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