Oxidized Avocado on skin

September 18, 2010 4:56 PM

How will oxidized avocado paste effect your facial skin?

I keep the fresh avocado paste in friz and yet it gets oxidized. Can I still use it?

posted by page123 to food & drink (5 answers total)

It will make your facial skin temporarily brownish-green and greasy.
Yes.
posted by neuron at 5:25 PM on September 18, 2010

If by oxidised you mean "exposed to air", then I got some real bad news for you - when that stuff goes on your face, it's getting oxidised there, too.

I posit that oxidised avo paste will do much the same as non-oxidised; i.e. not much beyond moisturising due to the oil in avocado - which the air wouldn't affect one way or another.
posted by smoke at 5:30 PM on September 18, 2010

It probably won't make much of a difference. To keep your avocado from getting oxidized in the future, rub a lemon or a lime over the surface that's exposed to air, and wrap it really tightly with plastic wrap. If it's like, a tub of paste, a layer of lemon juice on top will probably do the trick, plus a tight fitting lid.
posted by Mizu at 5:45 PM on September 18, 2010

I would think that as it's oxidizing, it's diminishing in its "antioxidant" properties as well, if that's what you're using it for. To what degree, I have no idea, but if it's visible, I'd assume it's large by that point. But that's just my logic working, so I may be wrong. And if you're simply using it for a moisturizing purpose, I don't think it makes a difference.

On another note, it's generally not a great idea to apply food products to the skin, contrary to what so many beauty magazines advise. They can become breeding grounds for bacteria, as I twice learned the hard way. Once, I applied cornstarch to my face in lieu of powder and suffered the most painful and long lasting (cystic) breakout of my life (and I'd never had a cystic pimple before that occasion), and another time I applied cream to my hair and foolishly bungled the instructions to rinse it out after a certain amount of time. I was watching a movie while letting my hair "soak in the nutrients" and kept asking my boyfriend "What smells?" only to then realize, to my horror, it was ME! It took 6-7 washings to remove the putrid smell from my hair. So suffice it to say, I've put an end to food concoctions in my beauty regime.
posted by LillyBird at 9:28 PM on September 18, 2010

Thank you for these great tips of how natural fruit is not all that safe (byLillyBird) and how to preserve it better by Mizu. I do agree with Smoke that oil in Avocado should not be affected by oxidization but what about the antioxidants as pointed out by LillyBird. Thank you all.
posted by page123 at 8:05 AM on September 19, 2010