Why Do My Lips Crack in Cold Weather
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Almost everyone knows the feeling. You step outside on a cold morning, the wind touches your face, and by the afternoon your lips feel tight, rough and sore. A small split appears at the corner of your mouth, and every time you smile or eat, it stings a little. It is a small problem, but it is an annoying one, and it comes back every winter for millions of people. The good news is that the reason behind it is simple, and once you understand it, the whole thing makes sense. Your lips are not like the rest of your skin. They are thinner, they have no oil glands of their own, and they are always exposed to the air. In cold weather, that air is dry, and dry air pulls water out of anything it touches. Your lips lose moisture faster than they can replace it, and the surface dries, tightens and finally cracks. This article explains that process in plain words, looks at the habits that make it worse, and describes the simple care that helps most people get through winter with comfortable lips.
It helps to start with the most basic question: why the lips, and not the rest of the face? The skin on your cheek can feel dry in winter too, but it rarely splits open the way lips do. The reason is the way lips are built. The skin covering your lips is much thinner than the skin on the rest of your body, and it has very few layers to protect what is underneath. Your lips also sit at the edge of your mouth, so they are wet from saliva, wiped, stretched when you talk and eat, and hit by every breath of cold wind. They never get a rest. Add to that the fact that lips do not make their own oil, and you can see why they are the first place to show the effects of dry winter air. Understanding this is the first step, because it tells you that cracked lips in winter are not a sign that something is wrong with you. They are a normal response of a delicate part of the body to a harsh season.
Why Lips Are Different From the Rest of Your Skin
The skin on most of your body is covered by a layer of oil that your skin makes for itself. Tiny glands in the skin release oil, and that oil sits on the surface and slows down the loss of water. It is a quiet, automatic system, and you never notice it until it stops working well. Your lips do not have that system. There are no oil glands in the thin skin of the lips, so there is nothing to hold moisture in. Whatever moisture your lips have comes from inside the body, from the blood flowing beneath the surface, and from anything you put on them. The moment the air outside becomes dry, that moisture starts to leave, and there is no barrier to slow it down.
The thinness of lip skin makes this worse. The skin on your arm or your back has many layers, and the outer layer is tough and dry by design. It can lose a little water without any trouble. Lip skin has only a few thin layers, and the blood vessels sit very close to the surface. That is why lips are pink or red: you are seeing the blood through the thin skin. It is also why lips feel every change in the weather so quickly. A cold wind that your cheek barely notices can dry out your lips in a few minutes, because there is so little between the air and the living tissue underneath.
Lips are also in constant use. You talk, you eat, you drink, you smile, you yawn, and every one of those movements stretches the skin. When the skin is soft and moist, it stretches easily and returns to its shape. When it is dry, it loses that stretch. It becomes stiff, and a normal movement, like opening your mouth wide to take a bite, can be enough to split the surface. This is why cracks often appear at the corners of the mouth first. The corners are where the skin folds and moves the most, and where saliva can collect and then dry out. A small crack there can feel much worse than it looks, because it is pulled open every time you move your mouth.
There is one more thing that sets lips apart: they are always uncovered. You can wear gloves for your hands, a hat for your head, and a coat for your body, but your lips stay out in the open. Even a scarf helps only partly, because you need to breathe, and your breath warms the air around your mouth and then lets it cool again, which adds to the drying effect. Some people pull a scarf over their mouth on a very cold day, and that does help a little, because it warms the air before it reaches the lips. But for most of the day, your lips are simply out there, meeting the weather directly, with no protection of their own. That is the heart of the problem, and it is why winter lip care is really about giving your lips the protection they cannot make for themselves.
What Cold Air Actually Does to Your Lips
Cold air on its own is not the whole story. The real trouble is that cold air holds very little water. Warm summer air can carry a lot of moisture, and some of that moisture settles on your skin and keeps it comfortable. Cold winter air is different. It is dry in a deep sense: there is simply not much water in it. When that dry air moves across your lips, it acts like a sponge, drawing water out of the surface. Your lips give up their moisture to the air, and the air carries it away. The colder and windier the day, the faster this happens, because wind keeps bringing fresh dry air to replace the air that has already taken moisture from your lips.
The drying happens in stages, and most people can feel each stage if they pay attention. First, the lips feel a little tight, as if the skin has shrunk slightly. This is the surface losing water. Then the lips start to feel rough, and you may notice small flakes of dry skin. This is the outer layer drying out and loosening. If the dryness continues, the lips feel sore when you move them, and the skin may look pale or whitish in places. That paleness is dry skin sitting on the surface. Finally, if the dryness goes on for days, the skin can split. A split is a tiny break in the surface, and it can sting, especially when you eat salty or spicy food, or when you drink something hot. The split is the point where the skin has become so dry and stiff that it can no longer stretch.
Temperature changes make this process faster. Think of a normal winter day: you go from a warm room to the cold street, then into a warm shop, then out into the cold again. Each change pulls moisture in a different direction. The warm room air is often dry too, because heating dries the air inside. The cold street air is dry in its own way. Your lips never get a chance to settle. They are always adjusting, always losing a little more water than they take in. This is why lips can crack even on a day when you have not been outside for long. It is not one long exposure that does the damage. It is the repeated drying, hour after hour, day after day, that slowly wears the surface down.
It is also worth knowing that the sun can play a part, even in winter. A bright winter day with sun on snow can be strong, and the thin skin of the lips has very little natural protection from sunlight. Sunlight can dry the lips further and make sore lips slower to settle. Most people do not think about the sun in winter, but if you are outside for a long time on a bright day, your lips are getting sun as well as cold and wind. The three together are a hard combination, and it is one reason people who work outdoors in winter often have the worst lip trouble. They are meeting the cold, the wind and the sun all at once, for hours at a time.
Why Indoor Heating Makes Things Worse
Many people are surprised to learn that their lips get worse indoors, not better. After all, the house is warm, and warm sounds like it should be kind to the skin. But most indoor heating dries the air inside a house or an office, and dry warm air pulls moisture from the lips just as surely as dry cold air does. A heater warms the air, and warm air can hold more water than cold air, but the heater does not add water. It only warms the air that is already there. The result is air that feels warm but is very dry, and your lips lose water to it all day while you sit inside.
This is why cracked lips often feel worst in the evening, after a full day indoors. You may have spent only a short time outside, but you have spent hours in heated rooms, breathing dry air, talking, and drinking hot drinks. Each of those things takes a little moisture away. Hot drinks are a small part of the picture: the steam warms the lips, which feels nice, but the heat can also dry the surface once the steam is gone. None of this is dangerous, and none of it means you should stop heating your home. It simply means that winter lip trouble has two sources, not one: the cold outside and the dry warmth inside. People who only protect their lips when they go out, and forget about them indoors, often wonder why the problem does not improve. The answer is that the indoor air is working against them too.
The night is another quiet part of the story. While you sleep, you may breathe through your mouth, especially if your nose is blocked with a winter cold. Mouth breathing sends a steady flow of air across the lips all night, and that air dries them. Many people wake up with lips that feel dry and tight, even if they felt fine when they went to bed. A bedroom that is warm and dry makes this worse. Some people find that a glass of water by the bed and a little lip care before sleep helps, because it gives the lips something to hold on to through the night. It is a small habit, but it covers the hours when you cannot look after your lips at all.
There is also the simple fact that in winter we spend more time indoors with the windows shut. In summer, fresh air moves through a house and brings some moisture with it. In winter, the house is sealed against the cold, and the same dry air is heated and reheated. The air inside becomes drier as the weeks go on, and your lips feel the difference. This is why the problem often gets worse as winter goes on, even if the temperature outside stays the same. It is not one cold day that causes the trouble. It is weeks of dry air, indoors and outdoors, slowly taking more moisture than your lips can replace.
The Habits That Dry Lips Out Faster
Some everyday habits make cracked lips worse without people realising it, and the most common one is licking the lips. When your lips feel dry, licking them feels like the obvious fix. The tongue brings moisture, and for a few seconds the lips feel better. But saliva is mostly water, and it dries very quickly in cold air. When it dries, it leaves the lips drier than before, because the water in saliva evaporates fast and takes a little of the lips’ own moisture with it. Saliva also contains substances that help digest food, and those substances can irritate the thin skin of the lips when they are left sitting on the surface. The result is a cycle: the lips feel dry, you lick them, they feel better for a moment, then they feel drier, so you lick them again. Breaking this cycle is one of the most useful things a person can do for their lips in winter.
Picking or peeling dry skin is another habit that slows healing. When a flake of dry skin appears on the lip, it is tempting to pull it off. It looks untidy, and it feels rough. But pulling at it often tears a little of the healthy skin underneath, and that creates a raw spot that stings and takes longer to settle. The dry flake is dead skin that the body is already shedding. It will come away on its own in time. Pulling it off early only makes a bigger sore. The same is true of biting the lips, which some people do without thinking when they are nervous or concentrating. Biting damages the surface and keeps the lips from healing, especially at the corners where the skin is already stretched.
Toothpaste and some flavoured lip products can also add to the problem for some people. Toothpaste is made to clean teeth, and it can be strong for the skin around the mouth. If toothpaste is left sitting on the lips, it can dry them out, and some people find that the skin around their mouth feels tight after brushing. Rinsing well and wiping the mouth after brushing is a small step that helps. Flavoured lip balms can cause a similar issue: the flavour makes you lick your lips more, and licking dries them, so the balm ends up making the problem worse instead of better. A plain, simple balm without flavour is usually the better choice, because it does the job of protecting the lips without inviting you to lick them.
Not drinking enough water through the day plays a part too, though it is not the whole answer. Your lips get their moisture from inside the body, and if you are short of water, every part of your skin shows it. In winter, people often drink less water than in summer, because they do not feel as thirsty in the cold. They may drink tea or coffee instead, and while those drinks do contain water, they do not replace plain water entirely for some people. Drinking a steady amount of water through the day will not fix cracked lips on its own, because the dry air is still pulling moisture away from the outside, but it gives the body the water it needs to keep the lips supplied from the inside. It is one part of the picture, not the whole picture, and it works best alongside care on the outside.
How Cracked Lips Usually Develop, Step by Step
Cracked lips rarely appear all at once. They usually build up over several days, and knowing the steps helps you catch the problem early, when it is easiest to deal with. The first step is simple dryness. The lips feel tight and a little rough, but there is no pain and no visible damage. This is the point where a little care makes the biggest difference, because the skin is still whole and only needs moisture and protection. Most people ignore this stage, because it does not hurt, and that is understandable. But this is the stage where the problem is smallest.
The second step is flaking. Small pieces of dry skin begin to lift from the surface, and the lips look pale or whitish in places. The lips may feel uncomfortable when you eat or drink, and the skin feels rough to the touch. At this point, the outer layer has dried out and is coming away. The skin underneath is still mostly healthy, but it is thinner and more sensitive than usual. This is also the stage where people start licking their lips more, because the flakes feel strange, and licking makes the flaking worse. It is a frustrating stage, because the lips look worse than they feel, and the temptation to peel the flakes is strong.
The third step is soreness and splitting. The skin becomes so dry and stiff that normal movement cracks it. A split may appear in the middle of the lower lip, or at the corners of the mouth. The corners are a common place, because the skin there folds every time you open your mouth, and saliva can gather there and dry out. A split at the corner can sting when you eat, talk or smile, and it can bleed a little if it is pulled open. This stage can last for days, because every time the split starts to close, a wide yawn or a big bite can open it again. It is uncomfortable, but for most people it is still a simple problem of dry skin, not a sign of anything more serious.
The fourth step is slow healing, and it is the stage that tests patience. Once the lips are cracked, they do not heal overnight. The skin needs time to make new cells and rebuild the surface, and it needs steady moisture and protection while it does that. If the cold weather continues, and the dry air keeps pulling water away, healing takes longer. This is why people sometimes feel that their lips are stuck in the same state for weeks. They are not stuck; they are healing slowly in conditions that keep drying them out. The way forward is steady, gentle care, day after day, rather than one strong treatment. Small, regular care gives the skin the chance it needs to rebuild, and over a week or two, most people notice the cracks closing and the soreness fading.
Simple Lip Care That Actually Helps
The most useful thing you can do for your lips in winter is to give them a barrier. A plain lip balm does this job well. It sits on the surface and slows down the loss of water, in the same way that the oil on the rest of your skin does. It does not need to be expensive or special. A simple, plain balm that feels comfortable is enough. The key is to use it regularly, not just once a day. Putting it on in the morning, before you go outside, after you eat, and before bed covers the times when your lips lose the most moisture. Keeping a balm in a pocket or a bag makes it easier to remember, because it is there when you need it.
Putting balm on before you go outside matters more than putting it on after you come back. Once the cold wind has dried your lips, the damage is already done, and balm can only help them recover. If the balm is already on your lips when you step out, it acts as a shield from the first minute. This is a small change in timing, but it makes a real difference over a winter. The same is true of the night: putting balm on before bed protects the lips through the hours when you cannot look after them, especially if you breathe through your mouth while you sleep. A thick layer at night is fine, because it has hours to sit on the lips without being wiped away by eating or talking.
Covering your mouth on very cold or windy days also helps. A scarf pulled loosely over the mouth warms the air before it reaches the lips, and it cuts the wind. It does not need to be tight, and you should still be able to breathe easily. Some people find that a scarf helps a lot on a cold morning walk, and that their lips feel much better when they come back inside. It is a simple, old-fashioned habit, and it works because it gives the lips a little shelter from the worst of the weather. It is not a replacement for balm, but the two together are better than either one alone.
Being gentle with your lips matters as much as anything you put on them. Avoid licking them, avoid peeling dry flakes, and avoid scrubbing them hard with a towel or a rough cloth. When you wash your face, use lukewarm water rather than very hot water, because hot water can strip moisture from the skin. Pat your lips dry gently instead of rubbing them. When you brush your teeth, rinse your mouth well so toothpaste does not sit on the lips. These are small, quiet habits, and none of them takes any extra time, but together they stop the daily damage that keeps cracked lips from healing. The lips are delicate, and they respond best to gentle, steady care, not to strong treatment or rough handling.
Drinking water through the day and eating normally also support the lips from the inside. Your body needs water to keep all of your skin supplied, and your lips are no exception. A glass of water with meals and a glass between meals is enough for most people, and it is easier to remember than a complicated routine. Eating a varied diet with fruit and vegetables gives the body the nutrients it needs to make healthy skin. None of this is a cure for cracked lips on its own, and anyone who tells you that drinking water alone will fix the problem is oversimplifying. But a body that is well watered and well fed heals its skin faster than a body that is not, and that is a real, if modest, part of the picture.
When Cracked Lips Need More Attention
For most people, cracked lips in winter are a simple, seasonal problem that settles with steady care. But there are times when it is worth paying closer attention. If a crack does not improve at all after two or three weeks of regular care, or if it keeps coming back in the same place, that is worth noticing. It may mean that something else is adding to the dryness, such as a habit you have not spotted, or a product that does not suit your skin. It may also mean that the skin needs a health professional to look at it. There is no need for alarm, but there is also no need to keep struggling with a problem that is not improving when help is available.
Pain that is strong, swelling, or a crack that bleeds often is another sign to take seriously. A small split that stings a little is normal in winter. A lip that is very swollen, very painful, or that bleeds every day is different, and it deserves a proper look. The same is true if the skin around the mouth becomes red and sore, or if the corners of the mouth stay cracked and painful for weeks. These are not things to diagnose from an article. They are things to show to a health professional, who can look at the skin, ask about your habits and products, and give advice that fits your own situation. General information can explain the common pattern, but it cannot replace a person looking at your own lips.
It is also worth noticing if cracked lips come with other changes. If your skin in general feels very dry, if you feel unusually tired, or if you have other symptoms that worry you, mention them when you speak to a health professional. The lips are one small part of the body, and they are usually affected by the weather alone. But the body is connected, and a health professional can tell whether something else needs attention. This is not a reason to worry about every cracked lip. It is simply a reminder that your own body and your own doctor matter more than any article, and that asking for advice is a sensible step, not a sign of overreacting.
Children and older people deserve a little extra care with this problem. A child’s lips are thin and delicate, and a child may not tell you that their lips hurt. They may simply lick them more, or refuse to eat, or become upset. A little plain balm, applied gently, and a reminder not to lick the lips, is usually enough. Older people may have lips that heal more slowly, because the skin makes new cells more slowly with age, and they may take longer to notice the problem. A little patience and steady care helps here too. For both groups, the message is the same: gentle care, regular protection, and a health professional if the problem does not settle.
My Take:
If you ask me what I think about cracked lips in cold weather, my answer is that it is one of the most ordinary winter problems there is, and that is exactly why it is worth understanding properly. It is not a mystery, and it is not a sign that something is wrong with you. It is a simple meeting between delicate skin and dry air, and once you see it that way, the whole problem becomes less frustrating. I think a lot of the annoyance comes from the fact that it feels unfair. You do everything normally, you go outside, you talk, you eat, and your lips split anyway. But the unfairness disappears when you realise that your lips never had the protection the rest of your skin has. They were always going to be the first place to show the winter, and knowing that makes it easier to look after them without blaming yourself.
I also think the most important habit in this whole topic is the simplest one: stop licking your lips. I say that because I know how automatic it is. Your lips feel dry, your tongue moves before you have even thought about it, and for a second it feels better. Then it feels worse, and you do it again. Breaking that cycle is hard for a day or two, and then it becomes natural. I would put a plain balm in my pocket and reach for that instead. The balm does the job the tongue pretends to do, and it does it properly, because it stays on the lips and holds the moisture in, instead of drying out in a minute and taking more moisture with it. If I could give one piece of advice about cracked lips, it would be this one, because it costs nothing and it changes the whole pattern.
I think we should also be honest about how much patience this problem needs. Cracked lips do not heal overnight, and that is frustrating when every smile stings. But the skin is doing real work when it heals. It is making new cells, rebuilding the surface, and that takes days, not hours. I have seen people try a balm once, decide it did not work, and then try something else the next day, and then something else again. That is understandable, because nobody likes waiting, but it does not give any one thing the time to work. My view is that you should pick a simple balm, use it regularly for a week or two, and judge it after that, not after a day. Steady care is not exciting, but it is what the skin actually needs, and it is the approach that works most often.
There is something else I want to say about winter itself. Winter is a season that asks a lot of the body. The air is cold, the days are short, the rooms are heated and dry, and we spend more time indoors with the windows shut. It is no surprise that the lips, which are out in the open all day, feel the season first. I think we should not treat that as a failure. The body is responding normally to a hard season. The right response is not to fight the winter, but to give the body a little help: a scarf on a windy day, a balm before going out, a glass of water through the day, and a little patience. These are small, kind things, and they are enough. You do not need to buy an expensive product or follow a complicated routine. You need to be steady and gentle, and that is a lesson that applies to more than lips.
I also want to say something about children, because I think they are the ones who suffer most from this problem without being able to explain it. A child with cracked lips may not say that their lips hurt. They may just become quiet, or refuse food, or lick their lips constantly. I think a parent who notices this and puts a little plain balm on the child’s lips, gently, without making a fuss, is doing a kind and useful thing. It is also worth teaching a child, in simple words, that licking makes it worse, and that the balm is there to help. Children learn habits early, and a child who learns to protect their lips in winter will carry that habit for life. It is a small piece of care, but it is the kind of care that stays with a person.
I think the question of when to ask a health professional is one worth answering plainly. If your lips do not improve after two or three weeks of steady care, or if a crack bleeds often, or if the skin around your mouth becomes very sore, then it is time to ask someone who can look at your own lips. I do not say that to worry you. I say it because general information has limits, and a health professional can see things an article cannot. Most of the time, they will tell you that it is simple winter dryness and that your care is on the right track. That reassurance is worth having, and it is better than worrying quietly for weeks. Asking for help is not a sign that the problem is serious. It is a sign that you are taking your own comfort seriously.
I also think it is worth stepping back and asking why a small problem like this gets so much attention. I believe it is because the lips are part of how we meet the world. We talk with them, we smile with them, we eat with them, and when they hurt, every one of those ordinary things becomes a reminder. A sore lip is a small thing, but it touches a lot of the day. That is why I think it deserves a proper answer, not a dismissive one. A person who is dealing with cracked lips is not making a fuss about nothing. They are dealing with a real, daily discomfort, and they deserve clear information and simple care that works. I would rather give an honest, plain answer than a clever one, and I think that is what this topic needs.
My final view is simple. Protect your lips before you go out, not after. Use a plain balm regularly, keep one in your pocket, and put some on before bed. Wear a scarf on a cold, windy day. Drink water through the day, and be gentle with your lips: no licking, no peeling, no scrubbing. Give the skin time to heal, and be patient for a week or two. If it does not improve, or if it worries you, speak to a health professional. That is the whole of it, and it is enough. Winter will come every year, and your lips will meet it every year, and with a little steady care, they can meet it comfortably. That is my take, and I stand by it, because it is simple, it is honest, and it works in real life.
I would also tell a friend who asked me about this to keep it simple and not to buy a shelf of products. One plain balm is enough. The expensive ones are not doing anything different from the simple ones. What matters is not the price, but the habit: putting it on often, putting it on before going out, and putting it on at night. I have seen people spend money on product after product, hoping one of them will be the answer, when the answer was always the habit, not the product. A cheap balm used well beats an expensive balm used once a day. That is a useful thing to remember, not only for lips, but for many small health habits. The habit is the treatment, and the product is only the tool.
One last thought: I think cracked lips are a good reminder that the body is always talking to us, in small ways. A tight lip is the body saying that the air is dry. A sore crack is the body saying that the skin needs protection. These are not loud messages, and they are easy to ignore, but they are useful if we listen. Winter asks us to pay a little more attention to the small things: to drink water, to cover up, to be gentle with ourselves. I think that is a good way to meet the season, not with worry, but with steady, kind attention. Your lips will thank you for it, and so will the rest of you, because the same care that helps your lips helps your skin, your comfort, and your whole day.
I also think it is worth talking about the cost of all this, because I know that money matters, and that health advice often sounds expensive. The good news is that looking after your lips in winter costs almost nothing. A plain balm is one of the cheapest things you can buy, and a single stick lasts for weeks, because you only need a thin layer each time. A scarf is something most people already own. Water from the tap costs nothing. The habits that matter most, like not licking your lips and not peeling dry skin, are free. I think that is an important point, because it means that this is a problem anyone can deal with, whatever their income. You do not need a special product, a clinic visit, or a complicated routine. You need a small, cheap balm and a little patience, and that is within reach for almost everyone. When health advice is simple and cheap, people actually follow it, and that is why I like this topic. It is a problem with a fair answer.
There is one more thing I want to be honest about, and it is about the limits of what I can tell you here. This article is general information, and it describes the common pattern that most people experience. It is not about you in particular, and it cannot know your skin, your habits, or your health. If your lips have been cracked for a long time, if they hurt a lot, if they bleed often, or if the skin around your mouth is very sore, then the right step is to speak to a health professional, not to read another article. I say that plainly, because I would rather you got a proper look at your own lips than kept trying the same thing and hoping it would work. Most of the time, a health professional will confirm that it is simple winter dryness, and that reassurance is worth the visit. And if it is something else, then you will have found out early, which is always better than finding out late.
Finally, I want to end with the thought I started with: winter comes every year, and your lips will meet it every year. You cannot change the weather, and you cannot give your lips the oil glands they do not have. What you can do is give them a little help, day after day, with steady, gentle care. Put the balm on before you go out. Put it on again before bed. Wear a scarf when the wind is cold. Drink water. Be patient when healing takes a week or two. These are small things, and they are easy to forget, but they add up to a winter that is much more comfortable. I think that is a good way to think about health in general: not as a big project, but as a set of small, kind habits that you repeat without fuss. If you can do that for your lips, you can do it for the rest of yourself too, and that is a lesson worth keeping long after the winter has gone.
And one very last thing: if you remember only one sentence from this whole article, let it be this. Protect your lips before the cold reaches them, not after the damage is done. A little balm in the morning, a scarf on a windy day, and a little patience while the skin heals will carry you through the winter more comfortably than any expensive product ever could. That is the whole lesson, and it is a simple one.
Frequently Asked Questions
Why does my lips crack in cold weather happen to me?
It happens because your lips have very thin skin with no oil glands of their own, so they cannot hold moisture the way the rest of your skin does. Cold winter air is dry and pulls water out of the lips, and the wind, indoor heating and repeated changes between warm rooms and cold streets make that drying faster. The lips also move constantly when you talk and eat, so once the skin is dry and stiff, it can split. It is a common winter problem, not a sign that something is wrong with you.
Can small daily habits really help with my lips crack in cold weather?
Yes, small habits help a lot. Using a plain lip balm regularly, especially before going outside and before bed, protects the lips and slows the loss of moisture. Avoiding licking your lips, not peeling dry flakes, covering your mouth with a scarf on windy days, and drinking water through the day all make a real difference. None of these habits is dramatic, but together they give the lips the steady protection they need to stay comfortable and to heal.
What can I do in general when my lips crack in cold weather happens?
In general, keep the lips protected and be gentle with them. Put on a plain lip balm several times a day, and use a thicker layer at night. Avoid licking or biting your lips, and do not pull off dry skin. Use lukewarm water when you wash your face, and rinse your mouth well after brushing your teeth. Wear a scarf over your mouth on very cold days, and drink water regularly. Give the skin a week or two of steady care, because cracked lips heal slowly.
Is my lips crack in cold weather something I should worry about?
For most people, no. Cracked lips in winter are a common, seasonal problem that settles with steady care. You should pay closer attention if a crack does not improve after two or three weeks, if it bleeds often, if the lip is very swollen or painful, or if the skin around the mouth stays red and sore. In those cases, it is sensible to speak to a health professional, who can look at your own lips and give advice that fits you.
Does my lips crack in cold weather happen to many people?
Yes, it happens to very many people, of all ages, in every place that has cold, dry winters. Children, older people and people who work outdoors often notice it most, because their lips are exposed to the weather for longer, or their skin heals more slowly. It is one of the most common winter skin complaints, and most people who live through a cold winter have had it at least once.
Can my lips crack in cold weather be linked to sleep or tiredness?
It can be linked in a small way. If you breathe through your mouth while you sleep, especially when your nose is blocked, a steady flow of air passes over your lips all night and dries them, so you may wake up with lips that feel tight and dry. Tiredness itself does not crack the lips, but when you are tired you may drink less water, forget your lip balm, or lick your lips more without noticing, and those things add up. A little balm before bed and a glass of water by the bed can help.
