Say Goodbye to Chapped Lips with the Best Lip Balms

There's nothing like the cold air to starkly remind us just how important it is to have a lip balm handy. Dry, chapped lips are painful, bothersome, and more prominent as temperatures decline. “That cold irritant jostles our keratinocytes, our epidermal barrier, and compromises it, and then water can evaporate out essentially,” explains board-certified dermatologist Mona Gohara, MD. “You also tend to breathe faster in the winter, if you’re cold,” says board-certified dermatologist Papri Sakar, MD. “You’re breathing out not just air but saliva, and that water or that spit, it gets on the lips and then evaporates off and causes more dryness.”

Cold weather isn't the only thing that dries out your lips either. “Forced indoor heating can also strip our skin of moisture, from our heads to our toes,” explains Geeta Yadav, MD, board-certified dermatologist. “It’s especially noticeable on lips because the skin there is so much thinner—it’s about three to six layers deep rather than the 15-plus layers of skin found on the rest of our bodies.”

Lip balms not only deliver essential hydration and nourishment but also prevent moisture from evaporating. Because the lips don't contain any oil glands to help regulate the skin, lip balms serve as a protective barrier and help enhance moisture. So if you haven't prioritized having a lip care regimen complete with a nourishing lip balm that will nurture your lips back to health now and all year, consider this your sign to start. We asked top-rated dermatologists to disclose exactly why lip balm is helpful in combating dry lips, along with their favorite product recommendations.

What Ingredients to Look for in a Lip Balm

When searching for the right lip balm, people should look for the ingredients hyaluronic acid and sodium hyaluronate. These ingredients are humectants, aka the substance that works to draw moisture into the lips.

“Ingredients like ceramides help prevent transepidermal water loss, which is a big factor of lip dryness, ” says Yadav. “Emollients such as shea butter and coconut oil help smooth and soften away dryness and chapped texture.” Basically, emollients are a moisturizer that help to seal the skin cells back together by adding moisture.

As your hunt to find the best lip balm forges on, steer clear of products with menthol, camphor, phenol, and alcohol. “These are ingredients that can irritate the skin leading to skin shedding,” explains Morgan Rabach, MD, board-certified dermatologist, assistant clinical professor at Mount Sinai School of Medicine, and the cofounder of LM Medical Dermatology and Plastic Surgery in New York. Other irritating ingredients include cinnamon or capsaicin (hot pepper), which are often used in lip plumping treatments.

So without further ado, these are the 25 best lip balms, according to customer reviews and dermatologists.