anaemia. There are so many vague and disparate symptoms of it that it often goes undiagnosed, but it is quite serious.

I get an injection of B12 every 3 months and can really tell the difference.

Coconut oil. The one used for cooking, not the cosmetic one. You can also calm psoriasis with it.

Blistex or Carmex for me for healing dried lips. Burt's Bees good for maintenance. Drinking more fluids also helps to at lot, particularly water. The body does dry out as we age, so aim for prevention by keep skin hydrated from within.

I found that vaseline makes the problem worse.
First of all, either buy a lip scuff from Bodyshop or just get a damp flannel and gently rub over your lips to get rid of at least some of the dryness and then I have found that Carmex lip balm works the best for me - you can get it in a tube, or a pot .
I have also found that a lot of the whitening toothpastes that are around dry your lips so have to remember to wash off the residue after I have cleaned my teeth.

If I get a crack i stretch the lip and put on Bonjela - stings a lot but heals the crack quickly. I do use lots of lip balm / lip salve (whatever I find first). I have heard of lip exfoliators which are supposed to be good for smoothing and moisturising.

I was warned off vaseline as it has petroleum products in it. These are naturally drying. You'll see that a lot of lip salves contain it. Lanolin can also be problematic. I use Body Shop Hemp. Burts bees are also good.

My mum has the same issue and swears by any balm with shea butter.

As I’ve not been going out in lockdown I haven’t been wearing lipstick everyday and my lips have become dry. I put Nivea cream on all the time. Seems to help.

Lip balms, etc, can be 'addictive' and skin gets so used to it being there, that they react by getting drier and drier. It's best to try to gradually wean yourself off of them.

I've had this issue since I was a child - my skin is dry all over as well. I use either vaseline, a lip balm (usually Nivea) or emulsifying ointment several times a day.

Make sure you are well hydrated... do your lips swell too, it could be an allergic redaction, I get this sometimes, but will use anti-histamine then a rotation of EA 8 hour lip balm, Burts Bees and dare I say it Malms nipple balm..

Active silver lip balm is the best I have ever used.

A vitamin B supplement could be worth a try?

I sympathise with, had the same problem a couple of months ago although mine also involved the upper lip and vermillion border. Tried everything off the shelf, googled until I was cross eyed, visited GP. Finally ( in desperation!) forked out the money and consulted a private practice dermatologist. Diagnosed late onset eczema, prescribed a short course of steroid ointment to reach the deeper inflammation and damage ( not usually used on face) In conjunction with a good barrier cream . Took a while but now back to normal. The usual topical lip balms didn’t work and Burts Bees actually made it worse. Hope this helps along with everyone else’s advice - a little different but worth a go if your GP isn’t up on dermatology.

ELF do a lip exfoliatior that I would use along with a factor 50 lip balm, summer and winter.

Use your lip salve absolutely last thing at night. I'm sure I heard that you can use lip salve too often and get a sort of rebound effect. I might've imagined it, though!

I had the same problem for years but I watched a interesting youtube video by Nadine Baggott (why most lip balms are bad for your lips) I now use La Roche-Posay Cicaplast Lips and Ive had no problems, its a little more expensive than some lip balms but I now wouldn't buy anything else.

Try using whichever cooking oil you can digest - that way you know you are not putting something on your lips that you are allergic to.

Is it only your lips that are too dry, or is your skin generally very dry?

Dryness can be caused by us not eating enough fats - this has become a problem after the dangers of saturated fats has become known. If this is the cause, you need to eat more of something containing non-saturated fat.

Gwenisgreat1

A vitamin B supplement could be worth a try?

It won't work if you have PA (see my post above). Pernicious Anaemia is caused by an inability to absorb vitamin B12, so supplements don't work, and you won't get enough from your diet. It is important that sufferers get regular intravenous injections.

There are so many symptoms that it would derail the thread to list them here, but a quick google will provide a list. They range from extreme tiredness to skin blisters, so it is easy to assume that they are not related, and the condition is often missed. In my own case, it was sore, cracked lips that took me to the GP, but the injections have helped with far more than that.

I still get slight lip problems when my injection is due, but otherwise they are back to my pre-PA kissability .