In the winter months it get really chilly and the air gets dry, especially in Storrs. Your lips tend to get dry from the cold air and they leave a gross, crusty, pealing layer of dead skin (sorry for the visual). People like me usually try to bite it off and it results in your lips cracking and bleeding. I recently learned that unlike the rest of our body, the dead skin on your lips doesn’t come off by itself and it’s up to you to take care of it.
I heard about the lip scrubs you can buy that come in all of these nice scents, but they are also kinda expensive and I found out that you can make it yourself which would cost you little to nothing at all. The recipe I looked up online contained the basic things I had in my kitchen.
All you need is:
- A tablespoon of brown or white sugar (I used white)
- A dash of honey (just enough to make the sugar really stick together) OR a bit of olive oil/coconut oil (I used the honey to make it stick and the olive oil for a little bit of extra moisture)
- A teeny tiny little drop of vanilla (it makes it smell yummy, but isn’t necessary)
- A small container (I used a shot glass because college)
Here is a picture of my lips before. Try not to cringe.
The directions are pretty simple, you just mix all of the ingredients together.
This is what the mixture looked like:
You are supposed to use this once a week (twice max) because the skin on your lips is sensitive. You just rub the scrub onto your lips vigorously enough to loosen the dead skin. Let it sit for 1 minute, and then wipe off with a damp washcloth and apply lip balm after use.
These were my lips when I used the mixture:
These were my lips after I washed it off and put on lip balm:
I was skeptical at first, but this remedy actually worked. This won’t cost anything to make if you have all of the ingredients and you can save the leftovers for when you need them again. It’s edible and doesn’t taste bad (I had to resist the urge to lick my lips). This is something I would definitely recommend to everyone to beat the winter cold’s effect on your lips.