Danish acting legend, Mads Mikkelsen, put in a near-perfect performance as “Overgârd,” the sole survivor of a plane crash in the Arctic Circle in 2018’s Arctic. Image: Bleeker Street — Danish acting legend, Mads Mikkelsen, put in a near-perfect performance as “Overgârd,” the sole survivor of a plane crash in the Arctic Circle in 2018’s *Arctic*.
Image: Bleeker Street

If there’s one thing that rivals pimples on presentation day, it’s chapped lips.

And unlike acne — which should never be popped or prodded — a man can’t help worsen his chapped lips due to the mortal need to eat food; Think of the friction and skin-stretching in wolfing a triple-stacked Philly cheesesteak sub when your lips are chapped. Think of the burn from the Buffalo sauce all over your beak on wing night.

Chapped lips aren’t endemic to winter, by the way. Some guys’ lips suffer dry summers, too, especially all of you who live by deserts.

Chapped lips comes down to dehydrated skin; Our lips lack oil glands, unlike the skin in most other parts of our bodies.

Often, dehydrated skin’s due to nothing more than a lack of enough water. Don’t skimp on drinking the stuff. Try to get in eight glasses a day. And if water bores you, grab one of those soda-stream things (no, that wasn’t an ad). They even come with little flavourers and everything.

Many men, however, can drink all the water they want and it won’t matter. Winter’s chill and drying winds will do their worse, and when they do, their lips pay the price.

Our founder, Dino, knows this well. Before he perfected his Lip Repair formula, Dino endured countless Canadian winters (and summers) with bone-dry lips. So he crafted a formula that features three things lips love: jojoba oil, beeswax and Shea butter, the latter of which keeps dry air away like it’s death itself; A fat derived from the nuts grown on African Shea trees, Shea butter locks moisture into the skin then forms a barrier that’ll last a few hours. Nice, right? Be generous with your lip treatments. Indoor heating’s as merciless with its knack for stripping moisture as winter.

One last thing: Sometimes, dry lips has nothing to do with the cold or heat.

Lips that start to crack or peel could mean you snore at night; all that constant breathing against your mouth can wind up drying them. Dry lips could even come from an unconscious habit of licking your lips when you’re stressed, which irritates them thanks to contact with tough enzymes in saliva that are meant to break down food.

Point being, if you’re moisturizing regimen isn’t helping your lips, call your doc.

There’s a host of possibilities your lips dry up.

And if Dr. Oz is right, all you clarinet players with chapped lips can blame those instruments, too.

Here's How to Fix Chapped Lips