(classical orchestral music)
- I'm Cristen Conger,
and this is Brain Stuff.
I'm gonna go out on a limb here and say
you've probably had
chapped lips at some point.
Here's what's happening.
Your lips are pretty delicate things.
This one at the top is
your labium superius oris,
and the one at the bottom is
your labium inferius oris.
Collectively, they form
an enormously sensitive,
incredibly flexible part of your body.
However, they also have
some vulnerabilities.
For instance, the skin of your lips
is different from the rest of your face.
Let's take a closer look.
Here we go, this is your skin.
The outer layer is called
the epidermis, duh,
and it has a protective covering
called the statum corneum.
Underneath your epidermis
is another layer of skin,
the dermis, double duh.
And like the rest of your skin,
your lips have all three of these layers,
but the difference is that the
statum corneum on your lips
is way thinner than
anywhere else on your body.
In fact, it's part of
the reason people's lips
have that alluring red or pink pigment.
It comes from the
underlying blood vessels,
those red-colored blood-filled capillaries
close to the thin skin on your lips.
Next, your lips also don't
have the oil and sweat
glands that protect
other parts of your body,
because frankly, that would be disgusting.
Their only source of
moisture is your saliva,
and that's why they can
easily become chapped.
And that's usually the
culprit here, hydration.
We often experience chapped
lips in cold weather,
but not because our lips are
allergic to winter or anything,
but instead because the
outside air tends to be dryer,
and this also dries out the lips.
And this drying out is also
known as common cheilitis.
Luckily there are some pretty
simple ways to prevent this.
First, eat a stick of butter.
No, don't do that.
No matter what your cause of chapped lips
might be, stop licking
them, for crying out loud!
I know, I know, it can be
a difficult habit to break,
but licking your lips can
contribute significantly
to dry cracked skin because
the saliva evaporates quickly,
taking with it any moisture
that was already on your lips
and leaving them even dryer,
especially in winter air.
And speaking of amazing segues,
let's tackle weather related chapping.
If you have very dry air in your house,
consider investing in a humidifier.
Or if you're outside,
consider using a product
that contains beeswax or petrolatum,
which will help maintain
your lips' hydration.
If you plan to be out
in the sun for a while,
help prevent dryness by using
a sunscreen on your lips as well.
A lip balm with SPF in it could help
address both of those issues at once.
And as always, drinking plenty of fluids
is a great move for your entire
body, not just your lips.
And that's it.
Well, almost.
We didn't talk about the
multiple other causes
of chapped lips, like making out too much,
or lip balm addiction, or
whether some of the ingredients
in those things actually
cause chapped lips,
an interesting little conspiracy
theory for another time.
But hey, what do you think about it?
Are you addicted to lip balm?
Do you have a secret weapon
to fight chapped lips?
Let me know in the comments,
and check out some of our other videos.
Over here, I think.
Is this right?
Am I pointing in the right direction?
No? I think here.
Okay, videos are here.
Check 'em out for more great stuff.
