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Dry lips not only deprive the smile of warmth, but also a signal flare of disharmony deep in the body.
Are you tired of applying lip balm over and over again, only to find that your lips are still dry and lifeless like fallen leaves after autumn?
All of this may herald an overlooked truth: lip balm isn't the only savior, and body balance is much more important than we think.
Are dry lips really just a lack of oil, or is it a deeper distress signal from our body?
1. Dry lips
When your lips start to feel like they've been on a desert journey, you may blame the scorching summer sun or the cold winter winds.
However, if your lip condition persists like a cracked land that has gone through a dry season, the problem can be much more complex than just climatic factors.
Sometimes, even a thick layer of lip balm is just a symptom of the problem, like watering a withered plant and forgetting that it needs nutrients.
In the eyes of TCM, lip diseases are not trivial, they are a bellwether of internal health.
Your lips may be shouting, "Hey, look at me, there's something wrong with your spleen and stomach!"
And "lip wind", which sounds like a word used by ancient poets to describe the lip color of beautiful women, actually refers to lip problems caused by disharmony between the spleen and stomach in traditional Chinese medicine.
It's like a cigarette trumpet from your body, only this time it's not on the top of the mountain, it's on your face.
Modern life has made us captives of spicy foods and sugary beverages, which are like too many spices in cooking.
It will only end up letting your stomach fire "go up" and leave unpleasant marks on your lips.
Think about it, if your lips could talk, they might complain, "Really, are you cooking or are you using me for seasoning?"
So I started to understand that dry lips don't just need more water.
They may be telling us that there is something inside the body that needs our attention.
In this case, lip balm is like covering a large wound with a small band-aid, which temporarily makes the surface look less bad but does not solve the underlying problem.
So if lip balm isn't a long-term solution, how do we respond to this age-old bodily signal?
Is it really just a matter of putting on lip balm in the hope that one day the lip problem will go away on its own?
2. External signals of spleen and stomach imbalance
On the grand stage of medicine, the lips are true to the show, and they play out a drama about the imbalance of the spleen and stomach through various changes in color and condition.
Imagine if the lips could play a starring role in a medical examination.
They may be even better than some actors, because they don't need makeup to show what is really going on inside the body.
Interestingly, our lips are like VIPs staying in a five-star hotel, but we have to endure the noise pollution of the interior renovation work – the noise is the disharmony of the spleen and stomach.
When the spleen and stomach are out of balance, the lips become dry, flaky, and even cracked.
It's like lips saying to you, "Listen, man, your interior is so bad, I'm going to be ruined!"
We often ignore these subtle body signals, like covering our ears and not listening to our neighbors' complaints.
You may think that a small crack is just a result of dry weather or a lack of water, and forget that it could be a deeper distress signal from your body.
Although the audience applauded this performance, it is worth stopping and watching carefully.
And this manifestation of the lips is not an unexpected event without warning, it is "planned" by a combination of many factors.
For example, staying up late, eating poorly, being stressed out are all potential behind the scenes, and they work together to overwhelm the lips.
This is not a suspenseful plot of "who is the inner ghost", but the body is using its own way to remind us that we need to find out the real "behind the scenes".
In this lip alarm, we may need a detective-like mind to uncover the truth behind this.
Are spleen and stomach imbalances really the culprit? What kind of Xi are hidden behind them that we need to correct?
3. The intrinsic relationship between lifestyle and diet
In this era of fast food culture, the cause of lip wind may be hidden in those seemingly innocuous fast food wrappers.
The pace of modern life is like driving a car with a jet engine, so fast that you can't even catch up with yourself.
Our eating Xi has followed, becoming a fast-lane highway filled with fast food and processed foods.
This kind of diet not only makes the waistline continue to challenge new heights, but also makes the lips the first to suffer.
Imagine if lip wind is an award, then the winners of this award must be those night owls who stay up late to catch up on dramas and drink carbonated drinks while eating potato chips.
Their lifestyle and diet are Xi and are simply a breeding ground for lip wind.
In this case, the lips become more helpless than an untouched selfie - deeply cracked, revealing the inner cry.
However, this lip crisis, caused by an unhealthy lifestyle and diet, is not an unsolvable mystery of fate.
It's not just because our bodies are tougher than we think.
Rather, changing lifestyle and eating Xi is like pressing the pause button in a chaotic life, giving the body a chance to readjust.
Our lips are like old doormen guarding the door of lifestyle, and once we find bad Xi sneaking in, we will immediately sound the alarm by drying out and fissing.
So should we continue to leave the old janitor alone, or should we give it some support and make its job less difficult?
When chapped lips are chapped again, isn't it time to think deeply about whether the lifestyle and dietary Xi habits behind this are really worth maintaining?
Or are you ready to face the changes that may need to be made?
Fourth, the method of treating dry lips in traditional Chinese medicine
When your lips are dry enough to be sharpened, you might think that lip balm is a savior, but in TCM, lip balm is more like a first-aid kit for symptoms than a panacea for a fundamental problem.
Traditional Chinese medicine looks at dry lips like a detective looks at a complex case and will try to solve the mystery at the root, not just the right medicine.
TCM will conduct a comprehensive "interview" with the patient - not to apply for a job, but to understand the condition of the constitution and internal organs by observing the face.
In TCM logic, dry lips may be due to a weak spleen and stomach, resulting in insufficient fluid production. At this point, treatment may need to be similar to watering the soil, nourishing from within.
Traditional Chinese medicine practitioners may recommend herbs that can strengthen the spleen and replenish qi, such as astragalus and codonopsis, so that your spleen and stomach can regain the power to produce jin liquid as if they have superpowers.
In this case, TCM will also advise patients to adjust their diet, which is more fundamental than any lip balm.
Imagine if lips were an arid land, then moisturizing food was the timely rain.
Traditional Chinese medicine may recommend eating more light, easy-to-digest foods, such as lilies, white fungus, etc., which are like SPA services for the lips, which become hydrated from the inside out.
However, the methods of Chinese medicine are not achieved overnight.
It requires the patient to consistently condition the body, which is like a period of love that takes a while to achieve positive results, and it is not a problem that can be solved at first sight.
This treatment may seem like a bit of a slow work, but the end result is often to restore your lips to a state where you can lose your lip balm.
After finding a TCM solution for dry lips, you might as well reflect on it: have you ever ignored the signals sent by the body and only stayed on the surface of lip balm treatment, ignoring the deep conditioning and healing?
epilogue
It is not difficult to find that the wisdom of Chinese medicine is much more than superficial moisturization, it guides us to perceive the inner imbalance and solve the problem in a more delicate and comprehensive way.
Just like a well-restored ancient painting that requires time and patience, TCM's treatment of dry lips is not only about moisturizing the surface, but also about reconciling and repairing the entire system.
This treatment may not be as effective as cosmetics, but it can make a lasting and profound difference.
In the end, we can't help but ask, should we choose temporary convenience, or pursue long-lasting health?
This choice may not only be about the lips, but also about our deep understanding and long-term care for the body.
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