Chapped lips - is Vaseline the answer?

So a question that popped into my head the other day was ‘Does Vaseline (or any other petroleum based product) actually help dry lips?’

With January in full swing so is the chilly weather and the propensity for lips to become chapped. I’ve suffered quite a bit in the past few weeks and have been turning to my trusty pot of Vaseline to solve the problem. What I found however was it felt like a temporary solution that needed replacing every 30 mins when it had slid off.

Now with a bit of research (Google mainly if I’m being honest) I found out the following:

1)

Vaseline is petroleum based – it’s in the title this shouldn’t be news. It is a derivative of petrol, again it’s in the name. It is therefore non-renewable and therefore not very environmentally friendly.

2)

It coats your lips and protects them from further air/ wind damage.

3)

It does NOT however hydrate your lips in anyway.

4)

Ingesting it isn’t great and can cause stomach problems so why anyone would knowing this continue to put it on their lips is beyond me.

5)

Beeswax based products however like Burts Bees do the same thing, come from a renewable source (well that’s if we save the declining bee population) and won’t damage your insides.

Really the whole truth is that time is the greatest healer of chapped lips and lip balm prevents further damage.