No, it's not. I don't care how much you love slathering oil on your face, using it as a lip balm is a terrible idea. Yes, even coconut oil. Why do I feel so strongly about this? Let me tell you about a little experiment I underwent with my fellow beauty editor, Shannon.

Shannon and I decided that it would be a great idea to use nothing but oil on our lips for nine days straight. We both are pretty obsessed with using oil on our faces because of how oil hydrates skin and gives it a soft glow. But we had never really exclusively used oil on our lips. So we figured we would do a (sort-of) scientific experiment to figure out if oil would be a good replacement for lip balm.

The Experiment's Rules

We would take nine days to test out three types of oil: olive, coconut, and argan. We would apply olive oil for the first three days, coconut for the next three, and argan for the final three. And we would apply the oil anytime we would normally apply balm. We made sure to take notes after each day, taking care to jot down how much water we drank that day.

We first thought about drinking a set number of glasses of water each day to make sure we controlled more variables, but then we realized that if we wanted to know how oil could fit into our everyday lives, we shouldn't change our normal routines. However, we did want to write down our water intake each day because we knew that our lips might feel drier the days we drank less water and we wanted to make a note of that.

If only we knew how much dryness was in our future ...

Day 1: Olive Oil

Shannon

Approximate glasses of water: 0

Number of times you applied oil throughout the day: 3

The first thing I noticed upon applying for the first time was that I was instantly more aware of all the dry areas on my lips. My lips felt perfectly soft and fine before I put this on, and then suddenly, they felt full of rough spots. Kinda weird!

Colleen

Approximate glasses of water: 4

Number of times you applied oil throughout the day: 3

The first time I applied the oil, I immediately became fixated on how it was just sitting on my lips. I couldn't stop pressing my lips together because the oil felt so heavy. Later that night, I noticed that my lips were extremely dry after my volleyball game. I couldn't tell if it was because we ran a lot more than usual or because of the olive oil. Either way, my bottom lip started almost cracking down the middle around bedtime. My solution? More oil and then bed.

Day 2: Olive Oil

Shannon

Approximate glasses of water: 4

Number of times you applied oil throughout the day: 3

This was better than day one in that I was no longer hyperaware of all the dry bits of skin on my lips, but they also don't feel particularly soft or moisturized? My lips definitely feel more parched than they did before we started this whole experiment, which is a huge surprise and disappointment.

Colleen

Approximate glasses of water: 9

Number of times you applied oil throughout the day: 6

The morning of day two, my lips felt better than they did the night before ... but I'm pretty sure that's only because I stopped applying oil for eight hours while I slept. I decided to double-down on my number of applications this day because my lips felt so awful. The olive oil made them feel hydrated for approximately six minutes, then it was back to desert lips.

I tried to compensate by drinking more water throughout the day, but it didn't seem to help. I've already decided that this experiment was the biggest little mistake of my life. I've never been more aware of my dry lips, and I wear matte lip colors all the time. Not even they are this drying.

Day 3: Olive Oil

Shannon

Approximate glasses of water: 4

Number of times you applied oil throughout the day: 2

Honestly, I'm just ready to give up on this whole thing. My lips feel dry and rough. (Weirdly enough, Colleen says they don't look dry, so maybe that's something?) I feel desperate to go back to regular old Chapstick.

I last applied it at 3 p.m. and have decided I'm done with evoo on my lips, unless it gets there by hitching a ride on some pasta.

Colleen

Approximate glasses of water: 6

Number of times you applied oil throughout the day: 2

I knew I had to apply olive oil for the sake of the experiment today, but I really didn't want to, so I put it off until well after I ate breakfast at my desk. I asked Shannon if my lips looked dry and flaky, and she confirmed that they did. I'm really looking forward to switching to coconut oil. Shannon wants to believe coconut oil will be better because it stays solid in colder temps. I really want to believe it, too.

Day 4: Coconut Oil

Shannon

Approximate glasses of water: 2

Number of times you applied oil throughout the day: 1

So, I totally goofed and put regular Chapstick on my lips today before I remembered that I was supposed to be avoiding it due to the experiment. But to be honest, my lips really needed it after the olive oil disaster. Putting regular lip balm on my lips for the first time in a few days also allowed me to appreciate how long it stayed put. I could still feel it forming a protective coating on my lips several hours later.

Colleen

Approximate glasses of water: 6

Number of times you applied oil throughout the day: 2

I didn't use the coconut oil until 3 p.m. because it's a Saturday, and I was busy all morning. A few hours after applying the oil, I noticed that my lips were still dry and peeling, but not as uncomfortable? That might just be because I'm used to having dry lips now.

At night, my lips stung a bit. Part of my lip started splitting, so I caved and put a dab of Suvana Pawpaw and Honey Balm on the crack to prevent it from bleeding. Thirty seconds later, like a literal monster, I tried to spread the tiny dab of balm from the cracked bit across the rest of my lips. Emotionally I felt better, even though my lips felt about the same.

Day 5: Coconut Oil

Shannon

Approximate glasses of water: 2

Number of times you applied oil throughout the day: 3

My lips felt much better today, probably because of my Chapstick cheat yesterday. I do feel like the coconut oil does a better job of forming a protective coating on my lips than the olive oil did … it's just nowhere near as effective of a barrier as the Chapstick. An hour after applying, I can still feel a tiny amount of the coconut oil on my lips, but not much.

My lips aren't dry or flaky, but they do feel a little overconditioned? They feel almost too soft, as though a gust of wind or a bite of over-salted food is all it would take to make them sting.

Colleen

Approximate glasses of water: 4

Number of times you applied oil throughout the day: 1

Thanks to the pawpaw balm, my lip crack has healed, but I'm pretty gun shy about using oil right now. That's why I applied coconut oil only once today. It hydrated my lips for about 10 minutes, then they started peeling. I'm starting to be really flaky with this challenge, both in terms of my lips and my oil-application consistency.

Day 6: Coconut Oil

Shannon

Approximate glasses of water: 3

Number of times you applied oil throughout the day: 3

Full disclosure: I came down with a major cold over the weekend, and by today (Monday), the skin on my lips and my entire face felt not so nice. I'm not sure how much this will affect the experiment, but I've already used the coconut oil enough to know that it works better than the olive oil.

Colleen

Approximate glasses of water: 5

Number of times you applied oil throughout the day: 2

I only used coconut oil twice today because of how dry my lips were. I've decided that the only good thing about using coconut oil vs. olive oil is that the coconut oil makes me smell tropical and not like I've just spent my whole day in an Italian restaurant. Maybe argan oil is exactly what my lips need! (Hahaha no, I know that's a lie.)

Day 7: Argan Oil

Shannon

Approximate glasses of water: 6

Number of times you applied oil throughout the day: 2

So, of all the oils we're trying, I expected to like argan oil the least. Maybe that's because I've only ever used it as a hair treatment and have never tried using it on my skin. But when I first put it on, I was pleasantly surprised! Right away, I noticed that it feels greasier than both the olive oil and the coconut oil, and it seems to do a good job of coating my lips without immediately absorbing.

(I see from Colleen's notes that she is having a very different experience, so maybe my cold is influencing my opinion!)

After using this once in morning and once in the afternoon, I'm not sure it's done much to moisturize my lips, but my lips do feel much less dry than they did with both the olive and coconut oils. So, maybe?

Colleen

Approximate glasses of water: 5

Number of times you applied oil throughout the day: 4

I put this on well into my morning, about 2.5 hours after I woke up. The argan oil does seem to sink in almost immediately, but my lips don't feel moisturized. Just 25 minutes later, they feel super rough. An hour after that, they're back to feeling dry but not as uncomfortable. Not sure what that's about.

I shot a video at work and was really bummed that the only thing I could have on my lips was argan oil. I had to really buff my lips with a paper towel in the bathroom before going on camera because they were so flaky. I also normally throw on some lipstick if I'm going to be on camera, just to give my lips a little color, but I knew that lipstick would both ruin the experiment and highlight the dryness.

Day 8: Argan Oil

Shannon

Approximate glasses of water: 4

Number of times you applied oil throughout the day: 2

My lips have been feeling better with this than with olive or coconut oil, but there's still no comparison to Chapstick. I just desperately want this to be over now.

Colleen

Approximate glasses of water: 5

Number of times you applied oil throughout the day: 2

Once again, I had a hard time bringing myself to put argan oil on my lips. I knew it was drying me out and not using it just seemed like a better option. I think my lips were happy I skipped volleyball today because they were so dry last week.

I noticed while washing my face at night that my lips had a ring of white around them. It was a lot of dried skin that was hard to remove, even with some gentle scrubbing using water and a soft towel.

Day 9: Argan Oil

Shannon

Approximate glasses of water: 4

Number of times you applied oil throughout the day: 1 (in the morning, before work)

Colleen

Approximate glasses of water: 5

Number of times you applied oil throughout the day: 0

So here's the thing about the last day. I accidentally forgot to bring the oil into work, which means Shannon and I couldn't use it until we got home and by that point, eh. Part of me wonders if my forgetfulness was my subconscious telling me to quit.

At 11:45 that night, I slathered my lips in squalane oil (I know it's another oil, but it's also a component found in sebum, so I figured it would be more beneficial to my lips). But what really helped was then topping the squalane oil with my pawpaw balm and dabbing pure shea butter on top of that to really seal it in. Did I mention my lips were super dry? In the morning, I woke up with significantly more hydrated lips.

Shannon, meanwhile, had started putting Vaseline everywhere to treat her tissue-chapped skin.

Conclusion

Shannon

Not a single one of these oils was an effective replacement for good old-fashioned lip balm. This experiment made me realize that I really rely on balm, not just as a moisturizer, but as a protective barrier ointment, and none of these oils provided that to me in the least.

Colleen

Never again. My lips were so dry and flaky and tight, and I hated everything. That's why I don't recommend using oils as a lip balm replacement.

In the future, I'll only use oils on my lips if I'm topping them with a thick barrier, like Vaseline or Aquaphor or pawpaw balm. Or if I've DIYed some homemade sugar lip scrubs. And even then I'll put something on my lips afterward. 

RELATED READS:

16 Coconut Oil Uses You Might Not Have Heard Of

You can throw it in a saute or use it on your face. You can stir it in your tea or put it on your scraped knee.

4 Lip Balms, 16 Days, 10 Sets of Lips: The Panic to Find the Best Lip Balm Before Winter Hits

We put four popular lip balms to the test in order to find the best one before winter hits.