Welcome to your skin check-in with Life & Style’s resident health and beauty expert, Dr. Will Kirby, a celebrity dermatologist and Chief Medical Officer of LaserAway. Every week, he’ll be spilling his candid thoughts and professional advice on all things skin, beauty and wellness as it relates to you — and your favorite stars.

First popularized in South Korea, skincare fridges have officially arrived — and Americans are obsessed with them! Also known as beauty fridges or mini-fridges, as the name implies, skincare fridges are tiny refrigerators perfectly organized with skincare products that are all the rage on social media videos. So, your friends, your frenemies and the influencers you follow are all using skincare fridges … and you are wondering if you need one, too.

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First off, if a skincare product doesn’t specifically state that it needs to be refrigerated then you absolutely don’t have to refrigerate it. But, you might be able to prolong the life of some of your favorite products. And to be more specific, there are really three categories of skincare products that can be effectively refrigerated:

1) Hydroquinone-based products:

These skin lightening formulations are notoriously unstable and may maintain their effectiveness longer by keeping them cooler. Hydroquinones are used for dark spots, melasma and uneven skin tone and are the single best product category to keep in a fridge.

2) Sheet Masks:

Recovery masks soothe the skin and keeping them stored in a chilled environment makes a lot of sense. See, masks kept at cold temperatures help with de-puffing swollen skin and relieving inflammation. 

3) Retinols:

Every dermatologist will tell you that a retinol is an imperative part of a quality skincare routine and keeping your retinol product in a fridge is a consideration, as these products can lose their effectiveness over time in normal room temperatures. 

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But it doesn’t stop with just skincare products! Skin tools like metal cream applicators or skin rollers can benefit the skin by being applied at a cooler temperature too!

All that said, skincare fridges are a luxury, not a necessity. You unequivocally don’t need one to store your skincare products in a mini-fridge. In fact, just discarding products before the expiration date, keeping them out of direct sunlight and avoiding exposure to excess heat is all you really have to do to maintain their effectiveness. 

 So, just chill on the skincare fridges altogether or walk to the kitchen and store your products in your regular refrigerator!