Well I can eat and drink and shower without sensitive, white or inflamed lips, they are not painful at all. During that 1.5 months I tried my best not to peel but after a visit to my dentist or occasionally after showering some parts would come off. I never manually forced it to peel though. Every time it peeled, the skin underneath looked less raw so it gave me hope to stick with it. I will consider not applying anything once the weather gets warmer though, right now its so cold and dry that even my face is peeling :)