The 10 Best Lip Balms to Keep Chapped, Cracked Lips at Bay

I'm going to go out on a limb here and guess that your lips aren't the part of the body you've been lavishing the most attention on lately. You ignoring your lips, dog? That's cold. What, you think because the lower half of your face is obscured at all times when you're out in public you no longer need to pay it any attention? Your lips are crying out to you, guy. It's high time you heeded their call.

Lips are sensitive, and they deserve some love—now more than ever. The winter can be brutal on every part of your skin, and no part is more prone to chapping than your kisser. Enter lip balm. And before you start griping—it's lip balm, for god's sake, what's the big deal?—let me assure you: a big deal it is. Because the only thing worse than excessively dry lips is the lengths you'll have to go to get them feeling normal again. (One winter when I was a kid my lips cracked so bad I had to track down a specially recommended udder balm—you read that right—to help ease the pain. Trust me on this one: You don't want it to get to the point where you have to track down the udder balm.) So from the low-budget drugstore finds to the fancy shit actually worth splurging on, here are the best lip balms to prevent dryness or, heaven forbid, cracking this winter.

Now go slather that shit all over your mouth and don't stop until it gleams like the family silver. (Or, uh, something else really shiny.) And then keep that thang on you at all times.