Keep Calm and Lip Balm On.

Hi everyone. It’s Tuesday Tara here, writing about lip products with sun protection. Like many women, I’ll do anything to protect my lips from burning or chapping. I've also (like many) purchased more than a few lip balms on impulse at checkout counters in my past. This is why the stores put them there—they know our addictions too well! I'm writing today to ask you to learn from my mistakes, and NOT make lip balm purchases on impulse.

Lips are a sensitive and important body part, which need a lot of protection and care. This means we need to pay close attention to the ingredients we apply to them. As Grayce mentioned yesterday, lips have fewer layers of skin, which means the ingredients absorb into our bodies faster. Plus, we literally consume (by swallowing) the ingredients in our lip balms. I’ve read various statistics on this, but I think the most popular one is that women literally EAT seven pounds of lip products in a lifetime. This fact only has to be scary if you’re using scary ingredients!

As per usual, I read the ingredients on many products before actually testing a lip balm. After trying tons of different options that met my standards, I now have two favorites: my favorite one for nighttime and indoors (by Pangea Organics…which I will discuss later in the year); and my favorite Lip SPF, for summer and for outdoor sports, by SuperGoop. Supergoop’s balms (which are actually more gloss-y then balm-y) have SPF 30 UVA and UVB protection, as opposed to the SPF 15 of most of most of their counterparts. Interestingly enough, I’ve always been hesitant to buy glosses for protection because I thought they came off my lips too quickly, but SuperGoop (and Jack Black) lip SPF glosses have great ingredients, high SPF, and a wonderful taste and smell. I haven’t been able to find better SPF lip products out there. If you do, please let us know!

The next time you’re about to pick up a lip balm at the checkout counter, make sure to check the ingredients before purchasing it. If it says it’s an SPF, remember that you want both UVA and UVB protection. If it says its natural, double check the ingredients! And if you want suggestions, we’re always here to help!