Geeze. Although it might just be all up in my head, it sure does seem that, as soon as I had my last birthday this past June, my lips decided that they wanted to chap up more than usual. As I tried to go through the process of elimination to figure out why, although a bit of dehydration may have a little bit to do with it, I had to take into consideration that aging may have something to do with it too.
After all, as we get older, it gets harder for our lips to retain moisture, less collagen and elastin are produced in our lips, sometimes our lips end up appearing smaller/thinner and, because there is a decrease of blood vessels in our lips, they can lose some of their natural color too.
Yeah, even though having more years on this earth is indeed a blessing, that doesn’t mean we don’t go through quite a bit of transitioning, from head to toe.
And what if you just read all of that and immediately thought, I love my lips and I don’t want time to change them? Sis, I feel you. Believe me, I do. That’s why I want to share 10 things that you can do to, at best, keep your lips looking just like they do now and, at worst, get them to age far more gracefully than you would without these helpful recommendations.
10 Ways to Keep Your Lips Hydrated
Getty Images
1. Exfoliate
No matter how old you are, it’s always going to be a wise move to exfoliate your lips on a weekly basis. Not only does it help to remove dry and dead skin (so that your lips end up looking less chapped), it can make your lips feel smoother, reduce the appearance of discoloration on them and it can help to increase hydration to your lips as well. Although you can actually use your toothbrush to exfoliate your lips (by rubbing your damp brush in small circular motions), there are also homemade lip scrubs that you can try. Healthline has 14 recipes that you can check out here.
2. Massage
When was the last time that you gave your lips a nice massage? By first applying a mixture of peppermint oil (no more than one drop) with a carrier oil like grapeseed, avocado, or sweet almond oil and then using your index fingers in a circular motion on your lips, you will increase blood circulation to them, help them to become more plump and full and they will become more rosy-looking too.
Getty Images
3. Hydrate
If you’ve ever wondered why it seems like your lips get dried out faster and more often than any other part of your body, the main reason is because they don’t have any oil glands; this means that they require hydration from your system and then moisturization (from lip balms, lip gloss, lipstick) on the outside to keep them looking healthy. This is just one more reason why you need to drink no less than 4-6 glasses of water a day. Do you?
4. Consume Collagen
Did you know that collagen accounts for a whopping 30 percent of your body’s protein? And since it’s pretty well-documented that we lose collagen as we age, and that can impact our bone and joint health, how much muscle mass we have, and also how good our skin looks, you definitely need to check out, “We Lose Collagen As We Age. 10 Ways To Naturally Boost It.” If you do, your lips will be grateful because collagen helps to give them the fullness and definition that they have. So, if you haven’t been on top of your collagen intake as of late, here is some inspiration to do so.
Getty Images
5. Give Your Lips Some Sun Protection
There is no part of your body that shouldn’t be protected from the sun, regardless of how much melanin you may have — including your lips. When it comes to your lips, specifically, if you don’t protect them from potentially damaging UV rays, not only do you put yourself at risk for having a skin cancer diagnosis, but your lips could end up drying out and aging faster than they are supposed to. That’s why it’s imperative that you coat your lips with a lip balm that contains SPF. For the record, jojoba oil and carrot seed oil can support your sun protection efforts too.
6. DIY Vitamin C Lip Balm
One of the best things that I’ve done for my skin over the past several months is to use vitamin C serum on a consistent basis. From providing hydration and reducing hyperpigmentation to boosting collagen production, brightening the skin and protecting skin from UV rays — vitamin C serum really is the truth. That said, if you want your lips to look youthful, I recommend making a lip balm; one that has some vitamin C in it. Although you can apply vitamin C serum directly to your lips, because it might be too strong, it’s actually better to go with a recipe that has citrus essential oil in it (like this one here, here, and here) or one that contains orange peel powder (like this one here).
Getty Images
7. Treat Your Lips to Some Peptides
Peptides are amino acids that play a variety of roles within your system. As far as your skin goes, peptides are important because they help to create a barrier for your skin while also reducing fine lines and wrinkles, decreasing breakouts, and increasing elastin as well. For all of these reasons, I think that it’s a good idea to apply some peptides to your lips, at least a couple of times a week. These days, there are all types of peptide lip treatments to choose from. One article that provides a variety to test out is Harper BAZAAR’s “The 10 Best Peptide Lip Balms Worth the Hype.”
8. Use Avocado and Mango Body Butter
Although avocados are high in fat, they’re healthy fats (monounsaturated and polyunsaturated fats); ones that can help to lower your cholesterol levels. Not only that but avocados also contain lots of fiber, vitamins C, E, and K, folate, magnesium, and potassium, and they even have some omega-3 in them too. If you get this fruit in the form of avocado oil, you can get the same benefits from the fruit itself which is why I recommend that you either apply avocado oil directly on your lips or make some of your own avocado body butter.
If you blend some avocado oil along with some vitamin E oil (which helps the cells on your lips to turn over faster) and mango butter (which slows down skin age, repairs damaged skin tissue, and helps to protect your skin) and whip it together with a blender, you will end up with a whipped body butter that will work well on your skin and your lips too.
Getty Images
9. Try Some Calendula Oil
Antibacterial, antifungal, and anti-inflammatory are all properties that calendula oil contains. And since research has indicated that it can help to protect your skin (by reducing the amount of oxidative stress that it encounters), this is why you might want to try it on your lips. Your lips will especially adore it since it can help to provide a barrier to your skin which could protect it from outdoor elements that could dry it (including your lips) out.
10. Apply an Aloe Vera and Honey Mixture at Night
If you don’t already have an aloe vera plant somewhere in your home, maybe this will get you to invest in one. Although it’s a plant that consists of 99 percent water, it also has nutrients in it like selenium, zinc, copper, manganese, magnesium, and fatty acids. These work together to speed up the healing process of minor cuts and wounds, heal sunburn, bring relief to dry skin, and even help with the inflammation and discomfort that are associated with eczema, psoriasis, and acne.
That said, since aloe vera is good at providing so much hydration, if you mix its gel with a drop of honey, the honey’s antimicrobial and anti-inflammatory properties will help to heal your lips by repairing any damaged tissues it may have. The combo is the perfect all-natural all-night lip treatment.
____
Aging is coming — and there is nothing wrong with it. Yet if you can get your lips to look and feel wonderful during the aging process, that will make the adjustments so much easier to welcome.
After all, a sexy pair of lips? They are timeless.
Let’s make things inbox official! Sign up for the xoNecole newsletter for love, wellness, career, and exclusive content delivered straight to your inbox.
Featured image by Jacob Wackerhausen/Getty Images
RELATED
So, we handpicked one hundred It Girls who embody that palpable It Factor moving through us as young Black women, the kind of motion lighting up the world both IRL and across the internet.
It Girl 100 became xoNecole’s most successful program, with the hashtag organically reaching more than forty million impressions on Instagram in just twenty-four hours. Yes, it caught on like wildfire because we celebrated some of the most brilliant and influential GenZennial women of color setting trends and shaping culture. But more than that, it resonated because the women we celebrated felt seen.
Many were already known in their industries for keeping this generation fly and lit, but rarely received recognition or flowers. It Girl 100 became a safe space to be uplifted, and for us as Black women to bask in what felt like an era of our brilliance, beauty, and boundless influence on full display.
And then, almost overnight, it was as if the rug was pulled from under us as Black women, as the It Girls of the world.
Our much-needed, much-deserved season of ease and soft living quickly metamorphosed into a time of self-preservation and survival. Our motion and economic progression seemed strategically slowed, our light under siege.
The air feels heavier now. The headlines colder. Our Black girl magic is being picked apart and politicized for simply existing.
With that climate shift, as we prepare to launch our second annual It Girl 100 honoree list, our team has had to dig deep on the purpose and intention behind this year’s list. Knowing the spirit of It Girl 100 is about motion, sauce, strides, and progression, how do we celebrate amid uncertainty and collective grief when the juice feels like it is being squeezed out of us?
As we wrestled with that question, we were reminded that this tension isn’t new. Black women have always had to find joy in the midst of struggle, to create light even in the darkest corners. We have carried the weight of scrutiny for generations, expected to be strong, to serve, to smile through the sting. But this moment feels different. It feels deeply personal.
We are living at the intersection of liberation and backlash. We are learning to take off our capes, to say no when we are tired, to embrace softness without apology.
And somehow, the world has found new ways to punish us for it.
In lifestyle, women like Kayla Nicole and Ayesha Curry have been ridiculed for daring to choose themselves. Tracee Ellis Ross was labeled bitter for speaking her truth about love. Meghan Markle, still, cannot breathe without critique.
In politics, Kamala Harris, Letitia James, and Jasmine Crockett are dragged through the mud for standing tall in rooms not built for them.
In sports, Angel Reese, Coco Gauff, and Taylor Townsend have been reminded that even excellence will not shield you from racism or judgment.
In business, visionaries like Diarrha N’Diaye-Mbaye and Melissa Butler are fighting to keep their dreams alive in an economy that too often forgets us first.
Even our icons, Beyoncé, Serena, and SZA, have faced criticism simply for evolving beyond the boxes society tried to keep them in.
From everyday women to cultural phenoms, the pattern is the same. Our light is being tested.
And yet, somehow, through it all, we are still showing up as that girl, and that deserves to be celebrated.
Because while the world debates our worth, we keep raising our value. And that proof is all around us.
This year alone, Naomi Osaka returned from motherhood and mental health challenges to reach the semifinals of the US Open. A’ja Wilson claimed another MVP, reminding us that beauty and dominance can coexist. Brandy and Monica are snatching our edges on tour. Kahlana Barfield Brown sold out her new line in the face of a retailer that had been canceled. And Melissa Butler’s company, The Lip Bar, is projecting a forty percent surge in sales.
We are no longer defining strength by how much pain we can endure. We are defining it by the unbreakable light we continue to radiate.
We are the women walking our daily steps and also continuing to run solid businesses. We are growing in love, taking solo trips, laughing until it hurts, raising babies and ideas, drinking our green juice, and praying our peace back into existence.
We are rediscovering the joy of rest and realizing that softness is not weakness, it is strategy.
And through it all, we continue to lift one another. Emma Grede is creating seats at the table. Valeisha Butterfield has started a fund for jobless Black women. Arian Simone is leading in media with fearless conviction. We are pouring into each other in ways the world rarely sees but always feels.
So yes, we are in the midst of societal warfare. Yes, we are being tested. Yes, we are facing economic strain, political targeting, and public scrutiny. But even war cannot dim a light that is divinely ours.
And we are still shining.
And we are still softening.
And we are still creating.
And we are still It.
That is the quiet magic of Black womanhood, our ability to hold both truth and triumph in the same breath, to say yes, and to life’s contradictions.
It is no coincidence that this year, as SheaMoisture embraces the message “Yes, And,” they stand beside us as partners in celebrating this class of It Girls. Because that phrase, those two simple words, capture the very essence of this moment.
Yes, we are tired. And we are still rising.
Yes, we are questioned. And we are the answer.
Yes, we are bruised. And we are still beautiful.
This year’s It Girl 100 is more than a list. It is a love letter to every Black woman who dares to live out loud in a world that would rather she whisper. This year’s class is living proof of “Yes, And,” women who are finding ways to thrive and to heal, to build and to rest, to lead and to love, all at once.
It is proof that our joy is not naive, our success not accidental. It is the reminder that our light has never needed permission.
So without further ado, we celebrate the It Girl 100 Class of 2025–2026.
We celebrate the millions of us who keep doing it with grace, grit, and glory.
Because despite it all, we still shine.
Because we are still her.
Because we are still IT, girl.
Meet all 100 women shaping culture in the It Girl 100 Class of 2025. View the complete list of honorees here.
Featured image by xoStaff
So, we handpicked one hundred It Girls who embody that palpable It Factor moving through us as young Black women, the kind of motion lighting up the world both IRL and across the internet.
It Girl 100 became xoNecole’s most successful program, with the hashtag organically reaching more than forty million impressions on Instagram in just twenty-four hours. Yes, it caught on like wildfire because we celebrated some of the most brilliant and influential GenZennial women of color setting trends and shaping culture. But more than that, it resonated because the women we celebrated felt seen.
Many were already known in their industries for keeping this generation fly and lit, but rarely received recognition or flowers. It Girl 100 became a safe space to be uplifted, and for us as Black women to bask in what felt like an era of our brilliance, beauty, and boundless influence on full display.
And then, almost overnight, it was as if the rug was pulled from under us as Black women, as the It Girls of the world.
Our much-needed, much-deserved season of ease and soft living quickly metamorphosed into a time of self-preservation and survival. Our motion and economic progression seemed strategically slowed, our light under siege.
The air feels heavier now. The headlines colder. Our Black girl magic is being picked apart and politicized for simply existing.
With that climate shift, as we prepare to launch our second annual It Girl 100 honoree list, our team has had to dig deep on the purpose and intention behind this year’s list. Knowing the spirit of It Girl 100 is about motion, sauce, strides, and progression, how do we celebrate amid uncertainty and collective grief when the juice feels like it is being squeezed out of us?
As we wrestled with that question, we were reminded that this tension isn’t new. Black women have always had to find joy in the midst of struggle, to create light even in the darkest corners. We have carried the weight of scrutiny for generations, expected to be strong, to serve, to smile through the sting. But this moment feels different. It feels deeply personal.
We are living at the intersection of liberation and backlash. We are learning to take off our capes, to say no when we are tired, to embrace softness without apology.
And somehow, the world has found new ways to punish us for it.
In lifestyle, women like Kayla Nicole and Ayesha Curry have been ridiculed for daring to choose themselves. Tracee Ellis Ross was labeled bitter for speaking her truth about love. Meghan Markle, still, cannot breathe without critique.
In politics, Kamala Harris, Letitia James, and Jasmine Crockett are dragged through the mud for standing tall in rooms not built for them.
In sports, Angel Reese, Coco Gauff, and Taylor Townsend have been reminded that even excellence will not shield you from racism or judgment.
In business, visionaries like Diarrha N’Diaye-Mbaye and Melissa Butler are fighting to keep their dreams alive in an economy that too often forgets us first.
Even our icons, Beyoncé, Serena, and SZA, have faced criticism simply for evolving beyond the boxes society tried to keep them in.
From everyday women to cultural phenoms, the pattern is the same. Our light is being tested.
And yet, somehow, through it all, we are still showing up as that girl, and that deserves to be celebrated.
Because while the world debates our worth, we keep raising our value. And that proof is all around us.
This year alone, Naomi Osaka returned from motherhood and mental health challenges to reach the semifinals of the US Open. A’ja Wilson claimed another MVP, reminding us that beauty and dominance can coexist. Brandy and Monica are snatching our edges on tour. Kahlana Barfield Brown sold out her new line in the face of a retailer that had been canceled. And Melissa Butler’s company, The Lip Bar, is projecting a forty percent surge in sales.
We are no longer defining strength by how much pain we can endure. We are defining it by the unbreakable light we continue to radiate.
We are the women walking our daily steps and also continuing to run solid businesses. We are growing in love, taking solo trips, laughing until it hurts, raising babies and ideas, drinking our green juice, and praying our peace back into existence.
We are rediscovering the joy of rest and realizing that softness is not weakness, it is strategy.
And through it all, we continue to lift one another. Emma Grede is creating seats at the table. Valeisha Butterfield has started a fund for jobless Black women. Arian Simone is leading in media with fearless conviction. We are pouring into each other in ways the world rarely sees but always feels.
So yes, we are in the midst of societal warfare. Yes, we are being tested. Yes, we are facing economic strain, political targeting, and public scrutiny. But even war cannot dim a light that is divinely ours.
And we are still shining.
And we are still softening.
And we are still creating.
And we are still It.
That is the quiet magic of Black womanhood, our ability to hold both truth and triumph in the same breath, to say yes, and to life’s contradictions.
It is no coincidence that this year, as SheaMoisture embraces the message “Yes, And,” they stand beside us as partners in celebrating this class of It Girls. Because that phrase, those two simple words, capture the very essence of this moment.
Yes, we are tired. And we are still rising.
Yes, we are questioned. And we are the answer.
Yes, we are bruised. And we are still beautiful.
This year’s It Girl 100 is more than a list. It is a love letter to every Black woman who dares to live out loud in a world that would rather she whisper. This year’s class is living proof of “Yes, And,” women who are finding ways to thrive and to heal, to build and to rest, to lead and to love, all at once.
It is proof that our joy is not naive, our success not accidental. It is the reminder that our light has never needed permission.
So without further ado, we celebrate the It Girl 100 Class of 2025–2026.
We celebrate the millions of us who keep doing it with grace, grit, and glory.
Because despite it all, we still shine.
Because we are still her.
Because we are still IT, girl.
Meet all 100 women shaping culture in the It Girl 100 Class of 2025. View the complete list of honorees here.
Featured image by xoStaff