What causes the Ferulic acid to smell like hot dog water?Updated a year ago
The thing is, while ferulic acid is able to prevent the oxidation of vitamin C, it’s not all that stable otherwise. Unless it is specially encapsulated, ferulic acid degrades very quickly, and once oxidized, it smells off.
You know what water smells like after you’ve used it to boil hot dogs? Yeah, it’s just like that.
Unfortunately, consumers are often misled and told that the smell is natural and attributed to fresh ingredients that are still active. Sometimes, they’re told that the smell is a combination of multiple ingredients.
Not only is this not true at all, but it’s also very problematic! Scent is one of the best ways for us to determine whether skincare has gone rancid. When vitamin C oxidizes, it puts out a sharp, metallic smell. With vitamin C and ferulic acid serums, the ferulic acid makes it so you can't tell how oxidized your vitamin C is!
As a result, we suspect that thousands of people out there are using oxidized vitamin C serums that aren’t doing their skin any favors.