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Any products out there that can keep the lips moist, preferably something not sticky.

Dried out lips really bring down my playing, even with a proper warm-up I can't seem to get them to respond like they should..

Tim, I can't think of anything I'd apply to my lips immediately before playing (apart from good old saliva, which has a drying effect when it's not wetting, but is the perfect thing for keeping the lips wet while playing), but for lip maintenance when I'm not playing (which in my condition of life is, unfortunately, most of the day), I use ChopSaver. There are, of course, plenty of lip moisturisers on the market, but ChopSaver is formulated by and for musicians, and consists (apparently) of natural ingredients (apart from the sunscreens in ChopSaver Gold). There's also a product called Musician's Lip Butter, which makes similar claims and moreover that it leaves no sticky or waxy residue (it certainly isn't strong on residue, but I find it a bit strong on flavour). Apparently some of the more synthetic lip moisturisers can be potentially drying and habit-forming (although you'll want to form a habit with a natural one). I find that application morning and evening and once or twice during the day (if necessary) is perfect to keep my lips from drying and cracking. You might need to use it a bit more frequently at first if you have dry and cracked lips to start with.

And don't lick your lips to 'moisten' them when you're not needing to wet them for playing. Moisturising of skin is done with fats and oils. Mere wetting doesn't help, and can harm.

The best product I have found is Neutrogena norwegian formula lip moisturiser. As well as giving superb protection in cold weather it is SPF20. There is a slight residue, but it seems OK to apply it up to 20 minutes before playing.

Licking the lips is not advisable at any time as you remove the body's natural moisturiser, sebum. You can train yourself to not lick your lips under any circumstances by eating doughnuts with a lot of sugar on the outside whilst concentrating hard. After a time, no special effort will be required.

....... and if the sugared doughnuts don't work in stopping you licking your lips, at least you'll fit in with the bulk of the population !

Hi Tim,

In my experience nothing beats water for keeping the lips moist. Not splashing it on your lips, but drinking it in generous amounts, preferably in its pure form.
Most of the creams, balms or potions for the lips are addictive to a degree (especially stay away from Blistex!). If you manage to go cold turkey and not lick your lips, smear anything on them or otherwise pay attention to them for a few weeks, and drink plenty of water, you'll probably only need to use something when you're outside on an especially dry freezing winter day.
After a few years of lip balm addiction during my studies I've now got a positively ancient stick of Weleda lip balm living in my winter coat which only sees daylight a few minutes each year.

Yes, lip balms are addictive - seem to stop the lips doing what they do fine on their own most of the time. I've heard butter is what horn players used to use before we became lucky enough to be able to spend our money on special addictive grease that has no food value. Also butter is quite nice with toast underneath it. You can't say the same for any of those pharmaceuticals.

The great French trumpeter Maurice André in a magazine interview some years ago said that he massaged his lips every night before bed, with BUTTER, a 'natural source of Vitamin E'.
Presumably the unsalted variety (?) as salt would cause swelling.

In my experience, all lip balms are indeed addictive. They seem to substitute the natural process of moisturisation. In my younger years I was hooked for years and each time I tried to stop using balms my lips would chap and crack making horn playing impossible. Eventually, I managed to kick the habit (very like the analogy used above of resisting licking sugar from your lips when eating a doughnut), and was able to resist temptation to use them whenever my lips dried, until recently that is. My lips were dry and slightly chapped, so I decided to try one of the natural lip balms now available, thinking the problem I previously experienced may have been down to synthetic chemicals. The natural balm gave immediate relief, and made playing more comfortable that day, But the old cycle returned, and whenever I tried to lay off the balm my lips dried and chapped. Also, more painfully this time around, the corners of my lips cracked. After a couple of weeks of cold turkey my lips are back to normal and the cracks have healed. So, lesson learned, I will not use balms again and will just tolerate a little dryness from time to time and trust in the body's natural processes to take care of the situation.

I agree with Adam on this. I used to get cracks in the corners of my mouth in the cold and dry weather but have always avoided lip balms etc. Something which people forget is to keep the mouthpiece washed clean and also to wash around your mouth after eating when possible. Our own bacteria can sometimes make the cracks worse and this is easy to avoid. Just common sense hygiene.