We exfoliate our skin to help purge dead skin cells, clearing the way for healthy skin. But when it comes to the skin on our lips, the question of how to exfoliate becomes a little trickier.
Exfoliation and moisturization are uniquely important when it comes to caring for the skin on your lips, which may require more skincare attention than the skin elsewhere on your body. But exfoliating your lips isn’t just good for the skin: It can also help you better apply common makeup products, like lip tints. This guide will not only share recommendations for the best lip exfoliant, but also information on how to exfoliate lips (and how often, too).
About the Skin On Your Lips
Part of skin’s form and function is as a protective layer, so it makes sense that it would be exposed to the elements—and its own mechanisms for supporting its own health, longevity, and continued renewal. But the skin on our lips is more exposed than we think. In addition to all of the things we use our lips for, they provide a border between the inner and outer linings of our bodies. Unlike the skin elsewhere on our faces and bodies, the skin on lips is also a fraction of the thickness—four or five cell layers, as opposed to the 15 or more on our cheeks.
Lips also don’t produce oil, due to a lack of sebaceous glands. This means that our lips can’t moisturize themselves, relying on us—and our trusty lip balms—to do the job when we can. Everybody is familiar with what happens when lips become dry. The skin can be quick to turn flaky and scaly; they can become pale and rough in texture.
Lips are also resilient, and regenerative: Beneath even rough, chapped lips, is always new and healthy skin. In order to get to it, you’ll need to exfoliate.
What Are Lip Exfoliators?
Lip exfoliators are lip care formulas made to effectively remove dead skin cells but still be gentle on the delicate lip skin.
Types of Lip Exfoliators
The current skincare market has developed to provide a range of options when choosing an exfoliant. Some exfoliants utilize fine particles and friction, while others rely on acids that dissolve bonds between old and new cells; some facialists also use fine blades to “mechanically” exfoliate dead skin. Most exfoliants, but particularly ones for lips, fall into one of two categories.
Chemical Lip Exfoliants
Chemical exfoliants may also be known as acids, or peels, because of their primary active ingredients: Acidic molecules designed to encourage gentle cell turnover. Alpha hydroxy acid is one such molecule, commonly dusted into all sorts of chemical exfoliants, from masks to toners. These acids are understood to dissolve the bonds between dead and living cells, leaving fresh, glowing skin behind.
Physical Lip Exfoliants
Physical exfoliants tend to be made by suspending small particles in a product matrix, and skincare scrubs are a common example. The friction caused by massaging these particles into skin helps remove dead skin and build-up. While chemical exfoliants are popular for all sorts of face and body products, most lip exfoliators tend to be finely-milled, gentle scrubs, given the relative fragility of lips. When you exfoliate your lips, odds are you’ll reach for—or be recommended—a lip scrub.
How to Exfoliate Your Lips
Maybe your lips just need some weekly maintenance, or maybe they’re chapped and are in dire need of a clearing. In any case, there’s an order of operations you’ll want to follow for the best results. Below you’ll find a step-by-step guide enumerating how to exfoliate your lips.
Cleanse & Pat Dry
The first step for lip skincare—or any skincare—involves a good, gentle cleanse. Using your preferred face wash, make sure your lips are free of makeup or other build-up, and then pat dry.
Scrub Your Lips (Gently)
It’s time to use your lip scrub. After wetting your lips, apply a pearl-sized amount of lip scrub and work in small circular motions, softly massaging the product into the skin with a finger. 30 seconds of exfoliation is all you need for best results. If lips get a little tingly or numb, it’s part of the process. (If you feel any lip-related pain, make sure to stop scrubbing and talk to your dermatologist.) If you need a little extra pressure, a dry toothbrush or washcloth may help the process along.
Rinse Well
Lips can be rinsed as soon as you’re done scrubbing—and should look a little brighter and more colorful than when you began.
Moisturize & Treat
Remember what we said about exfoliation and moisturization going hand in hand? If you do, you probably saw this step coming: You can finish your lip routine by sealing the new skin in a layer of balm or other moisturizer (and can even add a lip treatment like a serum beforehand for extra hydration).
Benefits of Exfoliating Your Lips
There are a few important reasons why you should exfoliate your lips, including:
Improves moisture retention
The best benefit of exfoliating lips is how it maximizes the other skincare steps you take. By clearing away dead skin, it makes it easier for products like lip balm to hydrate lips and seal in moisture.
Primes Them for Lipstick
If you’ve ever worn lipstick on dry lips, you know that it might as well be a futile task. Regular exfoliation helps to ensure a smooth surface on which to paint. (Your favorite lip color will thank you!)
Maintains lip health
You can go your whole life without exfoliating your lips, but it might be uncomfortable. Dry, unexfoliated lips can harden until they begin to crack and open up, increasing the potential for infection.
How Often to Exfoliate Lips
An exfoliation session can last as little as half a minute, but how many times can you repeat the process throughout the week?
The surface of the lips can build up with dead skin faster than skin elsewhere on the body, especially if you live in a dry climate or have lips prone to chapping. Still, experts recommend limiting lip exfoliation to once or twice a week to ensure you’re not damaging the surface of lips. They may require a little extra TLC, but they’re still a sensitive area. You can also help show them love by choosing an exfoliant that’s effective, but easy on skin.
The Best Lip Exfoliating Scrub
Given how delicate the skin on lips can be, it’s good to choose a lip exfoliator that you know will get the job as gently as possible. This can be a challenge when it comes to scrubs, which are often intended to pack more punch than your average skincare. But one way to choose a great lip exfoliant is to look within brands and collections that are already known for their superior lip care, and see what kind of exfoliants they offer.
Tatcha’s Kissu lip lineup recently welcomed a newcomer: the Kissu Lip Scrub, a gently effective exfoliant that buffs, nourishes, and conditions in one step. True to the brand’s inspiration of using time-tested Japanese botanicals, the exfoliating agent itself comes in part from konjac, a root vegetable native to Japan and commonly used in medicine and cuisine, and in part from peach seeds. They meet in a base made with camellia oil, a featherweight moisturizer prized by geisha performers for centuries. Follow it up with the complementary Kissu Lip serum and lip mask for smooth, exfoliated, moisturized lips at all hours—day and night.
