By Viktoria
Updated: August 16, 2023
6 minutes
Fast Facts
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Lip discoloration can occur due to allergies, exposure to toxins, smoking, sun exposure, and dehydrated lips. Medications and pregnancy can also affect your natural lip color.
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There are natural ingredients such as beetroot, rose petals, milk, or honey that can help your lips look pink again but all these remedies are not long-lasting so you will have to add them to your skincare.
So, we will discuss the main causes of lip discoloration and how can you prevent them. We will also tell you some ways to get pink lips again.
What Causes Lip Discoloration?
Have you suddenly started facing lip discoloration and wondering what can be its possible cause? Pink lips indicate that you are healthy while if your lips are dark, dry, or bluish, this means that there might be some problems.
The factors that contribute to these problems might be due to your habits, systemic diseases, or environmental changes. Some main factors include:
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Smoking: Increased exposure to tar and nicotine affects melanin pigment which then darkens your lips and gums.
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Blood clotting due to injury: Blood clotting leads to reduced oxygen supply to tissues. This leads to your lips turning blue or dark.
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Vitamin deficiency: Vitamin deficiency specifically Vitamin B12 deficiency can leave patchy dark spots on your lips.
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Medications: Medications like cytotoxic drugs or antimalarial drugs can cause lip discoloration or hyperpigmentation of your skin.
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Pregnancy: In pregnancy, female hormones cause increased production of melanin leading to hyperpigmentation.
8 Best Ways to Make Your Lips Pink Naturally
There are a number of natural products you can use to turn your lips pink again. Let’s guide you on some of them.
Use Lips Scrub
Using lip scrub can help your lips to stay hydrated and remove the dead cells from the surface of your lips.
How to Make: Mix one teaspoon of almond oil with one teaspoon of honey. Now add two teaspoons of sugar to it. Mix well and you are ready to use it. Apply the mask at least once or twice in 7 days.
Benefits: It moisturizes your lips and helps in removing dead skin cells. Honey helps in giving your lips a lighter color.
Use Aloe Vera Gel
Aloe vera is a plant you can use not only for your skin and hair but also for your lips. You can grow it in your little garden and use the gel anytime.
How to use: Mix aloe vera gel with some honey and leave it on for 15 minutes. Now remove it using water to see the results.
Benefits: Aloe vera has a flavonoid called aleosin [1] that controls pigments and can help in turning your lips pink. Aloe vera also helps in healing your lips while honey can hydrate them.
Try Out Exfoliation
Exfoliation is a necessary step to take to prevent your lips from chapping or drying out. But remember not to overdo it or be harsh while doing the process.
What to do: Just take a napkin and rub it on your lips slowly and softly. You can also use sugar or salt for exfoliation.
Benefits: It can improve your blood circulation along with removing dead cells that help your lips look healthy and fresh.
Use Essential/Vitamin E Oil
Your lips can be discolored due to a deficiency of vitamins. So, applying essential oils or vitamins is important for your lips to stay healthy.
What to do: You can use Vitamin E capsules and apply them directly on your lips. You can also look for lip balms with essential oils in them.
Benefits: Vitamin E [2] helps in repairing damaged skin, improving blood circulation, and minimizing fine lines while essential oils are beneficial in hydrating your lips.
Apply Beetroot
While cutting beetroot for salad or eating it, you must have noticed how quickly it turns your hands red. It is because it has color pigments that can color your skin naturally.
What to do: Grate some pieces of beetroot and apply it directly on your lips. Keep it there for 15 minutes and remove it. You can see results after trying it twice a week.
Benefits: It helps in giving your lips a natural pink color. Rubbing beetroot slices can also help in exfoliation.
Use Milk and Tumeric Powder
Tumeric is an essential ingredient that helps in controlling the hyperpigmentation [3] in your skin so it will also help with treating your dark lips.
How to use: Mix two teaspoons of milk with one teaspoon of turmeric powder. Leave it on for 5 minutes until the paste dries. Now gently remove it.
Benefits: Turmeric and milk can turn your lips from dark to light, moisturize them, and the dried paste removes dead cells as you remove it.
Use Peppermint Oil
Another natural ingredient you can use is peppermint oil. It contains menthol [4] that can help in improving your blood circulation and reach all the nutrients to your lips easily.
How to use: Add peppermint oil to coconut oil or almond oil and apply the mixture to your lips.
Precaution: Menthol can irritate chapped lips, so avoid it if you have chapped lips.
Apply Rose Petals along with Milk
Roses are not only pretty themselves but they can help your lips look pretty too. When mixed with milk, it works wonders against patchy, discolored, or dark lips.
How to use: Take half a cup of milk and add 5-6 rose petals to it. Leave it overnight. Now take the petals out and make a paste by mashing them. Apply it for 15 minutes on your lips. You can use it every day.
Benefits: The mixture ensures that your lips stay hydrated and maintain the balance to keep your lips healthy.
How to Prevent Lip Discoloration
There are a variety of natural ways to restore the pink color of your lips. But all these remedies are not long-lasting. So why not just prevent lip discoloration instead of taking measures after the problem?
Use Sunscreen
Not many people are aware of using sunscreen for lips. A study [5] shows that only 37% of people who use sunscreen know it uses for protecting their lips too while others need awareness. Lip balms containing SPF 15 or more are helpful against UV rays and protect your lips from damage. So, apply them frequently especially whenever you are exposed more to the sun.
Avoid Smoking
As discussed earlier, smoking is a leading cause of lip discoloration as it affects the quality and quantity of oxygen reaching your lips, and also tar and nicotine change your lip color. So, it is best to avoid smoking. If you are a habitual smoker, you can reduce the number of cigarettes one by one and then eventually quit it.
Avoid Chemical Products
Makeup products use a number of chemicals in them. So, when we apply these products, their long-term exposure to the skin or lips can affect them. The long-stay lipsticks are more harmful. Therefore, use them as less as you can or only use those lipsticks with fewer chemicals and more natural products.
We have compiled a list of the Top 10 lipstick brands in the world for you to choose the lipsticks with minimum side effects.
Remove Your Makeup Completely
Makeup can cause acne, breakouts, and dry your skin. Similarly lipstick after staying long on your lips can cause dehydration, lip discoloration, and damage the outermost layer of your lips.
Lips are most overlooked while removing makeup so don’t forget them and apply lip balm at the end. To know the importance of removing makeup before sleeping, check out What Happens if You Sleep with Makeup on.
Stay Hydrated
Keeping your lips hydrated will help them look healthy, soft, and moist. Therefore, drink lots of water and keep your lips hydrated with lip balms.
Conclusion
When you are unable to decide which shade of lipstick suits you, you just wish your lips to be naturally pink, right? It can happen. For that, you can use beetroot, honey, rose petals, peppermint oil, and other products we mentioned in the article.
You can also avoid lip discoloration by using sunscreen, avoiding smoking and chemical products, and keeping your lips hydrated.
References
[1] Effects of aloesin on melanogenesis in pigmented skin equivalents
[2] Vitamin E and Skin Health by Linus Pauling Institue- Micronutrient Information Centre
[3] National Library of Medicine: Are Natural Ingredients Effective in the Management of Hyperpigmentation? A Systematic Review
[4] American Academy of Dermatology Association: 7 DERMATOLOGISTS’ TIPS FOR HEALING DRY, CHAPPED LIPS
[5] National Library of Medicine: Preventing ultraviolet light lip injury
