Dehydrated lips that are dry, red and peeling can look terrible and be extremely painful, making it difficult to smile or even talk. It is thus important to moisturize your lips properly. You should always coat your lips with a good lip-balm especially if you live in an area with dry, cold weather where chapped lips are a common problem. Take care to avoid lip-balms with artificial flavors and perfumes since these may irritate the sensitive skin of your lips causing them to turn red and peel. Often using a creamy lipstick is helpful in treating dry, peeling lips since it not only coats and moisturizes the lips, being opaque, it also blocks out the harmful sunrays. Lipsticks these days are usually equipped with a sun block and thus are very effective against the harmful effects of the sun's rays. Since exposure to the sun can cause the sensitive skin to dry, chap and peel try and choose lip balms and lipsticks with a SPF of at least 15. However you should check for allergies before using the lip balm or lipstick since that can aggravate the problem further. You should also drink plenty of water to keep your body and your lips hydrated naturally. Avoid licking your lips to moisturize them since this only makes them dry faster causing them to burn more.
Very often nutritional deficiencies lie at the root of the problem and thus you should ensure that you have a balanced diet rich in vitamins, minerals and proteins especially iron and the B-complex vitamins. If you are suffering from any of these deficiencies, it is a good idea to start taking some multi-vitamin supplements. Zinc deficiency can also lead to dry peeling lips and you should increase your intake of zinc in your diet or apply a zinc oxide ointment on your lips before your sleep. This also combats the drying effect due to drooling while sleeping. Sometimes the chemical ingredients in your toothpaste can also trigger allergic reactions and lead to dry, peeling lips. Many types of toothpaste in the market are responsible for drying the lips further. If you already have chapped lips, you should avoid using toothpaste to brush your teeth. Go natural and use baking soda or salt to brush your teeth till the problem has gone away or at least reduced in intensity. A good home made lip balm can be made using 2 tsp of coconut oil, lemon juice, 3 drops of lemon oil and 1 tsp of bee wax. You should warm these ingredients till they melt and mix together. Store this home-made lip balm in a small bottle and apply it regularly on your lips to keep them moisturized.
answered by G M