Winter weather with its cold temperatures and wind can have a dry, cracking, and even bleeding effect on lips.
Image courtesy of targetwoman.com.
An interesting fact is that your lips are the only part of your skin that doesn’t have oil glands to produce moisture, making your lips very prone to drying. Also, aging is a factor.
The older you get, the more prone your lips are to chapping, so you need to take care of them.
As always, you have a ton of options for what you can do to prevent or alleviate dry, chapped lips, but some options are healthier than others.
Lip balms are a great remedy for this, but like everything else, you always want to find the healthiest, most nourishing, and least toxic product that will benefit you.
Today, there are a lot of great options for natural and organic lip balms in stores and online. I found three really great options that I wanted to share. They’re from: Alba Botanica, Badger, and Purple Prairie Botanicals.
Alba Botanica
Alba Botanica is a really great brand for finding products that are 100 percent vegetarian, combining natural and organic certified ingredients, with no animal testing. The products also contain no meat or by-products from animal testing.
My favorite line of lip balm from Alba is the Un-Petroleum series, which comes in flavors: cherry, tangerine, and vanilla.
These lip balms have an SPF 18, as well as contain nourishing and moisturizing ingredients including vitamin E, jojoba oil, caster seed oil, beeswax, lanolin, evening primrose oil, and olive oil.
Another great thing about Alba products are their non-toxic formulations. They are made without all of the following: parabens, phthalates, artificial colors, propylene glycol, aluminum, mineral oil, petrolatum, oxybenzone, PABA, nano-particles, DEA, MEA or TEA, PEGs and PEG derivatives, ethoxylated ingredients associated with 1,4 dioxane, formaldehyde donors, and GMOs.
Badger
Badger is impressive for the high percentage of organic ingredients it uses in its products. The company says, “Our products have always been 100 percent natural, mostly organic,” and in August 2008, “over 90 percent of Badger’s products became USDA Certified Organic.”
Badger’s collections of lip balm, include the Classic USDA Certified Organic natural lip balm and Cocoa Butter Lip Balm made with Fair Trade CertifiedTM Cocoa Butter.
Badger Classic USDA Certified Organic Natural Lip Balm.
The Classic collection has the following seven flavors: Pink Grapefruit, Vanilla Madagascar, Lavender & Orange, Tangerine Breeze, Ginger & Lemon, Highland Mint, and unscented.
Beyond flavors, all of the Classic lip balms are made using the same formulations, including: organic extra virgin olive oil, organic aloe beeswax, seabuckthorn, and rosehip extract. These ingredients moisturize, nourish with antioxidants, and protect skin from the elements.
These Classic lip balms are also great because they contain no petroleum, artificial colors, flavors, or sweeteners.
The Cocoa butter lip balm has primarily the same base ingredients as the Classic lip balm, but Badger adds that the “Cocoa butter is traditionally processed at low temperatures, allowing the butter to retain its natural, health-giving properties.”
Cocoa butter is a highly concentrated natural moisturizer that melts at body temperature and is easily absorbed by the skin. Cocoa butter is recommended for treating skin conditions like eczema and dermatitis.
Badger Cocoa Butter Lip Balm made with Fair Trade CertifiedTM Cocoa Butter.
The Cocoa butter lip balm comes in the following flavors: Vanilla Bean, Poetic Pomegranate, Sweet Orange, Cool Mint, Creamy Cocoa, Lime Rocket, and Mocha Cocoa.
Badger’s lip balms and many of the company’s other products are USDA Organic Certified, NSF Organic Certified, and Fair Trade Certified.
Purple Prairie Botanicals
Purple Prairie is another great option, when you are looking for lip balm made from natural botanicals. Purple Prairie makes its products from 100 percent natural ingredients, unless the formulations require otherwise. Most of the products have no added colors, while others are colored with natural mineral oxides.
My favorite lip balm from Purple Prairie is the SunStuff Lip Balm, which has an SPF 30. The lip balm acts as a physical barrier against the sun with mineral protection and moisturizers. The company says that “20 percent micronized zinc oxide scatters the sun’s harmful UVA and UVB rays without excessive whitening,” and adds cocoa and shea butter for additional sunscreen and moisturizing protection.
Other nourishing and moisturizing ingredients in the SunStuff lip balm include: organic olive oil, organic beeswax, and organic jojoba oil.
Purple Prairie also has several other lip balms with flavors including spearmint, mint, orange, and cherry. The lip balms generally have a shelf-life of about 24 months.
Many of the Purple Prairie products contain almost all organic ingredients, but the company is still working on getting organic certifications. All of the products are also gluten-free.
Another great thing about Purple Prairie products is that they are non-toxic, and made without: petroleum, parabens, synthetic dyes, artificial preservatives, animal ingredients, detergents, sulfates, and GMOs.
In addition, Purple Prairie works with American companies that practice environmental stewardship and adheres to fair trade practices.
Reader comments and input are always welcomed!