# Chapped lips

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/chapped-lips/207199>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [October 13, 2003, 3:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/chapped-lips/207199 "2003-10-13T15:48:31Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 2\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![Matchka](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/77aa72/32.png) [@Matchka](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Matchka)\
**Post date:** [October 13, 2003, 3:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/chapped-lips/207199/1 "2003-10-13T15:48:31Z")

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And just WHY does licking chapped lips make them worse?

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**Author:** ![KidCharlemagne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/ed8c4c/32.png) [@KidCharlemagne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KidCharlemagne)\
**Post date:** [October 13, 2003, 4:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/chapped-lips/207199/2 "2003-10-13T16:20:57Z")

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I’m curious about this too because the popular reason offered is that the evaporation of the saliva _causes_ dryness. What doesn’t make sense to me is that while evaporation of water from inside the skin would cause dryness I’m not sure by what mechanism having external water applied would cause more dryness by evaporation. Perhaps a biophysicist can chime in on that one. I thought a more plausible explanation might be that undiluted enymes left on the skin might irritate the mucous membranes or the act of licking physically removes what little natural oils your lips would produce to act as a barrier against evaporation.