Yes, This Viral Beauty Hack Will Get Your Skincare Past TSA—but Dermatologists Say It’s a Bad Idea

Lately, getting by airport safety virtually requires expert-level consideration. Ought to I take off my sneakers? Laptop computer in or out? How about these batteries? And relating to liquids, you need to know, nothing over 3.4 ounces is getting by them … or is it? Over the previous couple of months, a social media pattern has emerged, with vacationers boasting about how they bested the TSA brokers with their magnificence merchandise by freezing them earlier than heading to the airport.

“I actually, actually hope this works as a result of I really like this cleaning balm,” TikToker Discovering Fiona shared earlier than placing her frozen Elemis balm by the belt. A second later, it got here by, with Fiona remarking, “I can not consider that labored.” 

She even repeated the experiment with the identical final result with a shampoo bottle.

And actually, social media stars like Fiona aren’t unsuitable. Because the TSA’s web site explains, “Frozen liquid objects are allowed by the checkpoint so long as they’re frozen stable when introduced for screening.” Nonetheless, it importantly famous, “If frozen liquid objects are partially melted, slushy, or have any liquid on the backside of the container, they need to meet 3-1-1 liquids necessities.” 

So, sure, you possibly can technically do that, however must you? 

“From my perspective as a dermatologist, freezing most skincare merchandise is mostly a foul concept,” Dr. Hannah Kopelman, who’s accomplished two medical fellowships in dermatology from Columbia College and pores and skin most cancers from Boston College, informed Journey + Leisure. “The energetic substances in skincare—issues like retinol, vitamin C, peptides, and even sunscreens—are extremely delicate to temperature adjustments.” 

Kopelman defined that while you freeze them, the system can “separate or degrade, that means the product received’t be as efficient while you apply it later. Freezing can even alter the feel, making lotions grainy or serums watery, which may have an effect on each utility and absorption.” 

Melanie Abeyta, an aesthetic nurse practitioner and proprietor of Concord Aesthetics Middle in Los Angeles, agreed, including that “lotions, serums, and emulsions could lose their texture, efficacy, or stability after freezing … moreover, repeated freezing and thawing can compromise the packaging and trigger leakage or contamination.” 

Nonetheless, not all hope is misplaced when you’re trying to get a number of merchandise by TSA. In response to Dr. Louie Kim, a beauty chemist, sure merchandise can “generally face up to freezing,” usually these which are “largely stable or anhydrous (water-free), like sure oil balms, stable cleansers, or wax-based merchandise.” In response to Kim, these merchandise do not type ice crystals as a result of “there isn’t a water in them, and which means they’re much much less susceptible to freezing and thawing.” 

Kopelman added that some merchandise, like petroleum jelly, can often face up to a freeze-thaw cycle with out dropping their integrity. “Sheet masks, in the event that they’re simply soaked in a hydrating essence, usually do effective as nicely,” she famous. “That mentioned, I wouldn’t suggest routinely freezing skincare—it’s a lot safer to stay to travel-sized variations or switch your merchandise into TSA-approved containers so the system stays secure and efficient.” 

Kim additionally caveated the freezing recommendation by saying that “regardless that freezing will not destroy anhydrous formulations, it’s doable that their texture can change. Some pure oils, akin to shea butter and coconut oil, can change into barely gritty in texture when cooled. Within the strategy of freezing and thawing, the antioxidant properties within the oil can flip unhealthy as nicely.”

The most secure method, Kim mentioned, is to “use minis or switch your product into TSA-approved containers as a substitute of counting on freezing.”