People today attach a lot of importance to the way they look. Their appearance is a source of their happiness. When one’s lips are too large for their taste, they experience a dip in their self-confidence. They become self-conscious. Since some people are desperate for ways in which they can reduce the size of their lips rather than being happy in their own skin, here we are with a complete guide on how to make your lips smaller.
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How to make your lips smaller, naturally
Before you plan to go through a lip reduction surgery, try your hands on some natural ways to reduce lip size. Here are some of my grandma’s secrets that can help in lip reduction.
1. Drink lots of water
When our body gets dehydrated, it holds onto whatever water is there in the body. This retention of water by some parts results in them getting bloated in a visible way. Since the lips retain water, they look plumper.
2. Treat lip injuries quickly
Our lips have a dense network of lip vessels, and so, they heal really fast. However, to promote faster healing you can try the following remedies:
- The cuts or injured areas on your lips need to be properly cleaned using soap and water.
- Using a clean cloth, apply pressure if there is bleeding.
- In case of bruising, you can use cold compress to reduce the swelling.
- If there are small punctures on your lips, you can use antiseptics to treat them. You can also use hydrogen peroxide, for the same.
- If there are large punctures, you should go for professional stitches.
3. Lips should be moisturized on a regular basis
Use an oil-based lip balm to keep your lips moisturized, throughout. Locking the moisture in your lips will prevent them from being irritated, which might be the reason behind them looking swollen.
The best lip balms to make lips smaller are olive oil, shea butter or lemon based. You can also try a balm that is high in antioxidants. Apply the balm on a daily basis, or whenever your lips feel dry and chapped. In winters, especially, you need to pay more attention to your lips.
4. Lip hair removal helps in giving the lips a thinner appearance
Your lip hair could be lending an illusion of plumper lips, and so, removing the hair might help you make them look thinner. Use tweezers to pluck the hairs one by one. You can also wax your upper lip. However, make sure you get it done by a professional because it can get pretty messy and painful. Nonetheless, if you to do it at home, you need to be very careful. First, apply the wax neatly on the area. Now place a clean strip of cotton on the waxed area, and pull in the direction opposite to the growth of hair.
Electrolysis can be another option. You will need an expert for this. He or she will use a tiny needled into each hair and destroy its root with electric current.
Pulsed laser is a similar option to electrolysis, in which an expert will use a light beam to destroy your hair follicles.
Shaving or Veet is no option. They only cut your hair, because of which the hair growth becomes faster, and the hair that regrows is thicker and denser.
5. Find out other causes of your thick lips
There can be other things that have caused your lips to look big, things that you may not be able to control. For example, if you wear braces, your lips are likely to look larger. However, just to make your lips smaller do not remove the braces prematurely. Other medical conditions like cleft lip or a cleft palate can be affected by what you do to the rest of the lip area. This might worsen your medical problem. In situations like this, it is best to consult a doctor.
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Makeup for thinner lips
Like we said earlier on, to get thinner lips you can employ a number of ways. However, the least complicated and safest way to do the same is through illusion makeup, makeup that will lend an illusion of thinner lips. You need to learn the art of highlighting only certain portions of your lips to give it a thinner appearance. This is not a permanent solution, but it carries minimum risk and so is your best bet.
1. You need to select your lip choices depending on your skin tone
This is the first step because all the upcoming steps depend on this one being done right.
Go to your favorite makeup store, or, drugstore with a makeup counter. Talk to your guide at the store and try color palette samples to get a sense of what is the color of your skin around the lips. This will help you identify the makeup tints and tinges which you need to make your lips look thinner.
You need to be very careful while choosing the hues and make sure they do not unintentionally offset your complexion while you are only absorbed on the appearance of your lips.
2. The makeup around your lips should be a different coloring
You need a good assortment of colors for this illusion makeup. For this you can buy more makeup, just in case.
Firstly, you need a makeup applicator. Also, get yourself comparatively muted tones or darker colors, and a concealer. You will find all of these at the supermarket or in a pharmacy with a makeup store. If, however, you don’t find them there, try referring to a salon.
The best tinges for you are purple, brown and bronze, or colors similar to these.
You may also use a makeup brush for the application of these hues on the area just above your upper lip or just below the lower lip. The brush will help blend the colors better with your natural skin.
3. Apply the concealer to your lip line
Use your makeup applicator for this purpose. You may either apply the color shades or the concealer around your lip line.
Choose a concealer that matches your skin tone around the mouth.
Start by applying the concealer to the upper edge of your top lip. Then go to the lower edge of your bottom lip. Be careful to apply the concealer a millimeter away from your lip.
You can use a cotton swab or even a sponge applicator wand to apply the concealer. This will help in blending in the concealer better. Apply in up and down motion to make the edges of your lips look naturally blended into the tone of the skin above your upper lip and below your lower lip.
In case the resulting lip line is not smooth or even, you can smoothen it out using the tip of the applicator sponge to drag across the line of the concealer so that it goes parallel to the edge of your lips.
4. Cherry pick lipsticks of darker shades
You can do this in combination with the makeup and concealer step discussed above, or by itself.
When thinking of how to make your lips smaller, you need to avoid lip colors that are bright. These only make your lips look larger.
With the help of the salon consultant, pick dark colors which work best with your complexion.
This works really well if it is just one lip that requires more attention than the other. For example, if the upper lip has to look thinner, you can use a darker shade on the upper lip while using something brighter to attract attention to the lower lip, and likewise.
5. Assess the results
In case, makeup is not an option for you, or the illusion makeup is not working for you, then you need to think of other choices. Other choices include surgeries, chemical treatments and other medical approaches.
If makeup is not working, you can also try colors close to the tinges you have been trying. You can evaluate the results and see if there is any improvement. You can even go for a more extensive makeup procedure with the help of an expert.
Surgery to get thinner lips
Know about the risks involved
Before undergoing the surgery, you need to familiarize yourself with the risks involved. A cosmetic surgery is very risky; there are a number of things that can go wrong. You need to weigh in those dangers with the idea of getting thinner lips, and then decide for yourself.
There can be complications from anesthesia given during the surgery. If you feel irritation of any kind, you need to tell the doctor or the anesthesiologist about the same.
The operating site might get infected because the lip and the skin around it are very sensitive.
In case of excessive bleeding or any kind of internal damage, the operation may have to be stopped mid-way. Temporary or even permanent nerve damage might also occur due to the operation which will leave the area feeling numb forever.
The operation can also result in scarring and for that you may have to undergo more operations to remove the affected skin.
Finding out more about the lip reduction procedure
The procedure should be performed by a certified surgeon. Your surgeon will first evaluate whether you can go for the procedure or not, depending on your medical condition and allergies and infections.
Once you select your surgeon and your surgeon selects you, talk to him or her about your medical history. Do not hide anything if you want the best clinical assessment of your lips. Ask them to take you through the procedure in words so that you can decide better whether or not you want to engage in it.
Ask them to explain not just the procedure but also the costs, the risks and the recovery procedure in detail.
The surgery lasts for 1 hour, generally. The surgeon will first give you a local anesthetic. He can also go for a complete oral sedation. He will then make an incision around the length of your lips. He will make the incision around your mouth, remove a strip of tissue from there, and then stitch it close.
Lip reduction surgery costs about 1500 dollars but it can also go up to 4000 U.S.D. depending on the doctor and the kind of procedure. Cosmetic procedures are not covered by insurance, by the way.
Know how to recover, in detail
You might feel sore, a slight tightness and pain initially. These are common sensations. Your surgeon will give you recovery instructions and also recommend painkillers that you can take to alleviate the pain.
You should avoid vigorous exercises during the recovery period. Sleep with your head elevated. You can use a couple of extra pillows under your head, for this. Do not consume citric foods for a period after the surgery. Also, eat softer or pureed foods.
Use an antiseptic mouthwash to rinse, in order to fight infection that might occur at the incision site. You should remove the stitches within a week of the surgery. Your swelling should have subsided by then. In case, it hasn’t, you should visit the doctor immediately. Also, in case of excess bleeding or unexpected side effects, report to your surgeon, instantly.
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Lip exercises to make your lips smaller
Perfectly-shaped lips are a dream for most women. While some have really thin lips, other have big ones and both kinds look imperfect. We have already discussed how to get fuller lips in a different guide that you can find in our archives, here is how you can make your lips smaller in size with exercise.
The skin around the lips are very sensitive. While the other parts of the body have about 15 layers of derma, the skin round the lips has only 5 layer, and in some cases only 3 layers. Therefore, it is very important you pay more attention to this area.
To keep the lips young and perfectly shaped, you can rely on exfoliating scrubs, cleansers, sun screens, moisturizers, body milk and other cosmetic products. In addition to these, you have to engage in some lip exercises. Here are some you can try your ‘lips’ on 😉
Use facial yoga to your advantage. Yoga is so beneficial when trying to reduce lip size. However, very few people are privy to that information. These workouts will involve lip movements that activate the muscles around the lips and help give it a more compact look.
- Begin by putting the index finger in your mouth. Move it around the inner circle of the lips about 10 times. Repeat the exercise 5 times. For best results, this workout should be done on every alternate day of the week.
- Breathe in through your mouth, and press your lips together. Hold the breath for 10 seconds and breathe out. This process should be repeated 10 times.
- Without compressing the teeth, press your lips together. Now insert an index finger into your mouth. Press the finger as hard as possible with your lips. This process should be continued until you feel this burning or irritating feeling in your lips. Now remove the finger. Hit the finger with soft powder against the lips for about 25 times. This exercise should be done in an upright position, so that you don’t have difficulty in breathing. Repeat it every day to give your lips a firmer and thinner appearance.
- The skin around the lips and the eyes are very sensitive, and with age the muscles around them start to relax. This is why fine lines appear the earliest around the eyes and the lips. You, therefore, have to pay more attention to these parts.
- Breathe in through your mouth, and press your lips together for 10 seconds. Now breathe out through your nose. You can perform this exercise while doing your daily chores like cooking or cleaning or working on the laptop or even watching T.V.
- Every night before sleeping, wash your lips with a diluted solution of lemon drops. Now apply moisturizer on the dry lips. This will help hydrate the lips making them look smaller.
- Breathe in through your mouth. Now push the air to one side of your mouth and hold it for 5 seconds. Again, push it to another side and hold it for another five seconds. Breathe out through the nose. Repeat this 5 times daily.
That’s a wrap from us. We would really love to know which of these lip-reducing techniques did you follow, and how they worked out for you. Your feedback and opinion are crucial for us. Sound off in the comment section below!
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