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Cigarettes contain high levels of nicotine which is known to gradually darken a person's lips. The cells situated in the bottom of the epidermis, also called melanocytes and tyrosinase, which is an enzyme produced by melanocytes get affected by smoking.
A few tips to decrease the darkness in lips are:
- Avoid cigarettes and do not pick up the smoking habit again.
- Use a lip moisturizer to avoid dry lips. A petroleum jelly based lip balm is ideal for the lips.
- Be sure you drink plenty of water to detoxify your body from impurities.
- Switch to a healthier diet making sure to include plenty of fruits and vegetables. Also, drink plenty of fresh juices like carrot, apple and pomegranate.
- When you go outside, use a protective sunscreen on your lips.
- Avoid tea and coffee as they causes the lips to darken further
- You can also temporarily mask the darkness by applying a good concealer and a lipstick.
You can also opt for one of the many home remedies to lighten the color of your lips:
- Apply a mixture of glycerin and lemon juice to your lips. Wash it off after having left it on for about 10-15 minutes.
- Applying beetroot juice to your lips is known to have helped lighten the color of dark lips
- Petroleum jelly can be applied to the lips before sleeping and can be left on overnight. This not only helps reduce darkness but also helps keep your lips soft. It also prevents the skin on your lips from chapping and breaking.
- Rubbing cucumber slices on your lips is also very helpful as a home remedy.
- Make a paste of banana, honey and sour cream, apply for 10 minutes and then wash the paste off.
- Application of clarified butter is also known to help. Apply and leave on overnight.
- Milk cream or almond milk applied to the lips softens them and reduces darkness
All the above mentioned home remedies have been used very successfully in lightening lip color, however, you must realize that lip darkening takes place over a period of time, therefore in the same way it would take a while before these remedies start to show its positive effect on your lips. Be patient and the best thing you can do to help ensure they do not darken further is to completely quit smoking.
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