Lip service

So ever since my friend Sandy said something about exfoliating her lips, I've been stuck on the idea of making my lips nicer. I honestly had never stopped to consider that I need to exfoliate my lips like I do my face or my elbows or my legs. It just never ever occurred to me. But now that I DO know about it, it's a mini obsession.

So Sandy (who also happens to write this totally awesome blog that you should click on when you are done here) buys stuff from Mary Kay and swears by it. I'm sure it's amazing stuff. However, I am cheap, er, thrifty, and I thought to myself "I wonder if I can DIY my way to better lips?"

Guess what? I totally have. And I am in love with the results. I wore lip gloss last week pre exfoliation and I didn't think it looked bad. Then I put some one post exfoliation and I thought my lips looked better. Husband said they felt softer too. He would be the resident expert on my lips, I guess, having put in more than 10 years researching and studying them.

You know you want to try it too, right? Of course. Here is what you need:

1 kid toothbrush. I, of course, bought mine with 2 coupons, making it free. You can get a cheapy at Target for $1.

honey

sugar

olive oil

Mix together about a tablespoon and a half of sugar and a teaspoon of honey. Add in some olive oil to the consistency that you would like....mine was like a thick paste.

I held a warm wash cloth on my lips while I watched the last few minutes of a TV program. Then I went to the mirror, slathered on the scrub and started scrubbing with the toothbrush. The upper lip was the hardest, because I wanted to get it where my lip naturally curls under a little and that was tricky. The lower lip was easy peasy. I just move the brush around in little circles.

When I felt I had scrubbed them well, I took the warm cloth and washed my lips off a bit, then sealed in the moisture with petroleum jelly. I was going to use Chapstick, but I had left it in the other room and the Vaseline was right there. I was pretty sure I could already feel a difference when I applied the petroleum jelly, but I thought it might be my imagination.

Then I went to bed.

When I got up in the morning I was thrilled with the results. They are super soft. I hadn't gotten the upper lip quite as well as I wanted to so I did it again the next night. I went ahead and used the Vaseline again since I felt my lips had come out so well.

Now the key is just to remember to keep them moisturized daily with lip balm and I think I can get away with exfoliating a couple of times a week tops. You could probably even do it in the shower while your conditioner goes to work if you wanted to.

I'm curious to know if anyone tries this and what you think after even just one night of scrub and Vaseline. Let me know, because I am sold!