I try not to use anything, but trust that the saturated fat in my diet is helping my lips stay moist from the inside - it works. I also try to stay hydrated.

I do occasionally use coconut oil in the height of summer when I am out in the sun and in the winter when it is very cold or windy, however, but I think it is very much like no soap and no shampoo; the longer you leave your lips to sort themselves out the better they become.

I've known several people, myself included, who found our lips getting painfully dry and chapped when we apply lip balm consistently. It's as if our lips stopped producing their own moisture. Fortunately, it's possible to wean yourself off of it, and your lips will start taking care of themselves naturally.

from this page

I have also used butter topically, which is nice, but tastes a little weird after a while.

On the whole, I need do nothing to my lips and have not done since stopping getting coldsores (hooray!) that happened after a month of going paleo - but you need to ease into this gradually to start with.....bump up the amount of coconut oil, cream and butter you consume as well as cutting back on the chapstick and you should feel a difference to your lips. Make sure you are exposed to weak sun from winter right through into the hot sun of summer and your lips will get acclimatized rather than go out on a blistering summer's day and expose them to the rays without protection straight off.

I have read that it is possible to become addicted to petroleum based lip balms, this site has some good info on the toxicity of chapsticks and other balms:

Perhaps first

I try not to use anything, you could find a natural alternative (but trust that the saturated fat in my diet is helping my lips stay moist from the inside - it works. I also try to stay hydrated.

I do occasionally use coconut oil in the height of summer when I am out in the sun and in the winter when it is very cold or windy, however, but I think it is very much like Burt's Bees) no soap and then try no shampoo; the longer you leave your lips to sort themselves out the better they become.

I've known several people, myself included, who found our lips getting painfully dry and chapped when we apply lip balm consistently. It's as if our lips stopped producing their own moisture. Fortunately, it's possible to wean yourself onto off of it, and your lips will start taking care of themselves naturally.

from this page

I have also used butter topically, which is nice, but tastes a little weird after a while.

On the whole, I need do nothing to my lips and have not done since stopping getting coldsores (hooray!) that slowlyhappened after a month of going paleo - but you need to ease into this gradually to start with.....bump up the amount of coconut oil, cream and butter you consume as well as cutting back on the chapstick and you should feel a difference to your lips. Make sure you are exposed to weak sun from winter right through into the hot sun of summer and your lips will get acclimatized rather than go out on a blistering summer's day and expose them to the rays without protection straight off.

I have read that it is possible to become addicted to petroleum based lip balms, this site has some good info on the toxicity of chapsticks and other balms:

An extensive article on lip balms appeared in the November 13, 1997 issue of Newsday. Titled “Paying for Lip Service,” the article discusses several points in the quest for defining the addictive qualities of lip balm.

The author asked several experts:

Which helps explain why you can diligently apply “medicated” lip balm several times a day and still suffer from chapped lips. The tingling sensation you get from those products usually comes from menthol, camphor or phenol. “All those things are drying and irritating,” says Paula Begoun, a well-known critic of the cosmetics industry whose new book, “The Beauty Bible” (Beginning Press, $16.95), is due out this month. She says she suspects that these ingredients are routinely used “to make the consumer think something is happening. If you want a cooling sensation, drink some cold water.”Known as counter-irritants, camphor and menthol dry out the lips, a necessary step for healing cold sores, but too extreme for ordinary dryness. Phenol’s main purpose is to kill bacteria and help prevent infections and should be used only in severe cases, not on a daily basis. Users, meanwhile, often find the pleasant tingling habit-forming. “You get so accustomed to that cooling, soothing sensation, that it’s like, `Yeah, I need that in my life all the time,’ ” says Gordon Espinet, a makeup artist for Toronto-based M.A.C. cosmetics and a dry-lip sufferer. Subjected to this constant irritation, it’s not surprising that your lips don’t get any better.

“Read what that product says it does and use it for that reason,” says Espinet, who recommends M.A.C.’s medicated Lip Treatment for cold sores and severely chapped lips and a Vitamin E lipstick for milder cases of dryness. “When it says to heal lips, don’t get into the habit of using it when lips are at their best.”

The article also says that many dermatologists maintain that the lips natural exfoliate every 28 days or so. This backs up the belief that lip balm just isn’t necessary. Even the products designed to “heal” also have a usage loop which keeps you hooked.

Alpha hydroxy acids, which were previously regarded as too harsh for the lips, have now been formulated to exfoliate this delicate membrane. Lip Revitalizer from Blistex ($1.89 at drugstores), introduced in October, contains two alpha hydroxy acids (lactic and glycolic acids) in a creamy base that you squeeze through a slanted applicator directly onto your lips. “The whole idea is that it gets rid of flakiness on the lips and very fine lines,” says Dr. Charles Zugerman, an associate professor of clinical dermatology at Northwestern University Medical School in Chicago and a consultant to Blistex. He recommends the product for both healing chapped lips and for ongoing lip maintenance. Be warned that Lip Revitalizer does have an enticing minty flavor that may cause you to lick your lips more, which only aggravates dryness (emphasis added by LBA).

I try not to use anything, but trust that the saturated fat in my diet is helping my lips stay moist from the inside - it works. I also try to stay hydrated.

I do occasionally use coconut oil in the height of summer when I am out in the sun and in the winter when it is very cold or windy, however, but I think it is very much like no soap and no shampoo; the longer you leave your lips to sort themselves out the better they become.

I've known several people, myself included, who found our lips getting painfully dry and chapped when we apply lip balm consistently. It's as if our lips stopped producing their own moisture. Fortunately, it's possible to wean yourself off of it, and your lips will start taking care of themselves naturally.

from this page

I have also used butter topically, which is nice, but tastes a little weird after a while.

On the whole, I need do nothing to my lips and have not done since stopping getting coldsores (hooray!) that happened after a month of going paleo - but you need to ease into this gradually to start with.....bump up the amount of coconut oil, cream and butter you consume as well as cutting back on the chapstick and you should feel a difference to your lips. Make sure you are exposed to weak sun from winter right through into the hot sun of summer and your lips will get acclimatized rather than go out on a blistering summer's day and expose them to the rays without protection straight off.

I have read that it is possible to become addicted to petroleum based lip balms, this site has some good info on the toxicity of chapsticks and other balms.

Perhaps first, you could find a natural alternative (like Burt's Bees) and then try and wean yourself onto that slowly.