How Your Lips Can Lose Color + 6 Tips To Keep Them Vibrant, From Derms

Your poor lips go through a lot over time. The delicate skin is one of the thinnest on your face (apart from the fragile eye area), so it's quick to betray dehydration (ahem, cracks and flakes), and it's one of the first areas to reveal signs of aging. With the latter, you may know that the lips lose volume and become thinner over time—we've certainly waxed poetic on the topic—but did you know your lips can lose their color, too? 

Yep, your lips become less vibrant as you age. Don't panic, though: It's totally natural. But if it bothers you, there are some ways you can hold on to the rosy hue. 

First, a little lip anatomy: Your lips are composed of two parts—the cutaneous lip and the mucosal lip, which includes the vermilion (aka, what's responsible for the different shade of pigment on your lips compared to the rest of the face). 

"The mucosal part of your lip is thinner compared to the rest of your skin, as it is made up of fewer layers and also contains many capillaries or tiny blood vessels," says board-certified dermatologist Marisa Garshick, M.D., FAAD. "Taken together, this accounts for the color of the lips." Essentially: The skin on your lips is super thin and delicate, which makes the underlying blood vessels more noticeable.  

Of course, everyone has a different lip pigment: Lips come in all shapes, sizes, and colors, all of them equally stunning and unique. (And for what it's worth, many people can have two-tone lips as well.) No matter your specific lip color, though, it does tend to be most vibrant when you're young, fading over time.  

"As you get older, the lips tend to thin and [face] increased moisture loss, causing the lips to dry out, which may change the overall appearance and color, as having dry skin on the lips can make them appear dull," says Garshick. Since the colored part of your lips is already so thin (told you that anatomy lesson would come in handy!), you might notice these changes, both in volume and pigment, much quicker. 

That said, it seems duller lips are only a matter of time. However, a few factors can speed up those pigmentary changes: 

While your lips naturally become duller over time, there are a few things you can do to keep them bright and supple:

Says Garshick, hydrated, happy lips look more vibrant—all the more reason to save your raw, cracked. Make sure you're correctly moisturizing your pout year round, and look for balms that contain humectants (as opposed to occlusive-only salves that simply sit on top of the skin).

"Protecting your lips from the sun is just as important as protecting your face," says aesthetic nurse practitioner Shawna Jones, PA-C, about how to keep your lips plump and supple. "Look for products that have a physical sunblock [like titanium dioxide and zinc oxide]. Some also contain other moisturizing actives, like hyaluronic acid, to hydrate and smooth the lips." Find our favorite SPF lip balms here, and try to shield them from baking under those rays—after all, optimal sun care takes more than swiping on a balm. 

Lip thinning and loss of color happen hand-in-hand, and lips tend to deflate as your collagen structure weakens. Collagen loss happens naturally over time, but there are ways you can support your internal levels—like hydrolyzed collagen supplements. These have been shown to maintain dermal thickness, support elasticity, and natural moisture levels9, all of which can help maintain a more vibrant color for longer. Check out our favorite collagen supplements here.

Many lip plumping formulas rely on spicy, heat-inducing essential oils (like cinnamon oil or cayenne) to stimulate your blood vessels and cause them to expand, which helps the blood underneath (aka, what’s responsible for your lip color) become more noticeable. This isn’t a long-term fix, as many lip-plumping ingredients can dry out the lips over time, but stimulating your lips can enhance their appearance immediately. Find our favorite lip plumpers here.

At the end of the day, you cannot delay age. With time, your lips may appear less rosy than they did when you were young—that's natural and OK! If it bothers you, however, you can always rock a bold, red lip or find your favorite "my lip, but better" balm in your exact shade (or, rather, the youthful-looking shade you're after) to add some color back to your pout. Clean options typically come loaded with hydrating ingredients as well, so you're effectively piling on moisture at the same time—which, we noted above, can help your lips look plumper and more vibrant. 

If you notice these pigmentary changes quite suddenly or are concerned about any vitamin deficiencies, it’s always a good idea to see a derm to get to the root of the issue. If you think you might be dealing with a nutritional gap, "add a supplement or multivitamin after speaking with your doctor," suggests Ife J. Rodney, M.D., FAAD, founding director of Eternal Dermatology + Aesthetics. 

Your lips lose pigment as you age, for the same reasons they may become thinner—with a loss of collagen and moisture, they appear less vibrant. It's a natural part of aging, but there are some ways to make sure you're not accelerating the process.