apricissimus 

It's been getting chillier and the air has been getting drier. It was 35 degrees this morning. Riding my bike in the fall, winter, and early spring does a number on my lips. I'd almost forgotten about the persistently chapped lips that accompanies riding in the cold. Lip balms reduce the damage, but I know I'm just going to have to put up with chapped lips until spring comes around again.

VolGirl

https://www.bagbalm.com/

GV27

In Boston? Really? As wet as it is?

What you need is Dermatone. Heals chapped lips, protects them from sunburn and frostbite. This stuff keeps chapped lips away in the mountains of Colorado where the average winter humidity is in the single-digits and the wind and sun are brutal. It'll easily do the job in Boston! I use this when skiing and mountaineering. It's overkill for most folks in town...

"Available at fine outdoor retailers everywhere."



https://www.alpineer.com/istar.asp?a=6&id=371265!lib01

oakback

Hell, I'm in Florida and my laps were bleeding a couple days ago. I think the lowest temp we've had so far was 46F. I've been carrying around some moisturizing leap cream I stole from my wife for a week now. It's liquid, but gets the job done. Usually I prefer something with a more waxy consistency, the kind that makes moisture bead up on my lips, and can repel small arms fire.

DataJunkie

laps leap?

Try denver. Very low humidity in winter. Chap stick works wonders for me.

apricissimus 

I tried looking up humidity levels, dew points and such, but I think I'm more confused than when I started. From the data I looked at, it looked liked winter is just as humid around here as summer! I have a hard time believing that though, as my dry itchy skin will attest. I'm probably just not reading it right, but I don't want to take the time right now to figure it all out.

It could be that my lips are just sensitive. But cold and windy is cold and windy.

I just googled "windiest cities in US" and found this:

https://web2.airmail.net/danb1/usrecords.htm

Average Annual windspeed in mph
1. Blue Hill Observatory, Massachusetts 15.4
2. Dodge City, Kansas 14.0
3. Amarillo, Texas 13.5
4. Rochester, Minnesota 13.1
5. Casper, Wyoming 12.9
6. Cheyenne, Wyoming 12.9
7. Great Falls, Montana 12.7
8. Goodland, Kansas 12.6
9. Boston, Massachusetts 12.5
10. Lubbock, Texas

Note Boston at no. 9. The number one listing there is not a city, but actually a big hill in Canton/Milton, just outside of Boston.

Elisdad

Burt's Bees rocks. I've been using it for two years and it works.

pinkrobe

Carmex FTW! I swear they put a little crack in it...

CliftonGK1

I use the stick, rather than the tin, but same deal. The stuff is awesome.

Or you could use the old-school solution from when I was an x-c ski racer: Just smear Vaseline on everything that's exposed to the cold. Used to **** up my whole face with a thin layer of it before a race.

Bat22

For cold weather stuff, first I use up any leftover suntan lotion for an insulator.
Since I wear a balaclava on my bike. I get a dozen lip balm sticks from a bulk
store. I'm absent minded, so I stick them everywhere. More than a few will
end up half melted when I use them anyway.

lil brown bat

Not that huge a factor IME. I visit my bro in Colorado every winter, and while there's more of a need for it there, it's not like you don't need it in Boston too. Remember that the large majority of people spend the large majority of their time indoors in winter, and that includes bike commuters, so it's not so much the atmosphere outside as the atmosphere inside -- and when central heating systems come on, the air gets drier.

Dermatone is great stuff, although I generally find I don't need it except in severe cold.

BroadSTPhilly

Relative humidity is based on the percent of the total moisture the air can hold at a given temperature. When it is colder air can hold less moisture. Therefore you can have the same realtive humidity on a 85 degree day as a thirty five degree day but there is less actual moisture in the air on the thirty-five degree day. Hope that helps. Anyway what I do is buy a big ol' tub of vaseline and then just stick my lips in it and blow a rasberry. Nothin' better.

apricissimus 

Yeah, that does help. I think I knew that, but needed reminding. It certainly explains why the data shows close to the same relative humidity regardless of season, yet my chapped lips tell me there's much less moisture in the air.

mawtangent

I read somewhere that chapped lips can be caused when one doesn't drink enough water/fluids and it seems it works that way for me. When I get chapped lips I force myself to drink a bit more water (over the course of the whole day) and that usually does the trick. I also use (when it is cold) a lip balm right before I ride.

AdamD

This is true. Dry lips are a sign of dehydration, if your lips are dry you're behind the hydration curve. When this happens you'll also probably lick you lips from time to time, aiding in chapping. The flip side that I've found is when it's dry/cold that drinking will leave a bit of moisture on the lips which will also cause chapping. Damned if you do, damned if you don't.

FreddyV

I always use Labello. Works perfectly, it's a bit like the waxes above. But this is available in more different colors (for the girls) and different tastes.

uke

Chapstick. When I lived in Cambridge, I used it now and then in the winter. Now in the Midwest, I've been using it multiple times a week. Chapped lips are a choice, not a requirement.

GV27

Yeah, I reckon that's what the OP's experiencing.

Like I said, I don't use Dermatone down in town, only when in the mountains and it's extremely cold and windy and intensely sunny all at the same time. But I figured if Chapstick's not getting the job done for the OP, might as well quit playing around and get serious!

apricissimus 

Thanks all for the myriad lip balm choices. I've been using at various times chap-stick, Neurtrogena, and Burt's Bees, and in liberal amounts. And while they do help, in the winter my lips are still in a constant state of mild to moderate chappiness, turning to severe if I ever forget to apply before riding.

I'm quite convinced that it's the cold and wind on my face as I ride that does it, and that I'll never really be rid of it short of wearing a face mask below around 45 degrees F. (In that case the cure would be worse than the disease.)

I'm just moping, is all.

lil brown bat

You might try the Dermatone, then -- it's really amazing stuff. A couple of years ago I did a ski instructor cert course, two days on snow in...well, I won't call it the absolute worst weather I've ever been out in, but it was the worst conditions I've ever been out for that long in. Dermatone under ski masks was the only thing that saved us from frostbite. It provides really excellent weather protection -- I'd give it a try if I were you.

ItsJustMe

I find I only have real problems with chapped lips if I use a product on them then stop. If I just don't put anything on at all for the whole winter, no problems. Well, that's not entirely true. If I spend the whole day outside sledding or something, the combination of ice, sun and cold and dry will chap them a bit. If that happens, I use a balm for a couple of days then start cutting back to nothing again.

oakback

I've used the Burts Bees in a tin, and though it smells and feels nice, I don't like it. It seems to make my lips more chapped after it's gone.

I found out the stuff I really like, the thick stuff that stays on for a long time:

BarracksSi

I'll add DCT, only because it hasn't been mentioned yet and because it's worked great for me.

tdister

Not that we get the same extended periods of cold here, but...

Extra virgin olive (not Light, for anything...ever) or, better yet, some virgin coconut oil will really help to keep them healthy. Before bed, when you wake up, I've also used it before rides. I doubt it will protect on the rides as well as a waxy balm, but it will def help them heal at other times.

Jonahhobbes

When the Antartic southlies get blowing I use a chap stick type thing but also cetaphil moisturizer for my face as it has no lanolin in it and other crap. I have pretty sensitive skin and it gets ripped to shreads in bitter winds.

This is great this is. Spring almost over and I'm still looking at winter threads as it's still cold and still windy and still raining.