Lip scrubs can be almost-instant game changers for your lips—improving the look, volume, and hue in just 30 seconds. But not all lip exfoliators are alike—here’s what to look for in the best lip scrub.
Chapped, flakey, rough, and dry lips? Blame harsh weather, extensive sun exposure, dehydration, and also your lips’ genetics. Not only is the skin on your lips thinner and more sensitive than the rest of your body (says the Cleveland Clinic), but it also doesn’t contain any oil glands so it cannot self-hydrate—making it the perfect recipe for dry and chapped lips. While lip balms and masks are a great—necessary—step in avoiding chapped lips, dryness can still occur even for the most diligent users. This is where a lip exfoliator (and it’s proper use) steps in to save the day (and your lips). The best lip scrub can help address the look of dry, chapped lips in just 30 seconds. The trick is finding the best lip exfoliator for you and then incorporating the product into a larger lip care routine. We dive into the best lip scrub for lips and how to effectively use one.
What Is a Lip Scrub?
A lip scrub is an exfoliating formula specifically made to be gentle enough on delicate lip skin but effective enough to remove dead skin cells. Almost all lip scrubs are composed of two ingredients: an exfoliant and an emollient. The physical exfoliant – which can be made from multiple sources including sugar, coffee grounds, ground fruit seeds, or other natural ingredients – buffs. While the emollient hydrates and softens lips, and the most common emollients are oils (like coconut, avocado, jojoba, and grapeseed) and butters (including shea, coconut, and cocoa). When the two base ingredients are combined, a lip scrub can accomplish several things, from the appearance to the health of the delicate lip area.
A lip exfoliator buffs away flakiness and dryness, plain and simple. However, it can also have multiple other benefits, too, including:
Helping Other Lip Products Apply Better
Just as a facial scrub clears away dead skin cells and debris, thus helping the following products absorb and work more efficiently, a lip scrub works similarly. Using a lip scrub can help your lip treatment, mask, or balm work even deeper and more effectively.
Temporarily Plumping
A scrub can stimulate blood circulation to the lip area, giving lips a temporary plumped appearance. Plus, this additional blood flow can also give your pout a flushed appearance, temporarily mimicking the look of a lip tint.
Smoother Lipstick Application
Speaking of lip products, a lip scrub can help you achieve a more even lipstick (or lip tint, etc.) appearance. After all, dry lips can allow a lip tint or lipstick to settle into lines and cracks, so using a lip scrub before a colored lip product can create a perfect base for better-looking and longer-lasting results
Removing Stubborn Lip Products
While all of the above benefits are great before a night on the town, a lip scrub can also be helpful in your evening lip care routine. Stubborn, long-lasting lipstick not budging? A lip scrub can work like a lip makeup remover, especially because it usually contains both an exfoliant and an oil component. It can work its way into every single line, crevice, and corner of lips to remove all obstinate lip products.
How To Use a Lip Scrub
As we’ve discovered before, there is a proper—aka the safest and most beneficial—way to use a lip scrub. While using a scrub is a fairly simple process, there are a few tricks that take it to the next level. Follow this four-step process for how to use a lip scrub and achieve a perfect pout every time.
Step One: Wet Lips
The friction of an exfoliant on dry lips can be too abrasive. So wet your lips first before applying your scrub to ensure a more gentle experience. While it might feel tempting to get the most intense scrub possible, wetting lips beforehand helps prevent ripping or tearing delicate dry skin.
Step Two: Get Scrubbing
Apply a generous amount (a pearl-sized is ideal) of your lip scrub and work in small circular motions, softly massaging the product into the skin with a finger. Some products even have an applicator that doubles as a massager to encourage this step. Aim for about 30 seconds of exfoliation for best results, working it into every inch of the lips.
Step Three: Rinse
Some scrub formulas are so effective that they can be a bit burdensome to remove. To get the scrub quickly off, we recommend removing the product with a damp cloth in short, light strokes. Take care with this step as lips are in a fragile state, so aim for gentleness over quickness when removing a scrub from the skin.
Step Four: Moisturize and Protect
The skin has just been exfoliated, so lips crave moisture immediately after. Lock hydration in your freshly exfoliated lips by using your favorite lip balm, treatment, or mask. Is it still daytime? Add the additional step of a lip product with sunscreen protection, too—an often overlooked yet vital step.
Best Lip Scrub Ingredients
Most scrubs accomplish the same basics, but the best lip exfoliators can take the benefits to the next level. One way to ensure you have the best lip exfoliator for dry lips? Check the ingredient list to make sure your product is packed with the best ingredients for lip scrubs. That way the product isn’t too harsh that it could rip and tear the delicate skin, but also not too gentle that it accomplishes nothing. Here are a few ingredients to seek out when it comes to choosing the best lip scrub.
Natural Exfoliants
Look to nature and her infinite wisdom when it comes to correctly exfoliating. A formula that includes natural ingredients – like sugar, konjac scrub, and fruit seeds – is a great place to start. The added benefit is that many ingredients, like peach seed scrub, have been used for centuries to restore dry lips, meaning they are tried and tested.
Soothing Oils and Butters
An emollient is needed in a mask to cushion the scrub. While some formulas can use low-quality options, seek out a scrub that puts care into their emollient, like camellia oil or shea butter, which can soothe and linger long after the scrub is removed.
While we’re talking about ingredients, what’s not in the formula is just as important as what is. Here are a few ingredients that are best to avoid. As always, a lip scrub should never be used on compromised, cracked, sunburnt, or bleeding skin and shouldn’t be used too often (which can cause even more irritation).
Flavorings and Fragrance
Flavorings and fragrances can be irritating in a lip scrub. Scents and flavors, most commonly mint, citrus, and cinnamon, are still to be avoided in a lip scrub, just as they are in a lip balm. This is particularly important because the scrub is exfoliating lips, so we’re aiming for as gentle of a product as possible.
Powerful Natural Ingredients
Eucalyptus, menthol, and camphor are powerful natural ingredients, but should absolutely be avoided in lip products. They can sometimes crop up in lip scrubs because of their ‘refreshing’ sensation – but they are far too harsh for the delicate area and will only cause discomfort and irritation with use on the lips.
The Best Lip Scrub
Lip scrubs are potent: you can buff away roughness and reveal softer, more supple lips in just 30 seconds. Here is our favorite pick for the best lip scrub for your precious pout.
There are many worthy lip scrubs on the market, but we’re especially partial to a brand-new option. Meet The Kissu Lip Scrub, Tatcha’s first foray into lip scrubs. We were inspired by ancient Japanese practices, harnessing the power of timeless natural ingredients to create a simple daily ritual that polishes, plumps, and protects lips. The Kissu Lip Scrub gently scrubs with two exfoliating ingredients: konjac and peach seed. Konjac refines and smooths skin for a brighter appearance, while peach seed removes flakes for more hydrated and refined lips. When it comes to the emollient, we selected one of the most extraordinary and treasured ingredients available, and one that’s a Tatcha signature, too: Japanese camellia oil. The intensely hydrating oil seals in moisture, while also soothing tired lips. Together, The Kissu Lip Scrub effectively sloughs away flakiness and removes dullness while sealing in moisture for smooth, supple lips.
Now that you’ve discovered the best lip scrub, that’s just the beginning of your lip care journey. To ensure you eradicate dry, chapped lips for good, follow this step up with a lip treatment, lip balm or mask, and lip SPF. Put the care back into your lip care routine.