Beauty Maintenance Day 4: Buff Lips

As we age, our lips begin to look dull and lifeless. Most lips lose their volume and definition. Small lines and wrinkles tend to be attracted to the lip line This is natural because the skin on our lips is thinner than skin on the other parts of face; hence, they are more vulnerable to the elements. I guess it doesn't help that I've abused my lips for years - no sunscreen, not even a regular application of a lip balm!

Dermatologists and beauty experts have joined in on this discussion (as described in Harper's Bazaar and Good Housekeeping). Yes, one can get lasers, peels and injections but I decided to tackle this horror fest using anti-aging lip products that are easy to use and less scary.

First step, exfoliate. Luckily, instead of ordering mountains of products online (and hoping I wouldn't waste my money), I found a lip scrub hiding under my bathroom sink. I believe I bought this when I first noticed how horrible my lips looked a while ago (and, then, I retired and didn't really care about my looks anymore.)

The instructions were very simple: "Massage a small amount onto lips using a FIRM but GENTLE circular motion. Wipe away with a tissue." (I put the emphasis of the most confusing part of the instruction in capitals.) Firm and gentle seem to be conflicting. I can understand giving firm but gentle discipline to your child or pet...but my lips? How much finger pressure is that, really?

Apparently, I was more firm than gentle because, after exfoliating for a minute, my lips felt like I had scoured it with a hand sander. I looked closely at the results in my magnifying mirror and oh! My lips looked like I had pasted raisins on my lips. They were very red and wrinkly! Perhaps I should have looked at them before I started this exfoliation because this might have been what they looked like before. The good news is that they did look a little plumper so maybe I should compare them to prunes.

I checked, again, a few minutes later (when the pain died down) and in better light. (I, also, opted NOT to look at the magnifying mirror.) They looked much better. Maybe I should be using this exfoliate more often less firmly and vigorously!

Then, Step 2: I rolled on my favorite lip balm and voila! much better! Less prunish but not a miracle. In any case, I'll be TRYING to use my lip balm daily at the very least! The easiest anti-aging lip fix, really, is just to remember that your lips should be treated the same way as your other skin. Hydrate, hydrate, hydrate!

For those who wonder what product I used, here is a link:

The Lip Scrub by Sara Happ

There are several places to buy this product but the price appears to be the same ($22 for .5 oz).

Chapstick makes a much less expensive product ($4.20 for .27 oz) sold locally at pharmacies, Target and at Amazon:

Chapstick Total Hydration Conditioning Lip Scrub

Finally, I am a huge fan of Burt's Bees. They're sold everywhere - even at the gas station!