Speaker 1: Welcome to brain Stuff from How Stuff Works. Hey, brain Stuff,
Speaker 1: I'm Lauren Voke Obama, and today's episode is another classic
Speaker 1: from our former host, Christian Sagar. He's talking about a
Speaker 1: topic that is increasingly relevant to my life as winter
Speaker 1: sets in why do lips get chapped? Hey, I'm Christian Sagar,
Speaker 1: and this is brain Stuff. I'm going to go out
Speaker 1: on a limb here and say you've probably had chapped
Speaker 1: lips at some point. Well, here's what's happening. Your lips
Speaker 1: are pretty delicate things. And the one at the top
Speaker 1: that's your labium supriyaus oriris, and the one on the
Speaker 1: bottom is your labi um infurious oris. Collectively, they form
Speaker 1: an enormously sensitive, incredibly flexible part of your body, and
Speaker 1: it's tough to picture life without them. However, they also
Speaker 1: have some vulnerabilities. For instance, the skin of your lips
Speaker 1: is different from the rest of your face. Let's take
Speaker 1: a closer look. The outer layer is called the epidermist,
Speaker 1: and it has a per act of covering called the
Speaker 1: stratum corneum. Underneath your epidermis is another layer of skin,
Speaker 1: the dermist. Like the rest of your skin, your lips
Speaker 1: have all three of these layers. The difference is that
Speaker 1: the stratum corneum on your lips is way thinner than
Speaker 1: it is anywhere else on your body. In fact, it's
Speaker 1: part of the reason people's lips have that alluring red
Speaker 1: or pink pigment. It comes from underlying blood vessels, red
Speaker 1: colored blood filled capillaries close to the thin skin on
Speaker 1: your lips. Next, your lips also don't have the oil
Speaker 1: and sweat glands that protect other parts of your body.
Speaker 1: They're only source of moisture is your saliva, and that's
Speaker 1: why they can easily become dry and chapped, and that's
Speaker 1: usually the culprit here hydration. We often experience chapped lips
Speaker 1: and cold weather, not because our lips are allergic to
Speaker 1: winter or anything, but instead because the outside air tends
Speaker 1: to be dryer, and this also dries out the lips,
Speaker 1: and this drying out is the leading cause of chapped lips,
Speaker 1: also known as common ki lightness. Luckily, there are some
Speaker 1: pretty simple ways to prevent this. First, and no matter
Speaker 1: what the cause of your chapped lips might be, stop
Speaker 1: licking them. I know, I know, it can be a
Speaker 1: difficult habit to break, but licking your lips can contribute
Speaker 1: significantly to dry cracked skin. The saliva evaporates quickly, taking
Speaker 1: with it any moisture that was already on your lips
Speaker 1: and leaving them even drier, especially in winter air. And
Speaker 1: speaking of amazing segues, let's tackle weather related chapping. If
Speaker 1: you have very dry air in your house, consider investing
Speaker 1: in a humidifier. If you're outside, then protect your lips
Speaker 1: with a product that contains beeswax or petrolatum, which will
Speaker 1: help maintain your lips hydration. If you plan to be
Speaker 1: out in the sun for a while, help prevent dryness
Speaker 1: by using a sunscreen on your lips as well. A
Speaker 1: lip bomb with SPF in it could help address both
Speaker 1: of these issues at once. And as always, drinking plenty
Speaker 1: of fluids is a great move for your entire body,
Speaker 1: not just your lips. And that's it, well, well almost.
Speaker 1: We didn't talk about the multiple other causes of chapped
Speaker 1: lips or lip bomb addiction, or whether some of the
Speaker 1: ingredients and those things actually caused chapped lips, which is
Speaker 1: an interesting little conspiracy theory. Today's episode is written by
Speaker 1: Ben Bollen and produced by Tyler Playing to hear more
Speaker 1: about fringe theories, but probably not too many involving chapstick.
Speaker 1: Tune into Ben's show Stuff they Don't Want You to Know,
Speaker 1: available wherever you get your podcasts, and of course, for
Speaker 1: more on this and lots of other protective topics, visit
Speaker 1: our home planet pas Stuffworks dot com