We buy endless amounts of products in the hopes that they will solve all of our beauty woes (or at least help enhance our natural features). But many of these products come in liquid form and contain active ingredients to treat our skin and hair—making the bathroom the worst place to store them due to the high levels of heat and humidity that stays trapped in there.
“The damp, warm environment of the bathroom can be an ideal place for microbes to grow,” says Kao Brands cosmetic chemist Kelly Dobos. Meaning that many of your cosmetics like creams, serums and hair products could breed unwanted germs that can be harmful to your skin and hair, or even harmful to the actual products.
Dobos adds that, “functional ingredients, especially retinoids, in anti-aging products are often difficult to stabilize and shouldn’t be exposed to heat and light.” The same goes for sunscreens. Leaving them in the bathroom could potentially make them less effective over time (which we never want).
The best place to keep cosmetics is in a cool, dry place (think your closet or a pantry) where they won’t be exposed to heat, light or moisture. And if there are products that you really have to keep in the bathroom, like shampoo and conditioner in the shower, Dobos says to, “be sure the containers are sealed well or have pumps so that the product isn’t exposed to contamination.”
