Lip Service: How to Formulate Balms, Scrubs and Lip Oils That Actually Help

23 October 2026 · MakeYourSkin Team

Illustration of a twist-up lip balm, a small tin of sugar scrub and a lip oil wand with a pair of soft pink lips — MakeYourSkin Journal

Lip balm might be the very first cosmetic many of us ever made. Melt some wax, add oil, pour into a tin, done. But lips are surprisingly special skin, and a few common "nice" ingredients can make chapped lips worse. Let's make balms that actually help.

Why lips dry out so easily

Lip skin is very different from your cheek. Cosmetic chemist Kelly Dobos explains in GCI Magazine that the outer protective layer of the lips is only about 3–5 cell layers thick, versus 15–20 on other skin. Lips have no sweat glands, fewer ceramides, and lose roughly three times as much water as the cheek (GCI Magazine). Add licking, cold wind and dry air, and you've got the perfect recipe for chapping.

What helps, according to dermatologists

The American Academy of Dermatology recommends lip products with ingredients like petrolatum, ceramides, dimethicone and shea butter, and warns that licking makes lips drier (AAD). In formulation terms, you want:

What to leave out (or use carefully)

The AAD suggests avoiding lip products with camphor, eucalyptus, flavourings like mint, cinnamon and citrus, fragrance, menthol, phenol and salicylic acid when lips are chapped. That tingle isn't "working". It's irritation. DermNet lists the usual suspects behind allergic reactions on the lips: fragrances and flavours, lanolin, propolis, some dyes, and ricinoleic acid from castor oil (DermNet). Doctors have even reported four patients who reacted to peppermint oil in a lip balm (Tran et al., Dermatitis, 2010).

Castor oil gives gorgeous shine and is used in many lip products, so it's not banned, just a known allergen for a small number of people. Offer a castor-free version if you're making for sensitive customers.

Colour on lips: the rules are stricter

Lips are close to the mouth, so you will swallow some product. In the US, colours approved only for "externally applied" use can't go on lips, because that definition excludes the lips (21 CFR 70.3). The FDA's colour additive table shows which colours are allowed for general use including lipstick, and some have limits, such as D&C Red 33 at no more than 3% in lipstick (FDA). For example, Red Iron Oxides are permitted generally, while ultramarines are not allowed for lips. Always check each colourant's permitted uses for your market (more in Sunday's colour cosmetics post).

Three blueprints

1. Classic healing balm (stick or tin)

  • ~20–25% wax (candelilla is firmer, so use a bit less than beeswax)
  • ~25–30% butter (shea, cocoa or mango)
  • ~45–50% oils (squalane, jojoba, a little castor for shine)
  • 0.5% Tocopherol against rancidity
  • Optional: 0.1–0.5% ceramide complex, melted with the oils

Tweak the wax up or down for firmness, and test in a warm pocket!

2. Gentle sugar scrub

  • Fine Sucrose bound in shea butter and oil (roughly 50:50)
  • Use once or twice a week at most, gently, then follow with balm.
  • Skip it entirely on cracked or broken lips.

3. Glossy lip oil

Keep lip products waterless

Balms and oils are anhydrous, which keeps them simple. Lip products touch your mouth and fingers constantly, so good hygiene still matters: clean tools, tubes rather than pots where possible, and an antioxidant for the oils.

Shop the building blocks in Lip Care Ingredients, Waxes & Structurants and Butters.