The Best Moisturizing Lip Products To Wear Under Face Masks

Wearing protective face masks when we leave home has become part of our daily lives, which means we need to adjust our skin care routines. Trapped heat, humidity and friction from the mask can irritate the skin. Plus, it’s difficult to properly moisturize ― by sipping water and reapplying lip balm ― under a mask. This can all add up to exceptionally dry or chapped lips, which makes finding a long-lasting, moisturizing lip product more vital than ever.

“The most important thing when you’re talking about hydration for lips is finding something that has staying power,” said Arielle Nagler, an assistant professor of dermatology at NYU Langone Health. “Thicker glosses tend to be better at that.”

Nagler also recommended avoiding products that are mostly water- or alcohol-based “because those tend to evaporate quickly.”

Experts who spoke to HuffPost had more good advice for protecting your lips in these tough times:

Look for these ingredients (and avoid these).

Nava Greenfield, a doctor with Schweiger Dermatology in New York, called petrolatum (aka petroleum jelly) and beeswax “my two favorite products” when it comes to locking in lip moisture because “they’re the thickest and they’re least likely for people to react to them.”

Oil-based products ― think mango, mineral, hemp seed and castor seed oil ― also work well.

“The oil-based products will stay on your lips longer,” said Carrie Kovarik, associate professor of dermatology at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania. “They may not be as cosmetically beautiful but if you’re going to have a mask on, I don’t think anyone’s going to really notice. If you really have dry, chapped lips, just glob it on.”

Just because our mouths are covered more often these days doesn’t mean we should skip the sunscreen. “Most fabrics provide an SPF of about 4, so it’s still important even if you’re wearing a mask to apply a lip product that has SPF,” Nagler said.

Greenfield said she wears SPF 50 “whenever I leave the house” and loves Coppertone Sport Sunscreen Lip Balm. “It’s going to help your lips stay young and healthy for longer,” she said of SPF lip products overall. “There’s lots of skin cancers that build up on lips, mucous membranes, and damage in general.”

The American Academy of Dermatology recommends steering clear of lip products with camphor, eucalyptus, menthol, fragrance or flavors like cinnamon, citrus and mint, which can potentially cause an allergic reaction or burning sensation that will worsen dry lips.

“Cinnamon is a very common allergy we see,” Kovarik noted. “Other things that are added to lip products like eucalyptus and camphor can be pretty irritating, especially if you already have chapped lips.”

Stop messing with your mouth.

For the same reason you want to stay away from water-based products, you should also try not to lick your dry lips. “Whenever you apply water to the skin, it’s actually counterproductive,” Greenfield said. “It makes it more dry because it’s wiping away the natural oils that are there.”

And as difficult as it can be, don’t pick at dry skin on the lips or use exfoliators to remove flakes.

“The lips are one of the most sensitive areas of your body and to try to help it out by exfoliating it is getting into a place where you may irritate it too much,” Kovarik said. “Go the other way and apply things to put moisture back rather than ripping cells away.”

Our lips also have the power to self-soothe.

“The best hydration for your lips is the natural emollience that your skin normally produces, so keeping your skin healthy in general and keeping them hydrated — that means drinking lots of fluids — is going to be your best bet,” Greenfield continued. “Your skin turns over fully once every two weeks at a minimum.”

The material of your mask matters.

Pay attention to what your face mask is made of. “Some masks have antibacterial products built into them and those can be kind of irritating to lips,” Nagler said. “When you’re buying a mask, think about it touching the lips and decide whether or not it feels safe.”

Wearing masks can also “lead to other problems with restricted airflow,” Greenfield said. “You can experience a skin breakdown or some perleche, which is a little fungal infection on the sides of your lips” at the corners of your mouth.

So to protect your lips, Greenfield reiterated, “the safest thing to do is just apply straight-up petroleum jelly.”

Products The Experts Recommend

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