Bad Ingredients In Lip Balm

Ingredients You Might Find In Your Lip Balm That Are Bad For Your Lips

Let me just start this by saying that if a lip balm mentioned here because it contains "bad" ingredients is your favorite lip balm, please don't be offended. If it still works for you, then by all means, keep using it! I'm not in charge of what anybody puts on their lips except for me, and the choices I make don't have to be the choices you make. That being said, keep in mind that I did do actual research when writing this post and these ingredients can be bad when used on the lips. These ingredients aren't always bad - for instance, salicylic acid is great for acne treatment because it dries your pimples out. It's fantastic when I use it for that, but when I put it on my lips, it messes them up by drying them out. I will list my sources in relevant places so that you can check them out yourself because I always recommend doing further research when it comes to things like this, rather than believing it because I (or any other blogger you like/read stuff from) said so.

Some Types of Alcohol

As you may already know, alcohol can be very drying. WebMD says that some types of alcohol - including isopropyl alcohol and propyl alcohol - are drying to the hair (although other types, like cetyl alcohol, are not), so I looked into how those types of alcohol effect the skin. According to Pai Skincare, it's pretty much the same for skin. Since your lips do have skin on them, the alcohols that dry out your skin will also dry out your lips. The ones to avoid are usually listed on the ingredients list as "alcohol denat," "ethanol," and "ethyl alcohol." I do own some lip balms with these ingredients that I love anyways, though, so it's possible for a lip balm with some drying ingredients to have enough moisturizing ones that it won't matter.

Salicylic Acid

A common lip balm containing this ingredient is Carmex. Since it can dry out your acne, it can also dry out your lips. It can even make them start peeling, so I avoid lip balms with this ingredient altogether, even if every other ingredient in it is great.

Menthol

Although some people can use lip balms containing this ingredient with no problems, some can't. This is because it can be irritating to the skin and therefore the lips due to it's cooling properties. Some people like the sensation but over time it can dry out your lips. So the cooling sensation might sooth your lips at first, but over time it will dry out your lips, making you want to apply more lip balm and starting a cycle that isn't good for your lips.

Companies will often include these ingredients on purpose so that you'll apply more lip balm, hoping to sooth your lips, while you're really making them worse and therefore wanting to buy more lip balm. Keep in mind that a lip balm having one of these ingredients doesn't mean it automatically won't work. Also keep in mind that these are only a few of the "bad" ingredients found in lip balm and you should still do research before buying a product if you want a better idea of how it will work for you, whether it contains these ingredients or not.