Lip Goals and How to Achieve Them

If you are like most people, you probably don’t have a skincare routine for your lips. Most likely, you don’t pay much attention to your lips until they start to feel dry and chapped, and then you reach for an over-the-counter product or petroleum jelly and apply it until they are back to normal. 

Most people don’t know that caring for your lips is just as important as caring for your skin, and doing so will keep them soft and supple so you won't have to deal with dry and cracked lips. Developing a lip care routine that helps keep your lips moisturized and protected is not only achievable, but it’s also the best way to ensure your lips remain healthy year-round.

Why it’s Important to Care for Your Lips

Our lips need care and attention, just like our skin, but they have significant differences. Knowing these differences helps us understand why caring for our lips is important.  

Here are the differences:

• Our lips do not produce oil as the skin does; our saliva keeps them from drying out. This means that moisturizing them is not only important; it's essential. 
• The sun protection, or melanin, that our skin has isn’t present in our lips,  making them more vulnerable to sunburn. 
• There are fewer layers of skin on our lips, which make them softer but also makes them appear thinner as we age. 

With this information in mind, let’s look at the best lip products available that will protect, moisturize, and keep your lips looking youthful and healthy.

Step 1 Lip Care: Exfoliate

If you are experiencing dry, chapped lips, one way to remove the dried, dead skin cells is to exfoliate your lips. 

Exfoliating your lips will help eliminate dead skin cells, dry, flaky skin and immediately restore softness and smoothness. Before you exfoliate your lips, here are some things to consider:

• It’s important not to overdo it; start with once a week to avoid irritation. Build up to what your skincare product recommends for frequency. 
• Don’t scrub too hard and do not use harsh ingredients. We recommend using an exfoliating product that is FDA-approved. Or even something as simple as a homemade sugar scrub with sugar and coconut oil can be a great starting point.
• If you have severely dry and cracked lips, let them heal before attempting any treatment that can further irritate your lips. 

iS Clinical Lip Polish is an excellent product to gently slough off dead skin cells, exposing the new and healthy cells below. This formula is loaded with nurturing botanical butter and the powerhouse duo of vitamins C and E.  Vitamin C assists with growth and repair. Vitamin E regulates retinol levels, which is essential for healthy skin. iS Clinical Lip Polish will make your lips feel soft, supple, and moisturized.

Step 2 Lip Care: Moisturize

It’s essential to keep our lips moisturized and protected, not just after exfoliating but daily. Our lips also need added moisture since they cannot produce this independently, and a protectant to help seal moisture in. 

For intense lip moisture, iS Clinical Youth Lip Elixir will hydrate and visibly smooth, soften, and plump up your lips. Not only does the Elixir have hyaluronic acid, vitamins C, E, B5, and shea & cocoa butter to rejuvenate your lips, it has a proprietary blend of extremozymes that provide the ultimate in protection against dangerous free radicals that can harm your lips. 

Step 3 Lip Care: Protect

We mentioned previously that our lips don’t have protective melanin, making them especially susceptible to sunburn and damage. Make sure to protect your skincare the sun before going outdoor. 

Your best (and only) defense against the harsh effects of the sun is to use a lip care product with sunscreen. Both iS Clinical LIProtect SPF 35 and EltaMD UV Lip Balm Broad-Spectrum SPF 36 are formulated to soothe, soften and protect your delicate lips. Always apply a sun-protecting lip balm before going outdoors.

Advanced Lip Care Options

If your lips seem like they need an extra boost or you are considering how to get plump lips safely, we have excellent recommendations that will address all your lip care needs effectively and safely. 

SkinMedica HA5 Smooth and Plump Lip System is a 2-part treatment clinically proven to hydrate and plump up your lips. HA5® Rejuvenating Hydrator in each step penetrates deeply make your lips feel and look full, supple and smooth, safe to use long-term for continuous results.

Another pair of products that are refreshing, invigorating, and renewing is the iS Clinical Lip Duo. Start with gentle and effective exfoliation and follow up with intense hydration for fresh and youthful-looking lips. 

Your Lip Goals are Achievable  

Your lips are not like your skin, and caring for them is as important (if not more) as caring for your skin. Caring for your lips and achieving your lip goals is as simple as adding 3 simple steps to your daily ritual: exfoliate, moisturize, protect.