Swiping on a lip balm when you are outside won’t block the sun’s harmful rays. Balms and glosses that contain SPF counts of 15 or 30 are only nominated. SPF stands for sun protection factor.

According to Mr Amy Newburger, a dermatologist and senior physician at St.Luke’s Roosevelt medical centre in New York, using just any lip product doesn’t protect your lips.

Lip products with relatively low SPF can still lead to freckling of the lips. The best way is to wear an opaque lipstick. This will give you the equivalent of an SPF-200, Newburger says.

He says that if you can’t see your natural skin colour, the sun can’t see your lips either. Even a pale pink does the job as long as it is opaque.

However be very careful to re-apply if you rub it away when eating, drinking and or talking.

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