About four years ago, I wrote an entry, asking for help on how to combat a stringy line of white film from the lipstick or lip gloss that accumulates on my lips. It is not dry or flaky but just a disgusting looking whitish accumulation that appear on the inside of my lips, the part where my lips are pressed together.
The post remains a popular one, judging by the number of people who searched for it. What was most heartening to me was many other women shared the same problem and they were so forthcoming with solutions that have worked for them. So if you are still having this problem and are wondering how to overcome it, let me share some tips from the readers who left their comments. These may just help you from further embarrassments.
Tip from discardthestarz1: Use a lip scrub
Make a combo of sugar and olive oil into a paste. You can add any natural flavor like vanilla or orange to your liking. Scrub you lips with the mixture then lick the residue off. Dry with a towel and apply a thin layer of balm. The olive oil should lock the moisture while the sugar will scrub and dead skin off of lips. I have been using this trip for years.
Tip from Lady M: Reduce amount of lip gloss
What I discovered is that when I applied my lip gloss close to when the lips meet, it tend to leave a whitish film maybe due to ‘friction’ caused by the lips when we’re talking and such. It gets even worst when I put on too much lip gloss and I love lip gloss! So what I’ve tried is to glide my lip gloss over my lips deliberately avoiding the areas close to where the lips meet. Or at least I try not to put on too much lip gloss. So far, this has worked nicely for me.
Tip from Hazelnutt: Avoid applying lip color to area where lips meet
I get the white gunk too! I believe it’s due to saliva interacting with the lipstick/gloss formula. It doesn’t matter what brand of lipstick/gloss I use. One of your readers mentioned that she tries to avoid applying lip colour near the area where the lips meet. I do that too and it seems to help reduce the buildup of the white gunk.
Tip from Ellie-B: Lick the part of my lips where the white line forms
When I experience the yucky white line across my bottom lip, I get grossed out, naturally. To avoid this, after half an hour of applying my lipstick, I very subtly just lick the part of my lips where I know the white line forms. I just do this every half hour or so, and I’ve noticed since then that I haven’t had any trouble. But this does mean I sometimes have to reapply my lipstick more often. Still, it’s better to have red lips than white lips.
Tip from Ruby: Use tissue to absorb excessive lipstick
I also had the same problem before. In most case, it was because either I had applied lipstick to the full lip, or I had applied a powder layer before applying lipstick (my lip is dark, so I need to tap powder on it to make it lighter). Anyway, I think the problem is because when we close our lips, the wet inside washes out the lipstick, cleaning the inside lip of lipstick, while the outside still has lipstick.
The white line stands at the point where the lips meet. I fixed this by carefully applying the lipstick just enough on the outside and not go too far to the inside. Also, after each layer of lipstick, you could use a paper tissue and hold it between your mouth to take all the excessive lipstick, before going for another lipstick layer. For me, I often use a layer of lip balm to the full lip, a layer of lipstick to the outside lip, and finish with a gloss in the middle and the line between two lips (since the gloss would hardly be noticeable).
Tip from me: stop talking
Please note that I’ve not really tried these tips shared by readers as I no longer have this problem. Wanna know my tip? Well, a few of you’d mentioned that the white gooey stuff was really dried, sticky saliva. So what I’ve essentially done is to quit talking so much. Since doing so, I no longer have this problem.
P.S. If you have no idea what this post is talking about, just know that you’re very blessed not to ever know or experience this yucky gooey white stuff on your lips!