Refrigerating skin care products

[MrsV0418]

What skin care products are you supposed to refrigerate?

MILK MAKEUP Sunshine Vitamin C + Squalane Face Oil 0.54 oz/ 16 mL & FaceGym Youth Reformer Firming Vitamin C Oil Serum 1 oz/ 30 mL  - Both contain vitamin C, which is recommended to be stored in the fridge, but they are oils - not recommended. How do you know? They're not in brown glass, so keep out?

How about:

The INKEY List Tranexamic Acid Hyperpigmentation Treatment 1 oz/ 30 mL - I read tranexamic acid should not be(?)

Tatcha The Water Cream Oil-Free Pore Minimizing Moisturizer 1.7 oz / 50 mL - I currently have this in the fridge as it is water based and the cooling effect is supposed to help with puffiness.

Peter Thomas Roth Water Drench® Hyaluronic Cloud Cream Hydrating Moisturizer  - I've read anything with SPF to store in the fridge but again, isn't this oil based?

Aside from my Tatcha moisturizer - SEPHORA COLLECTION Firming Eye Cream with Peptides 0.67 oz/ 20 mL, a few single packaged face masks, gua sha, rose quartz roller and some lip gloss are residing in there.  

Thoughts please? Anything helps! I've been googling these for hours but there's a lot of conflicting information out there.

Also, this is a mini makeup fridge not my actual refrigerator if that makes a difference so there are 3 settings: cool, warm & off 🙂

Thank you! ❤️

[haolewahine]

I refrigerate all my skincare products.  I have a mini-fridge solely for skincare.  There is NOTHING better that applying cold serums, creams & body treatment products on this mid-50’s menopausal body!

[WinglessOne]

@MrsV0418  You don’t have to keep any of those in the fridge. 

Sone folks keep vitamin C serums refrigerated to try keeping that ingredient from breaking down. This only applies to ascorbic acid (vitamin C’s pure form), not any derivatives like 3-O-ethyl ascorbic acid, sodium ascorbyl phosphate, tetrahexyldecyl ascorbate, etc. Derivatives are far more stable than ascorbic acid. I don’t know off-hand the efficacy of fridging ascorbic acid to extend its lifetime (eh, keep it from going off). There’s no rule that all ascorbic acid serums must be kept cold. If the label of your serum advises refrigeration, then it’s best to do it. 

Some oils can be refrigerated. That’s true of cooking oils, too. Some may get cloudy in the fridge, but that’s probably just a cosmetic change, not a formulation breakdown. Again, you don’t have to fridge facial oils. But it might extend their life. 

Products that are “all natural” and use little or no preservatives should be refrigerated unless you know you’ll use them up quickly. Preservatives keep mold and bacteria out of products. Without those, well… a fridge’s cold temp can slow down mold growth, but won’t stop it. (Food still gets moldy if left too long in the fridge.) 

I keep eye patches, a few sheet masks, aloe vera gel, and a facial roller in my kitchen fridge. Chilled items can reduce inflammation (my skin’s reactive/inflammation-prone). You can keep eye cream in the fridge for the same reason if you want, as long as the label or brand doesn’t advise against it. 

I’ve never heard that anything with SPF should be refrigerated, and I highly doubt that’s true. Sunscreen should be kept out of heat, which is why brands advise against leaving a tube of sunscreen in a car on a hot day or in an unshaded tote bag on the beach. But they don’t need to be fridged. 

[MrsV0418]

Thank you that’s very helpful. I’ve had the makeup fridge and it’s just been sitting there so I finally decided to use it and Google was very confusing. I think I’ll stick to keeping just my rollers and masks in it. Do you think the moisturizer would go bad if I took it out? That’s another thing I read- that the products would spoil if the temp changed..

[WinglessOne]

@MrsV0418  Quick BIC tip: remember to @ the person you reply to so they'll get a notification. Otherwise they might never see your reply. 🙂 

Where are you reading about all of this? There's a lot of misinformation floating around the interwebs, including popular magazine articles. Your most reliable resources are: 

• Brands that make your products; example: you could contact Tatcha and PTR to ask if temperature changes—like taking moisturizer out of the fridge—will affect the product, and ask if it's necessary to keep it in the fridge at all 
• Your primary care doctor and/or your dermatologist 
• A cosmetic chemist, if you happen to know one; if you don't, some reliable chemists online are Michelle Wong of Lab Muffin, Esther Olu of TheMelaninChemist, and Stephen Ko of KindofStephen, among others 
• An ingredient database that explains benefits and issues: my personal favorite is INCIdecoder, but you can also try the Paula's Choice Ingredient Dictionary; I absolutely do not recommend EWG as a resource for anything, as they do more "clean beauty" type fear mongering than science-based fact finding. 

I don't think your moisturizers will go bad if you take 'em out of the fridge. It's not a drastic temp change (unless your room temp is very hot and humid). 

[CynthieLu]

Hi @MrsV0418  I think storing the products in the fridge might stretch thier shelf life *and for some lotions,  feel really nice and chilling on the face* unless the product directly says on the package what temperature to store it at,  I would assume room temperature is just fine.

Yeah oxygen can degrade vitamin C and the fridge can slow it down, I would read your packaging and see what the company recommends. 🙂

[MrsV0418]

Thank you! I couldn’t really find anything about storing these products in the descriptions, only that they didn’t need refrigeration.

I had the refrigerator (impulse buy) and wanted to use it but wasn’t sure what should go in it, there were mixed reviews about cooling and extending the vitamin C life..so I figured I’d get the best answers here 🙂

I think I’ll stick to keeping my roller, masks and gua sha in it.