Dark lips can be very unattractive and unsightly. Luckily, there are a few home remedies that are very effective in treating this problem and restoring your original lip color. You will need to use these remedies for at least a month before you can see any visible results. You will also need to identify and eliminate the root cause of your problem.
The most common cause for dark lips is smoking. Cigarettes contain nicotine and tar and while the tar causes intense staining in the lungs, nicotine stains the lips. It will be very tough to get rid of this type of staining until you quit. In the mean time, you can use a filter and lather your lips with a lip balm before you light up. While these measures will not eliminate staining all together, it will definitely reduce the amount of staining.
The darkening of your lips can also be caused by an excessive consumption of coffee, tea or any other caffeinated beverages. You can keep a food diary for a week or two to find out what your daily consumption is as most people do not realize the amount of tea or coffee that they consume on a daily basis.
Lipsticks that are past their expiration date or that are manufactured by unknown companies may cause an allergic reaction. These allergic reactions generally cause intense discomfort and itching but in rare cases, they do not. Make sure to check all your cosmetics and ensure that you get rid of the ones that are past their expiration date. Keep in mind that your lips are extremely delicate and will react easily to the chemicals used in some lipsticks. Make sure that you only choose known brands when selecting your lipsticks.
Exposure to sunlight too can cause this darkening. While your skin contains greater amounts of the pigment melanin- which gives you your skin color, your lips too have a small amount. Overexposure to sunlight can cause your lips to darken. If this happens over a prolonged period, the darkening will start to get worse, as the amount of melanin will increase in an effort to protect your lips from the sun. To protect your lips from discoloration caused by the exposure to sunlight, use a lip balm or a lipstick that has UV filters.
To get rid of the current discoloration on your lips, use a lip scrub every alternate day. You can, make your own lip scrub by mixing sugar, coconut oil and a little bit of mashed banana. This is a gentle scrub that will help to get rid of the upper layers of discolored dead skin on your lips as well as nourish them. Mix equal amounts of olive oil and lemon juice and apply this to your lips before you go to bed every night. Lemon juice will help to bleach your skin and reduce the discoloration while olive oil helps to moisturize your lips and keep them soft and supple.
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