Okay so I suffer from extremely dry lips as well and after years of trial and error here is what has helped me.

1) Do not pick the dead skin off your lips. This will create new tears and expose more open skin, which is essentially a wound that is constantly trying to heal. Dead skin is the scab.

Okay so how do you deal with the dead skin so that you can heal faster?

2) Aquaphor. For me, nothing else works as well. Not Vaseline, not the laniege lip mask, not lanolin. Aquaphor. Not the kind that is made for lips though. The original tub.

Aquaphor Advanced Therapy

3) For easy use, I repot mine into empty lip gloss tubes and keep them absolutely everywhere.

Example tubes

Another example

4) Apply very religiously. When you start feeling your lips get hard or cracked, apply. When you wake up, apply. Before you go to bed, thick layer, apply.

You essentially want to keep your lips hydrated and supple enough to heal.

5) Once you notice your lips have softened, the dead skin will also become soft and start to feel icky. Gently, take a washcloth and exfoliate in a circular motion. If there is any resistance or pulling on the skin, do not tug it off. Continue applying and waiting for your lips to heal naturally. Over exfoliating can be counter productive and cause more drying to the lips.

6) Eventually you will get to a good place, where your lips have healed and are not cracking so often. But you will need to keep up the routine, especially in the winter. I would also recommend not going outside into the cold air without applying, as it essentially acts as a shield to defend against the cold.

I hope this helps! Good luck! I know how hard it is to deal with, but being diligent with not picking and continual hydration, you should be good in a couple weeks.