"Mommy, your lips are too scratchy!"

Those five words from my daughter stopped me cold. She pulled away when I tried to kiss her goodnight, turning her face to avoid my lips.

I laughed it off in the moment and made a joke. But inside, I felt awful.

There's something painful about your own child finding your kiss uncomfortable. It stung more than I expected.

I remember going into the bathroom that night and taking a real look in the mirror. My lips were cracked, peeling at the corners, and honestly kind of painful.

Maybe it wasn't just my daughter noticing. Maybe my husband had been quietly thinking the same thing too.

That night, I decided enough was enough. I needed to do something.

So I started researching all kinds of chapsticks - the drugstore brands everyone knows, specialty ones from Amazon, natural ones, medicated ones, you name it.

I read their reviews and bought a few that had decent ratings.

But they were all kind of disappointing.

Most of them moisturized for about an hour. Then my lips would be dry again. It was this endless cycle all day long.

The ones with SPF either tasted like sunscreen or left that weird white cast on my lips.

I'd be mid-conversation and wonder if the person was staring at my white lips.

None of them actually fixed the underlying problem.

I realized I didn't just want a temporary solution. I needed something that would actually work - something that would heal my lips, protect them from the sun, and feel good without making me feel like I'd coated my mouth in chemicals.