Fact-finding Studies to Discover More About the Lips – Changes in Lip Color and Shape with Aging

Skin Science

It is common knowledge that the lips occupy only a small part of the entire face but strongly influence the impressions of our face and apparent age. Dryness and peeling, which are major problems with the lips, decrease after peaking in the 30s, whereas problems with lip color (dullness) and shape (loss of fullness and vaguely defined contours) increase with age.
Kao is conducting detailed studies on lip color and shape to meet customers’ needs and working on the development of makeup products, including lipsticks, that make lips look ideal.

Changes in Lip Color

We conducted a study on lip color targeting a total of 85 Japanese women of different age groups, from their 20s to 70s (approx. 15 women in each age group).
By grouping lip colors, we found that lip colors can be divided roughly into four types, namely pink (reddish and bright), pale (no redness), purple (low chromatic), and brown (dark).
The occurrence ratio of the three color types of pink, pale, and purple depends on the age group, while there is a certain number of those classified into the brown type in all the age groups.

Figure: A total of 85 Japanese women of different age groups, from their 20s to 70s, consisting of approx. 15 women in each age group, were classified into the four lip color types of pink, pale, purple, and brown. The composition ratios of the four types for all the age groups are shown in bar graphs. The ratio of pink decreases with age, whereas the ratio of purple increases with age. The graphs show that there is a certain number of those classified into the brown type in all the age groups.

Changes in Lip Shape

We conducted another study on lip shape targeting a total of 139 Japanese women of different age groups, from their teens to 70s (approx. 20 women in each age group), and found that lip shape changes with age.
The study results showed that the vertical lip widths (thicknesses) decrease with age. On the other hand, we found that the lateral widths increase with age and the lower lips look less full when viewed from the side.
We also found that the areas above the lips (the lengths between the upper lip and the nose) become longer with age.

Figure: Photographs of typical lips of women in their teens, 30s, 50s and 70s. A photo taken from the front and another taken from the side is arranged for each age group, showing that the vertical width of the lips decreases with age and the lateral width increases with age. With age, the lower lip looks less full when viewed from the side. The length between the upper lip and the nose becomes longer.

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