Swiss Lip Care

Lips are the only part of the face with no sebaceous glands at all. Everywhere else, the skin produces its own lipids to hold water in; here it cannot, which is why lips dry out first in cold weather, in dry indoor air, and on aeroplanes, and why they need an external occlusive rather than a moisturiser in the usual sense. The transition zone at the lip border also thins with age and sun exposure, which is where lip definition is gradually lost.

Why balm sometimes makes it worse

A familiar pattern: the more balm applied, the more it seems to be needed. Two things drive this. Some ingredients — menthol, camphor, phenol, strong fragrance — give a cooling or tingling sensation that reads as relief but irritates over repeated use. And a purely occlusive balm applied to lips that are already dehydrated seals in nothing; it prevents further loss without adding anything back. A formula that combines humectants with occlusives, applied to lips that are not already cracked, breaks the cycle better than reapplying the same stick every twenty minutes.

Sun protection people forget

The lower lip receives more direct UV than almost any other part of the face because of its angle, and it has no melanin to speak of. It is a common site for sun damage, and one of the few areas most people never apply sunscreen to. A balm with a UV filter used daily — particularly in the mountains, where UV intensity rises with altitude and snow reflects it back upward — is a small habit with a disproportionate return. Phytopharma's Apricoderm stick with UV filter is built for exactly this.

Cracked, chapped or persistently sore

Ordinary chapping responds to a repairing balm and to leaving the lips alone — no licking, no picking at flakes, which removes living tissue along with dead. Cracking at the corners of the mouth that does not heal, persistent soreness, or a patch of rough white skin on the lip that lasts more than a few weeks are different matters and worth showing to a doctor or pharmacist; the corners in particular can be fungal or nutritional rather than simple dryness.

Shipping from Switzerland

All products are authentic and sourced directly from Swiss manufacturers or their authorised distributors. Free shipping within Switzerland from CHF 100, worldwide from CHF 300. Dispatched from our Lausanne base.