This is the surprising reason your lips might be constantly sore and chapped… and it’s nothing to do with the cold

DRY lips are a common curse in the winter months and getting to the bottom of the problem can be tricky.

Is it the cold air or the central heating? Are you drinking enough water? That new  lipstick you’ve been using?

Well one dry-lipped Reddit user may have stumbled across the real reason for your permanently flaky pout – it could be your toothpaste.

Writing in a post Reddit user, dannelinflannel explained  "Chapped lips have been the bane of my existence since my childhood. I was a chronic Chapstick user and nothing I did seemed to make it better."

But, after experimenting with a number of different beauty products, they had a breakthrough after swapping their normal toothpaste for an alternative product made for sensitive teeth.

"I picked up a travel size Sensodyne ProNamel (because let's face it changing toothpastes is a big decision) and switched to using just a thin layer of Vaseline on my lips twice a day," they wrote.

"Oh my god – the difference it has made in just a week, and it's the middle of a pretty cold winter here!"

Toothpaste is  made of strong ingredients to keep your teeth clean but it could be irritating your lips.

Toothpastes consist of flavourings, preservatives, colouring agents, abrasives, detergents, binding agents, humectants, antiseptics, antacids and fluoride salts so it's likely one of these could be causing a reaction.

Some toothpaste ingredients have been known to leave lips flaky, and people may develop hypersensitivity to their toothpaste that leads to a chapped appearance.

One of the most common irritants can be foaming agent sodium laureth sulfate, which is not found in the sensitive toothpaste brand used by Reddit user dannelinflannel.