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What Are the Best Home Remedies for Cracked Lips?

Jami Yontz

Last Modified Date: January 27, 2024

Cracked, red, and peeling lips can be painful and unappealing, but there are many home remedies that are low cost and easy solutions. Home remedies for cracked lips include applying homemade creams, vegetables, and various oils. There are also lifestyle recommendations that can help cure and prevent a person’s lips from becoming dehydrated.

Dry and cracked lips are uncomfortable and can begin to peel or bleed. Cold weather conditions can cause a person’s lips to become chapped and eventually crack, and a lip sunburn can also cause this condition. Chemicals in lipsticks or lip gloss can cause cracked lips, and some acidic foods will cause the lips become dry and cracked. The issue usually becomes worse as people attempt to moisturize the lips by licking them. Smoking and drug use can also cause cracked lips to occur.

Homemade creams and formulas are some of the best home remedies for cracked lips. A topical mixture of glycerine and either milk cream or honey can help to moisturize lips. Soaking rose petals in fresh milk or water is another formula commonly used.

Olive oil, a simple staple in most kitchens, is also a great moisturizer for cracked lips.

Topical mixtures of aloe vera, olive oil, honey, and unsalted butter are also popular home remedies for cracked lips. Many people suggest that applying petroleum jelly each night will heal the peeling or bleeding lips. Castor oil, mustard oil, and Mentholatum are also used as treatment options.

One of the most popular home remedies for cracked lips is using cucumber slices and rubbing the slices over the person’s lips. Cucumbers have a high water content and contain many other nutrients that can help rehydrate the person’s lips and provide essential vitamins for rejuvenation. Neem leaves applied to the lips each night can help heal the cracked lips and prevent infection.

Mustard oil can be used to treat cracked lips.

Lifestyle remedies can also help heal and prevent a person’s lips from becoming inflamed or dry. Drinking seven to ten glasses of water each day is highly recommended by medical professionals and dermatologists to keep skin hydrated. Vitamin A is a natural antioxidant and can be helpful in preventing the lips from cracking. A vitamin B deficiency can cause cracked lips, and supplements can help a person maintain a healthy level of the nutrients. During cold, dry months of the year, a humidifier will help to keep moisture in the air of a home, helping to keep skin moist during winter months.

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Discussion Comments

Wisedly33

July 1, 2014

@Scrbblechick -- While I support using naturally derived remedies whenever possible, there comes a time when the person needs something stronger, and if that relief comes in a tube of Blistex, so be it!

I know a couple of things not to use are camphor or eucalyptus. Those are very drying and will only end up drying your lips out. I always recommend reading lip balm/remedy labels to see if it contains either of those two substances before buying it. You're better off using plain petroleum jelly than camphor. It will dry your lips out in a hurry, and sometimes will irritate them further.

Scrbblchick

June 30, 2014

Petroleum jelly will help, but I had terribly chapped, cracked lips back in the winter and the thing that helped me the most was coconut oil. I bought a jar of food grade coconut oil and it felt wonderful on my lips! It did help moisturize them.

What helped the most, though, surprisingly, was a 98-cent tube of Blistex medicated lip balm. I don't know what's in it that did it, but my lips were better overnight after I used it. It's good stuff. It may not be a home remedy, but it's cheap and it works! That’s good enough for me!