A creamy, moisturizing emollient and a little gritty exfoliating agent are the two main components of most lip scrubs. The emollient provides much-needed hydration to condition and polish your lips while the exfoliating ingredient removes dead skin cells to help make your lips smooth.
Lip scrubs can contain a wide range of components, such as honey, sugar, olive oil, coconut oil, and more. The lip scrub you select may contain a variety of components, depending on your own preferences. Even better, you can make your own homemade lip scrub by adding your own ingredients, making it the ideal lip exfoliant for you.
How exactly do I use a lip scrub?
What is the right way to use lip scrub?
Well, let’s dive right in!
How To Use Lip Scrubs
- Use your finger to take some lip scrub out of its container. To prevent contaminating the lip scrub, make sure your finger is perfectly clean. The amount you will be using depends on how flaky or crusty your lips are. Lip scrub should be applied liberally on flakier lips, whereas fairly smooth lips simply need a tiny amount to complete the job. Check the condition of your lips before deciding how much lip scrub you’re going to use.
Use your lip scrub liberally to remove the dead skin if your lips are peeling but not raw you know. Wait until your lips have healed if they are sore, cracked, or bleeding before applying any lip scrub. You don’t want to hurt your lip any more. If you carefully care for cracked lips, they will recover in two to three weeks. Although the wait may seem long, it will be worthwhile in the end. You might use an alternative lip care product in the meantime that is less harsh on your sensitive skin.
- Using one finger, evenly distribute the lip scrub all over your lips. Make sure that the amount is the same on the top and bottom lips. It won’t hurt to use a little extra on one lip if it is much flakier than the other though.
When doing this, remember not to put too much pressure. The skin on our lips are very delicate, and if you apply too much pressure, it can easily rupture. So be very careful.
- Put your lips together and rub ‘em! Put your lips together and make a circular motion with your bottom lip and upper lip. Continue doing so for around 30 seconds. Yeah, it’s going to feel like forever but you can do it! If done correctly, this will remove any flaky and dead skin cells you may have. Make sure to press down firmly but not too forcefully to avoid injuring your lips.
If you rub them together and feel your skin rip, stop right away. This means that you might have used a little too much force. Before trying to use lip scrub again, let them heal first. And when you’re finally trying to use a lip scrub again, go in more gently at first and see how it goes.
- Remove any extra lip scrub that is still on your lips. You can just lick off your lip scrub if it’s edible, which it usually is but there are some lip scrubs that aren’t edible so make sure to check first. If not, gently wash it off with lukewarm water and using your hands. It’s best that you do this over a sink to avoid making a mess.
- Dry your lips in a dabbing motion. It’s best that you use a clean tissue for this, and do it carefully and be as gentle as you can. You have to prevent yourself from rubbing them back and forth to dry them. Even though that’ll dry your lips faster, it’s just not worth it. All that will get you is bloody lips and tears. Yes, both tears and tears.
Avoid pressing any rough objects against your lips. The skin could tear as a result of this and we want to avoid that. If you must resort to this last option as you just can’t find something soft like a towel or tissue, then just softly press your lips against the surface until they are completely dry. Keep in mind that this is your final resort, so only use it if absolutely necessary. Dry, chapped lips can result from using rough materials and it’s just a no no.
- Moisturizing your lips is a must! Just as you would with your face, apply the same concept to your lips. Applying a moisturizing lip balm or lip mask after exfoliating is an efficient and easy way to moisturize your lips. This step is crucial for maintaining healthy, soft, plump lips as well as lowering the risk of getting your lips chapped. Although many lip scrubs contain hydrating elements like natural oils (olive, almond, coconut, etc.), the best way to hydrate your lips is with a lip balm or lip mask.
Vaseline and other products that are made of petroleum jelly help seal in the moisture in your lips for several hours. But they do not moisturize. If you experience or have severely dry or cracked lips on the regular, having this in your bag and at home would be a life saver. Petroleum jelly not only has numerous skincare advantages, but it is also cheap and available in most drugstores and pharmacies. So there’s really no excuse for not having it.
If you have sensitive skin, we understand that some lip balms may irritate your lips. That’s just very uncomfortable. Let’s say you’re trying out a new lip balm and suddenly your lips start stinging and burning, wipe it off and stop using it immediately. To ensure that you always have plump and smooth lips, just do this one to three times a week. Also, remember not to over exfoliate as it can only hurt your lips!