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Lip Sunscreen: Do Lips Need SPF Protection?

Lip Sunscreen: Do Lips Need SPF Protection?

Lacking many protective features compared to the rest of your skin, the lips are more delicate and vulnerable to sun damage than almost any other area. At the same time, they're often overlooked as part of daily UV protection. So, what's the science behind lip skin, and how does lip sunscreen work to protect your lips from UV damage?

How Is Lip Skin Different?

You're probably familiar with how sensitive your lips can be. But what are the structural differences that make it so sensitive?

The skin on your lips isn’t just thinnerβ€”it’s structurally and functionally distinct from the rest of your facial skin.[2] These unique features make your lips more expressive, but also more prone to dryness, irritation, and premature aging:

  • Significantly thinner skin barrier: The stratum corneumβ€”the outermost layer of the epidermisβ€”is around 75% thinner than the rest of your face. This drastically reduces your lips’ ability to retain moisture and block harmful external factors like UV radiation.[2]
  • Lack of sebaceous glands: These glands produce sebum, the oily substance that forms part of your skin barrier. Without sebum, lips lack a natural, oil-based defense against dryness and environmental stress.[3]
  • Reduced keratin structure: Lips lack a dense presence of keratinized cells, leaving them without the protective protein keratin that keeps most of your skin strong and hydrated.[3]
  • Lowered melanin content: Melanin, the primary pigment in skin, absorbs UV radiation. Lips contain fewer melanin-producing cells called melanocytes and are thus often more susceptible to sunburn and photoaging.[3]
  • No sweat glands or hair follicles: Sweat glands help regulate skin hydration. Their absence, combined with no hair follicles (often paired with sebaceous glands), further reduces the lips’ self-regulating functions.[3]
  • Dependence on saliva: With no oil production, lips rely solely on saliva. Unfortunately, this is a temporary and imperfect solution that often leaves your lips drier than before.[3]

This contributes to an extremely weak skin barrier that is much more vulnerable to damaging forces like UV rays, pollution, and light-based radiation.

Why Do Lips Need Sun Protection?

Cumulative damage from UV exposure, oxidative stress, smoking, and other lifestyle habits plays a role in the visible effects of lip aging.[4]

However, perhaps the most critical reason for protecting your lips from the sun is to reduce the risk of skin cancer. Prolonged and repeated sun exposure increases the likelihood of developing cancers like squamous cell carcinoma on the lips, which can be aggressive and challenging to treat.[5]

Taking a moment to apply a protective product isn’t just good skincareβ€”it’s an essential step in your daily routine that's directly tied to your health.

What Ingredients Can You Use On Your Lips?

When defending your lips from sun damage, dryness, and environmental stress, not just any balm will do. That means your lip SPF needs to do more than just sit on the surfaceβ€”it should actively protect, nourish, and rejuvenate. OS-01 LIP SPF does just that, combining comprehensive protection and advanced rejuvenation.Β 

Let’s break down the categories of protection behind OS-01 LIP SPF and the science-backed ingredients that address each one:

Broad-Spectrum Protection

When choosing a lip sunscreen, opt for one that provides broad-spectrum protection, meaning it shields against both UVA and UVB rays. A good formula should use a mineral UV filter like zinc oxide. Since it's likely to be ingested, a safe UV filter is vital for a lip sunscreen. If you're heavily using a lip product, it's estimated that you swallow up to 87mg of that product a day.[6] Non-nano zinc oxide is OneSkin’s preferred UV filter as it is non-toxic, well-tolerated by sensitive skin, and has an excellent safety profile.[7,8]

Because mineral UV filters create a physical barrier on the skin, they often leave a more visible white cast. This has led most brands to include chemical UV filters that absorb into the skin to make their lip SPF more wearable. Some of these filters, like oxybenzone and avobenzone, have been associated with toxicity and safety risks.[9] When designing OS-01 LIP SPF, ensuring the safety profiles of our ingredients, like our mineral UV filter, was one of our top priorities.

Antioxidant Defense Against Free Radical Damage

One of the most important sources of damage and premature lip aging is free radicals. Whether caused by UV radiation, air pollution, or normal processes associated with getting older, like mitochondrial aging, protecting your lips with antioxidants can help neutralize free radicals.[10,11] Here are some of OneSkin’s favorites for lip protection:

  • Vitamin E (Tocopherol + Tocopheryl Acetate): With two forms of vitamin E, your lips get instant antioxidant power from tocopherol and all-day protection from the stabilized tocopheryl acetate, keeping damage at bay from morning to night.[12]
  • Bisabolol: Derived from chamomile, this botanical antioxidant is used for its soothing, anti-inflammatory effects. Plus, bisabolol boosts the penetration of other actives, enhancing the overall performance of any formula it's included in.[13,14]
  • Centella Asiatica (Cica): This potent plant extract is packed with regenerative compounds like madecassoside and flavonoids, which protect against free radicals, promote collagen growth, and soothe inflammationβ€”perfect for sun-damaged or dehydrated lips.[15]
  • Vitamin C (Tetrahexyldecyl Ascorbate): This stable, oil-soluble form of vitamin C penetrates deeply into the delicate lip tissue to support collagen synthesis, fade UV-induced pigmentation, and strengthen defenses against oxidative stress, making it especially effective for the thin, damage-prone skin of the lips.[16]
  • Sea Buckthorn Oil: Sea Buckthorn Oil is a nutrient-dense extract rich in antioxidants, omega fatty acids (3, 6, 7, and 9), and vitamin C, helping to repair UV-damaged skin, improve elasticity, and support healing in chapped or irritated lips.[17,18]

Hydration and Barrier Support

Since lips lack a substantial skin barrier to protect themselves from transepidermal water loss (TEWL), the most common tactic to boost hydration is to form a thick occlusive barrier with ingredients like shea butter or beeswax. This can help slowly increase hydration in the lips, but it takes time.[19]

By mixing thicker ingredients with emollients and humectants that smooth, strengthen, and directly hydrate your skin, you can deliver instant hydration and keep it that way for longer. We use three powerful hydrating ingredients in OS-01 LIP SPF to complement its UV protection:

  • Ectoin: Ectoin, a powerhouse molecule from extremophile bacteria, offers powerful defense by shielding lips from UV damage, dryness, and pollution, while delivering intense, lasting hydration.[20,21]
  • Dipalmitoyl Hydroxyproline: This skin conditioning amino acid derivative improves the lips’ elasticity, reinforces skin barrier function, and minimizes moisture loss. This helps your lips resist the hydration loss they experience.[22]
  • Garcinia Indica Seed Butter: Also known as Kokum butter, Garcinia Indica Seed Butter is a rich, emollient butter that provides deep nourishment and long-lasting hydration, helping to smooth and protect lips from dryness and chapping.[23]

How Does OS-01 LIP SPF Use Peptides to Protect Your Lips From External Damage?

OS-01 LIP SPF targets lip aging from every angle. Starting at the surface of your skin with powerful UV protection, antioxidants, and hydration. The final piece of the puzzle comes from your skin itself with the help of peptides. These short chains of amino acids can perform a variety of roles in your skin to improve its function, accelerate skin repair, and even reverse signs of aging. Perfect for the vulnerable skin on your lips. Let's take a look at the two peptides behind OS-01 LIP SPF:

  • OS-01 peptide: The hero ingredient of OS-01 LIP SPF, the OS-01 peptide directly targets a root cause of lip agingβ€”cellular senescence. Because it targets the damage to your skin caused by environmental stressors like UV, the OS-01 peptide is the perfect addition to an SPF, where intense protection is needed.[24] Plus OS-01 promotes collagen and hyaluronic acid production, helping damaged skin recover and stay strong, flexible, and plump.[25]Β 

  • Palmitoyl Tripeptide-1: Palmitoyl tripeptide-1 (Pal-GHK) is a synthetic signaling peptide. As a fragment of type I collagen, Pal-GHK mimics the body’s natural regenerative signals, stimulating collagen and hyaluronic acid production. The increased dermal matrix remodeling is excellent for smoothing and strengthening lip skin.[26,27]Β 

Combining the power of these ingredients, OS-01 LIP SPF not only protects your lips from the harmful effects of UV rays but also provides essential hydration and long-term skin care, ensuring your lips remain soft, plump, and youthful-looking. Here are just some of the benefits you can expect from OS-01 LIP SPF:

OS-01 LIP SPF reduces existing senescence and aging biomarkers[25]

Shown in lab studies on ex vivo human skin samples by measuring the gene expression level of CDKN1A (p21 protein) and CDKN2A (p16 protein) in the epidermis 24 hours after topical application. Skin that was treated with OS-01 LIP SPF displayed a significant decrease (20.2% lower CDKN1A/P21 and 21.1% lower CDKN2A/P16 levels) compared to skin that was not treated. (*p<0.05)

OS-01 LIP SPF significantly increases a key elastin production biomarker[25]

Shown in lab studies on ex vivo human skin samples by measuring the expression levels of the ELN gene, which encodes elastin, in the dermis 24 hours after topical application. Skin that was treated with OS-01 LIP SPF displayed a significant increase (47% average) compared to skin that was not treated. (*p<0.05)

Key Takeaways

  • Because of their delicate structure, your lips are much more susceptible to UV damage.
  • With almost no natural barrier, the lips are biologically less protected than other skin, leaving them prone to dryness and UV harm.
  • Cumulative damage from UV exposure and other environmental sources of aging accelerate lip aging, making them the top culprits behind the visible damage experienced in lips.
  • To truly protect your lips, your balm should include a broad spectrum SPF, antioxidants, and hydrating ingredients.
  • With the addition of bioactive peptides, like those found in OS-01 LIP SPF, you can take your sunscreen from simple protection to an essential step for lip longevity.

References

Last Updated June 17, 2025

Reviewed by

Alessandra Zonari

Alessandra Zonari

PhD, Chief Scientific Officer (CSO) and Co-Founder of OneSkin

Alessandra earned her Master’s degree in stem cell biology, and her PhD in skin regeneration and tissue engineering at the Federal University of Minas Gerais in Brazil in collaboration with the 3B’s Research Group in Portugal. Alessandra did a second post-doctoral at the University of Coimbra in Portugal. She is a co-inventor of three patents and has published 20 peer-reviewed papers in scientific journals.

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