Due to vitamin E's reputation as a soothing balm, you might think its ability to heal chapped lips is a given. Vitamin E is a vital nutrient with equally vital properties that helps keep your body functioning properly, but no proof says it is a miracle cure for chapped lips. Applying vitamin E to your chapped lips can soothe, relieve and take away the chapping, according to "Reader's Digest." Simply break open a capsule and apply the oil to your lips. While no evidence exists that applying the oil from a vitamin E capsule to your lips is harmful, there is also no evidence proving this home remedy is helpful. Vitamin E is often a component in lip balms and moisturizing lotions, further purporting the beauty tip theory that it soothes and heals dry skin. Even without scientific evidence specifically backing up vitamin E as a topical chapped lip remedy, it may have at least one quality that makes such a use viable. The American Academy of Dermatology recommends applying lip balm containing sunscreen as a preventative measure against chapped lips.
reports the sunscreen properties are only effective if you take vitamin E as a supplement along with vitamin C. Vitamin E is an antioxidant that protects your body by protecting the fatty acids in its cells and membranes. Antioxidants are substances that help stave off oxidation in fatty acids, especially oxidation brought about by free radicals, unstable molecules that accelerate the deterioration of cells and the aging process. Your body creates free radicals when it breaks down food, and they can also come from environmental exposures, such as radiation and smoking. Women Fitness notes the people who embrace vitamin E as a topical treatment say the antioxidant effects work internally and externally, the latter of which would apply to chapped lips. If you want to try vitamin E for chapped lips or dry skin, you can apply the oil from the capsule directly on the affected area or seek out a lip balm or skin care product that contains vitamin E. Vitamin E supplements are also widely available, with the recommended daily dose of vitamin E set at 10 mg for men and 8 mg for women.
Pregnant and lactating women require a higher daily dose of the vitamin, at 10 mg and 12 mg, respectively. Foods that contain high amounts of vitamin E include wheat germ, peanuts, soybeans, olive oil, grapes, broccoli, peaches, Brussels sprouts, eggs, blackberries and tomatoes. What Health Problems Do Chapped Lips Indicate? Possible Conditions for Chronic Chapped Lips What Could Cause My Top Lip to Remain Chapped & Feel Like Pins & Needles? Vitamins & Minerals That Treat Chapped Lips How to Get Rid of Chapped Lips in 40 Minutes How to Use Coconut Oil for Chapped Lips What Are the Treatments for Severe Chapped Lips? Why Are My Lips Always Chapped? Chapped Lips and Vitamin Deficiencies Does Drinking Water Help With Chapped Lips? How to Heal Chapped Lips Quickly How to Get Rid of Dry Skin on Lips How to Make Shea Butter Lip Balm Healthy Homemade Lip Balm for Chapped Lips Why Do My Upper Lips Get Chapped With Too Much Caffeine?
Think you're "addicted" to lip balm? You might just have an ingredient sensitivity. For the last few months, I've been battling the craziest, most annoying case of dry, tight, painful, peeling lips. Bit of a problem when your job involves taking photos like this.At first, I blamed it on an all-natural lip product I'd been testing. But then I realized my lips were still a mess, even when I hadn't used it in weeks. In fact, I couldn't even pinpoint any one lip balm or lip colour as the source, since I'm constantly switching them up for the purposes of this blog. No matter what was in my rotation, I STILL had chapped lips.So then I became convinced I had some kind of vitamin deficiency. Which would be weird, because I regularly track things in Cron-o-meter and usually hit or exceed every nutritional target.Finally, a few weeks ago, I figured it out. I am allergic to... vitamin E! And possibly several other ingredients commonly found in lip balms. As it turns out, many lip products contain allergens and irritants that end up perpetuating the very problems we're trying to treat: dryness, peeling, cracking and flaking.
If you, too, have suffered from chapped lips that don't ever seem to go away, one of these ingredients could be the culprit:Just about every lip balm label I've looked at contains some form of vitamin E. A thick, sticky oil, you'd figure it would be the perfect lip hydrator. But it's not for everyone. This Dermatologic Surgery study found that 33 percent of patients developed contact dermatitis from applying topical vitamin E. The Contact Dermatitis Institute also lists vitamin E (dl-alpha-tocopherol) as one of the most prevalent allergens. They have an entire fact sheet on it, as well as this video:Some of the ways vitamin E might appear on a lip balm's ingredient label include: natural vitamin E oil, tocopherol or tocopheryl acetate. It can be man-made or derived from plants, but contrary to popular opinion, both forms can be allergenic. One reason it took me so long to figure out that vitamin E was the source of my chapped lips is because I was using an all-natural vitamin E oil every night as my lip moisturizer.
It didn't even occur to me that it could be allergenic! It was only through a complete elimination, i.e. not putting any products on my mouth for a whole week, that I was able to identify the source. Now, I know that my natural vitamin E oil is derived from soy, so it is possible that the soy is what I was really reacting to. But since tocopheryl acetate, the synthetic vitamin E, is considered even more allergenic on EWG's database, I think I'll just stay away from ALL types of vitamin E from now on. Unless it's quite far down on the ingredients list, it will probably irritate me.Castor oil is another thick, viscous liquid, and if you look, it's found in a heck of a lot of lip products. Derived from the seeds of the Ricinus communis plant, it is comprised of about 80 to 90 percent ricinoleic acid.The problem with ricinoleic acid is that it can be an allergen—some even say, the main one behind chapped and inflamed lips. This Contact Dermatitis study found that ricinoleic acid was the most common contact allergen, accounting for 54 percent of contact chelitis.
None of this surprises me, considering my highly traumatic experience with castor oil and the Oil Cleansing Method. Not only is it extremely drying, but I suspect my terrible reaction started off as contact dermatitis, which left me vulnerable to infection... and finally, turned into full-fledged acne. I can't say for sure yet whether castor oil is a problem on my lips or just my face, but I will always look at it with deep suspicion!It's less likely, but other oils in lip balms, such as coconut, olive and almond, can be allergens, too.I don't mean to point fingers at specific brands here, but the one that comes to mind when you think of beeswax lip balm is obviously Burt's Bees. According to Dr. Cynthia Bailey, it's the product she sees the most problems with.The beeswax in your lip balm might not be that soothing, after all. The issue is the propolis that gets mixed in with the beeswax. Propolis is a kind of "glue" that bees make from tree and plant resins to fill in the spaces in their hives.
According to this Journal of Pharmacy and Bioallied Sciences study, it seems to be one of the most frequent contact sensitizers, with possible reactions including chelitis and peeling lips.I guess this is why I didn't got the hype over the original Burt's Bees lip balms! They never seemed to work for me, so probably I have some minor sensitivity. I'm allergic to honey, so I'm sure there is some link with bees and bee products in general. Too bad, so sad!Lanolin is a waxy substance that is secreted by the oil glands of sheep, like this fella below. It is used in lip balms such as the cult favourite Lanolips because of its highly emollient properties and ability to prevent water loss.Lanolin, derived from the oil glands of sheep, is a known allergen in lip products. For those who aren't sensitive, lanolin can be great. Dior Crème Abricot, for example, contains lanolin and is my most favourite cuticle cream in the world. (I hear some people even use that on their lips!)However, lips lack oil glands and could be more reactive to it.
Dr. Sharon Jacob considers lanolin a "significant sensitizer," and on the "A-List" for top allergens. Here's her vid:If you do a search for "Lanolips allergy," there appears to be quite a number of people who can't use lanolin.It should come as no surprise that fragrances can be allergens. One would think perfumes would have no place in our lip balms, but often, they are used to mask unpleasant smells from other chemicals, or to add flavouring. The Contact Dermatitis Institute has identified two fragrance mixes—list one and list two—that are problematic, including geraniol, citronellol and cinnamaldehyde. These can be derived from plant, animal and synthetic sources, so just because a lip balm is 100 percent natural does not mean it is free from potentially allergenic fragrances.Peppermint oil is one of the worst offenders. This Dermatitis study tested sensitivity to propolis, lanolin, coconut oil, almond oil, peppermint oil and vitamin E. Out of all those things, the peppermint oil was shown to be the most likely culprit in the patients' acute contact dermatitis.
Peppermint is one of the most irritating ingredients in lip balms. Other fragrance/flavour ingredients to watch out for include menthol, camphor, eucalyptus and limonene.If you're especially diligent about always wearing SPF on your lips, that could be the cause of chronic chapping, at least if you're using products that protect with chemicals, not minerals. Studies such as this one in Photodermatology, Photoimmunology & Photomedicine have identified chemical sunscreens as a cause of allergic skin reactions.Chemical sunscreen ingredients may cause allergic skin reactions. Oxybenzone (also known as benzophenone-3), octinoxate, avobenzone, octisalate and octylcrylene are the hard-to-pronounce words to avoid on your labels.Instead, choose lip balms with mineral sunblocks such as zinc oxide and titanium dioxide, which shouldn't give you any issues.If you are allergic to an ingredient, signs such as dryness, tightness, flaking and peeling should should appear within a few days of your lips making contact with it.
However, it is ALSO possible to develop an allergy to an ingredient you've been exposed to many times before. (Yet another reason I couldn't figure out my vitamin E thing. I'd been using that oil for two years previously!)The only real way to identify any allergen is by elimination. When chapping occurs, and it doesn't seem to respond to lip balm (nor have you been spending countless hours out in harsh weather), then you should stop using all lip products for at least a week or more, so that your lips can heal. Next, re-introduce each ingredient back, one by one, noting whether it causes any reaction. I won't lie... this part IS challenging, since many if not most lip balms contain a mix of the above allergens.Obviously, this is HIGHLY subjective, but some lip balms to consider include:You might be tempted to go for products heavy on the petrolatum, mineral oil or even pure Vaseline. Unfortunately, they can still be drying, because they lock other irritants deep into the skin, and simultaneously block out air and moisture.