skinSALVATION is committed to providing and recommending products that are completely acne safe. this includes products that you use on your lips and mouth like toothpaste, lipstick, lipgloss and lip balm. we have been working with a rockstar client who is on point with her diet, lifestyle and regimen. all of her products are acne safe and she is clearing up nicely, except for some pesky pimples on her lip line. her toothpaste and cooking oils are acne safe and she has been using the weleda lip balm (orange tube) that we carry here at sS as her only lip product. as an experiment, we had her stop using the weleda and switch the the skinSALVATION lip balm with spf. when she swapped balms, her lip line cleared. during this time we also emailed all of our previous clients who purchased the weleda lip balm from us to see if they had any adverse reactions. (if you were one of these clients, thank you for your feedback!) turns out that no one else seemed to have a problem with it. if you are still using weleda with no problems that's great! we would love a quick email from you so that we can keep track. we consider one client breaking out enough to discontinue a product. with other great alternatives out there, it isn't worth taking the chance. if you are breaking out along the lip line, between the mouth and nostrils, or on the chin, here are a few things to look out for:

• cloggy lip balm the only ones that we are currently recommending as 100% safe are skinSALVATION spearmint + lavender mint, and annemarie borlind "for lips"
• cloggy lipgloss check out the hemporganics lip tints instead!
• cloggy lipstick hemporganics has a ton of beautiful shades in matte and shimmer
• cloggy toothpaste our recommendation is kiss my face gel *note that they are discontinuing their mega large tubes and their travel size so stock up while you can. ingredients to look out for in toothpaste are coconut oil, sodium laurel sulfate, sodium laureth sulfate and carrageenan (aka irish moss).
• cloggy cooking oils coconut oil, soybean oil, corn oil, peanut oil + avocado oil. easy to avoid these at home but not so easy when you eat out, so limit the taqueria visits to stay your clearest.
• waxing / threading / shaving can irritate the skin. make sure that your shaving cream, aftershave, etc. is acne safe. threading is preferred over waxing because it is less harsh on the skin and the wax itself can contain cloggy ingredients. make sure either way that they aren't using products on your before or after, like oils and powders (pure witch hazel is okay).
• kissing not the act itself, that can be a great way to relieve stress ;) however, you want to make sure that your partner is using acne safe lip products, mustache wax, beard oil, lipstick, etc.

if you do experience breakouts around the mouth:

• keep icing! to reduce current inflammation, prevent future inflammation and help your products penetrate better.
• stick to your regimen morning and evening, as recommended by your esthetician.
• stay away from foods that are not acne safe dairy, soy, coffee and sugar!
• take a breather deep breaths or a quick meditation can help reduce stress and prevent inflamed and non inflamed breakouts.