how to stay cool

Refrigerate Your Moisturizers

A woman looking for her refrigerated moisturizers. Photo: Carina Knig/EyeEm/Getty Images

“Wise men don’t need advice,” Ben Franklin said. “Fools won’t take it.” With apologies to Ben Franklin and to you, I must admit I have some advice to give. Please listen carefully and with an open mind, and with a heart ready to give thanks and praise to me, Kelly, the woman who dared give you advice even after reading a quote against advice that she found after searching “quotes about advice” on Google.com: Put your moisturizers in the fridge.

Moisturizers — and facial sprays, and eye serums, and sheet masks, and eye masks, and wet cloths for placing on your neck — that are stored in the fridge feel good when you put them on. Yes? They’re cool, refreshing, and perfect for the hot summer months in which we are currently living. Slather on a cold body moisturizer, dab a cool eye cream around your eye socket. Spritz your face with a cool, calming mist. Partake in any product-related verb you want. Putting your stuff in the fridge is a good idea that you should do, because why not? Do it now, or do it later if you’re currently away from home.

Whether the lives of your products will lengthen due to their coldness is something you can look into on your own time, see what I care, but I did reach out to beloved skin-care line Drunk Elephant whose rep noted that the brand says it is “not necessary” to refrigerate their products. (A popular theory is that their C-Firma Day Serum lasts longer in the fridge, and Drunk Elephant itself notes, “After first use, may be stored in the refrigerator to help maintain its potent antioxidant activity and effectiveness.” Another popular theory, however, is that their bottle is opaque enough to render this unnecessary. Like with the existence of ghosts or love, you may choose what you believe.)

Nicole Darmanin, a rep for also-beloved skin-care line Mario Badescu, warned me via email to, I’m paraphrasing, make sure refrigeration is not gonna fuck up the thing you’re putting in there. “Just as some baked goods should be refrigerated and others are best kept at room temperature,” she said, “the chemistry of some products is such that the texture may be altered if stored at lower temperatures.” Noted. She did say that Mario Badescu facial sprays work well refrigerated, and added, “Another Mario Badescu product that feels great when refrigerated is the Ceramide Eye Gel.” I bet!

I asked about the facial spray because my favorite refrigerated constant is Mario Badescu’s “facial spray with aloe, herbs, and rosewater” (which I recommend highly along with Heritage Store’s Rosewater and Glycerin spray and the rosewater spray you can buy at Trader Joe’s). Oh my goodness. Oh, my joy. It is a true treat to wake up on a hot morning and spritz yourself in the face with cold rosewater, I cannot possibly explain it to you through the medium of blogging; you must experience it yourself. To grab something from the fridge and, hey, while you’re there, why not give yourself a cold rosewater spritz? A dream. A small piece of happiness. A cool, wet face or body. A rose smell for approximately nine seconds.

It feels good. Put your moisturizers and rosewater spray in the fridge, in my opinion.

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Refrigerate Your Moisturizers