Do you have rough and cracked lips? It's time to go get the no-frills big guns | Sali Hugues

There are two types of lip balm: the pretty and tasty type for a quick and pleasant touch of hydration, shine or color; and the no-frills tube that expands in case of chapping, flaking, cracking or even bleeding.

In winter, it's the no-frills tube that is invaluable as it can restore, replenish and transform lips in days. The hokey cokey between central heating (if you're lucky enough to have yours on) and freezing winds takes its toll, and it's all too easy to absentmindedly lick your lips to lubricate yourself and make matters worse.

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Certain medications (especially those for acne), vitamin deficiencies (not enough B12 in food is common), and the urge to bite flakes make the problem worse and so you have to go for the big guns.

I used to stock up on the brilliantly effective Aquaphor Lip Repair whenever I was in the States. United (you can now buy it for around five cents on Amazon), but Eucerin Acute Lip Balm (£5.25) is about the same and available in Boots. It's not glamorous, but it works quickly and effectively and is cheap enough to make the best practice of slathering on every hour to seal in moisture and keep skin supple, never allowing lips to feel bare. .

If the skin is cracked, you'll need something even heavier. My go-to ingredient is old-fashioned but incomparable lanolin. Lanolips is reliable and excellent (the original 101 ointment, £7.33, is good value for medical grade lanolin), but I've also become quite fond of Dr Sam Bunting's lip balm ( £12), which contains both lanolin for hydration and ceramides. to repair any damage caused by biting, picking, and cracking.

An old favorite is First Aid Beauty's remarkable Ultra Repair Lip Therapy (£11), which has loads of good stuff: soothing allantoin and oatmeal, and not one but three robust and reliable moisturizers made with glycerin, shea butter and squalane. It has an immediately noticeable effect and does not slip at the mere sight of a cup of tea.

If you absolutely cannot stand the feeling of waxy and oily balms, I recommend Dr Esho's Deceptively Textured Drench Hyaluronic Acid Lip Serum (£19.99) as a perfect, albeit pricey, alternative. The milky moisturizer looks like a face serum but soothes, smoothes and rehydrates surprisingly quickly, and can almost immediately form a non-shiny and therefore stable base for lipstick that doesn't attract hairs like smudge paper. flies.