Unorthodox Treatment for Chapped Lips

I was at my boyfriend’s house this weekend with the worst set of chapped lips I’ve ever had. They were white, cracked, peeling, even bleeding from two slits along the sides of my mouth. Not helping matters was the fact that I couldn’t stop from biting and sucking on them. Because, you know, for that one minute after you do your lips feel moisturized again. But the more you lick your lips, the more you dry them out. So I was just making the problem worse.

As I prepared for bed one night, whining the whole time, I searched my man’s cabinets for something—anything!—I could use to ease the pain. I found a moisturizer for severely chapped hands, Neutrogena Norwegian Formula Hand Cream, Dry Chapped Hands ($5 for 2 oz., drugstore.com). I squeezed some out to take a look at the formula; it was so dense, the instructions said to only use a dab to smooth over both hands. I took that dab and smeared it all over my lips. Ahh. I can’t explain the relief I felt in that moment. But the best part came the next morning when I woke up and had a brand new set of lips. My pucker was smooth, not bleeding, not cracked and not in pain. It was miraculous! You don’t have to follow suit, readers, because what I did certainly wasn’t recommended on the packaging, but I’ve now stashed this Norwegian formula in my purse, in place of my usual lip balm. At least for now.