Don’t Panic But: How Bad Is Expired Oil & Serum For Your Face?
We get it. You still cherish and love all of the delicious face oils and serums you accumulated in your 20’s and 30’s. But sometimes you come across a questionable-looking cloudy bottle with some rosehip oil inside that you can’t quite remember where or when you bought it – only that may have been purchased during the Obama administration.
We all have that one abuelita who kept that one frasco de crema in her closet for 17 years and only used it on special occasions – but oils and serums are very different than cremas.
Due to the fact that many of these oils (not all) are organic and more natural than creams, they don’t stay fresh as long, and may do more harm than good if you continue to use them past their expiration date.
The general rule is that you should beware of serums like Vitamin C or Rosehip or Marakuja that are older than one year old. They get rancid and the consistency and smell may be off. It likely won’t hurt your skin, but it may have lost a lot of the nutritional benefits that it originally started out with and so by now, it will be pretty useless to lather on your face.
So go through your cabinet this weekend and chuck anything that’s been around since you got your first media internship and learned how to use MySpace. Your skin will thank you – and us for reminding you.
