There is a concern among women that regular use of colored lipstick causes the lips to lose their natural color. We decided to check whether such fear is justified.

Question, turn pale are lips from regular use labial lipstick, worries visitors numerous women's forums. Warn about this side effect from using lipstick and the media. For example, “Komsomolskaya Pravda” advises: “If you want to preserve the natural brightness of your lips, use a lipstick less often. Any paint, even high-quality paint, will make your lips “fade.” And the doctors share with his observations: “As my personal experience of working with clients over 35 shows, women who do not use lipstick do not begin to fade their lips so quickly.”

The tradition of painting lips goes back to ancient times. Even in excavations of Sumerian settlements, archaeologists find ancient prototypes of lipstick are shell shells filled with a coloring substance. To give the lips a bright color, they used crushed red stones, wine sediment, dyes obtained from shellfish and plants, antimony, cinnabar and ocher.

Facial skin consists of of 16 cell layers, and the skin of the lips is much thinner - it has only three to five such layers. This is what causes the color to be different from the rest of the skin surface - the blood vessels with which this area of the body is densely permeated are visible through the thin cellular layers. Therefore, the lips of people with the lightest skin have a richer red tint than those whose skin is initially darker. In general, depending on ethnicity and skin color, lip color ranges from reddish pink to brown. Female sex hormone estrogen answers for the feminization of appearance, including providing fuller lips, which, as proved psychologists, increases a woman’s attractiveness. Moreover, lips become brighter during sexual arousal. Thus, the use of lipsticks in bright colors and with the effect of increasing lip volume can subconsciously communicate the increased femininity and fertility of their owner.

Like other areas of the face and body, the skin of the lips is subject to age-related changes. Since lip fullness is initially associated with the hormone estrogen, when decrease its level in the body, the lips become narrower and thinner. In addition, the appearance of the lips influences lifestyle (eg smoking) and amount of solar radiation received. With age, lips become drier, which makes wrinkles more noticeable. Can also cause lip discoloration drive some conditions and diseases: anemia (hemoglobin level decreases, blood vessels become less pronounced, therefore, lips look paler), cyanosis (due to a high level of carbhemoglobin in the blood, often accompanies cardiac and pulmonary pathologies), Laugier-Hunziker syndrome, taking certain medications (cytotoxins used in the treatment of cancer, neuroleptics, anticonvulsants, antimalarials, antibiotics of the tetracycline group, etc.). However, regularly using lipstick is not on this list. At the same time, it is logical that in 10 or 20 years, regardless of the use of cosmetics, smoking and sunlight will have a significant impact on the color of the lips and they will turn pale, and someone will attribute this effect to lipstick.

Unlike the substances that our ancestors used to color lips (for example, the mercury compound cinnabar), modern lipsticks contain substances that are safe and completely washable from the skin. The color is applied only to the surface, does not penetrate into the skin and can be removed using cleanser or water. Lipstick applied to the skin simply cannot influence the location of the subcutaneous vessels, their filling with blood and the amount of hemoglobin in the blood.

However, some cosmetics (for example, tints or matte lipsticks) can Dry your lips more than others. This is due to the fact that in their composition they contain less oils, but more waxy components that dehydrate the lips. Dry lips not only cause discomfort, but they can also look less vibrant due to the change in the outer layer of skin. However, this is a temporary effect - cosmetic industry offers a huge selection of products that allow you to restore moisture to your lips, making them look brighter.

The second reason why you may get the feeling that your lips have turned pale due to the use of lipstick is more likely psychologicalthan physiological. If a woman regularly uses lipstick, she gets used to seeing herself with bright lips, so without lipstick she may have a subjective feeling that her lips are faded and pale. However, this is due solely to how she is used to seeing herself, and not to real changes in appearance.

Finally, people usually worry that long-term, decades-long use of lipstick will lead to changes in lip color. However, in this case, they miss the fact that age-related changes occur both with and without the regular use of lipstick, so it is impossible to reliably know what color the lips would have been without the use of cosmetics. To obtain such data, one would need to conduct a twin long-term study: invite pairs of identical twins, in which one woman has worn lipstick regularly for decades and the other has not, and compare their lip color at regular intervals. However, we were unable to find such studies - most likely, their practical value for medicine and cosmetology would not be high enough.

At the same time, the use of lipstick is really Maybe lead to some health problems, primarily to manifestations of contact dermatitis, urticaria and other allergic reactions due to individual intolerance to individual components. Most of these conditions do not require medical attention and resolve on their own once exposure to the allergen is stopped. Not worth it also be afraid of heavy metals, such as lead - its content in cosmetics is so slightlythat we get 1000 times more lead from drinking water than from using cosmetics.

Thus, the fear that regular use of lipstick will lead to loss of natural lip color is unfounded. Lips lose fullness and color over time, regardless of the use or non-use of cosmetics. Most likely, this misconception is due to the fact that when a woman is used to seeing herself with bright lips, her face without lipstick seems paler to her, but physiologically there is nothing wrong with the skin of her lips.

Cover image: Bild von Qijin auf Pixabay