Lighten Dark Lips

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Many factors can cause your lips to darken. Smoking, pollution, and sun damage, for example, can negatively impact the appearance of your lips. Luckily, there are many home remedies that can help lighten lips.

Steps

Preventing Lip Darkening

  1. Moisturize your lips. Dry, damaged lips can have a dark appearance.
    • Use a good quality lip balm.
    • Choose lip products with moisturizing ingredients such as shea butter, cocoa butter and almond oil.
    • Shea butter has been used since ancient times and is known for its antioxidant and moisturizing properties.[1]
    • Cocoa butter is often used to reduce discoloration from scarring.[2]
    • Almond oil is considered one of the best oils to improve the health and appearance of skin.[3]
  2. Use sunblock. Protect your lips from the sun as you protect the rest of your skin.
    • Lips don't tan but they can burn and become dry which will make them appear darker.
    • Make sure your lip balm has sun blocking material of SPF 20 or greater.
    • Use lipsticks with sun block of SPF 20 also.
  3. Quit smoking. Smoking can discolor lips.
    • Cigarettes contain nicotine which can darken lips.[4]
    • Tobacco and tar also darken lips.[5]
    • Heat from cigarettes may cause you to produce more melanin (which protects skin from the sun) and darken your lips.[6]

Massaging and Exfoliating

  1. Massage your lips. Massages can increase blood flow and brighten your lips.
    • Massage your lips with almond oil every night before bed to deeply moisturize.[7]
    • Massage your lips with ice cubes to moisturize and make them appear fuller and pink.[8]
  2. Exfoliate your lips. Remove dead skin with a simple sugar scrub.
    • Make a sugar scrub by combining a tablespoon of white or brown sugar with just enough honey or olive oil to make a paste.[9]
    • Rub the mixture vigorously over your lips.
    • After a minute wipe off with a damp washcloth.
    • Follow with a soothing lip balm.
    • Repeat twice a week. If irritation happens, reduce the number of times per week or rub more gently.
  3. Use a pomegranate lip scrub. Pomegranates can make your lips pinker.[10]
    • Crush 1 tablespoon of pomegranate seeds and mix with milk to create a paste.
    • Rub on lips.
    • Leave for a couple of minutes then wash off. Repeat as desired.
    • Discontinue if irritation occurs.

Lightening with Food

  1. Use lemon juice. Lemon juice is well-known for it's ability to lighten skin.[11]
    • Rub a few drops of lemon juice on your lips before bed each night.
    • Use freshly squeezed lemon juice.
    • Rinse off in the morning with warm water.
  2. Use potatoes. Potatoes have been used to lighten skin, including reducing the appearance of scars.
    • Potatoes contain "catecholase," a naturally occurring enzyme that is best known for reducing skin darkness.[12]
    • Rub a slice of potato on your lips before bed.[13]
    • Do not rinse.
    • Wash with warm water in the morning.
  3. Use beet root juice. Beet root stains the lips pink.[14]
    • Apply 2-3 drops of beet root juice to your lips.
    • Do not wash off.
    • Repeat every day.
  4. Use a pomegranate lip stain. Mix with other juices to create a natural lip stain.[15]
    • Crush 1 tbsp pomegranate seeds.
    • Mix with equal parts beet root and carrot juice.
    • Rub on lips.
    • Leave on as a lip stain.
    • Repeat daily.

Warnings

  • Keep allergies in mind when utilizing any of these methods.
  • If irritation occurs, discontinue and seek medical attention if necessary.

Related Articles

Sources and Citations