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My sister’s refrigerator was its own peculiar chill closet of mystery, in that other than the odd opened tin of cat food and a quart of skim milk, it generally contained little other than batteries, bottles of nail polish, and unopened packages of pantyhose. The cat food and the skim milk both I (and her cat) understood. But what to make of the other three items? When questioned, she replied keeping batteries in the refrigerator helped them not lose their charge nearly as rapidly, thereby making them last longer. Refrigerating nail polish, she said, kept it from getting clumpy. As for the pantyhose (and here she looked at me like I was a complete fool for not knowing this), refrigerating brand new pairs made the stockings far less likely to develop runs when they were worn. (It’s left to the reader to imagine her response to my reply that sliding into a freshly-chilled pair of pantyhose must certainly add excitement to her morning.) As to what to make of all this icebox wisdom, let’s start with the notion that chilling one’s batteries will make them last longer. Contrary to popular belief, it is not a good idea to store batteries in a refrigerator. It does not prolong their life, and the condensation when you take the batteries out can actually damage them. Says Duracell about this belief: As does Energizer: Many nail polish aficionados swear that keeping their fingernail paint in the refrigerator renders the liquid a little thinner and easier to use, and indeed advice to refrigerate one’s bottles of nail polish has been repeated in numerous newspaper household hints columns. However, some who have tried this tip assert the polish is afterwards thicker and harder to apply, so the jury is still out on this one. There is clear-cut agreement on the topic of keeping bottles of nail polish tightly capped when not in use. Air is the enemy of nail polish, rendering the liquid thicker and more difficult to apply. Therefore, to extend the life of one’s polish, even when waiting for one coat to dry before putting on another, recap the bottle tightly. Those who swear by the refrigerate pantyhose to toughen them practice say it makes the fibers in these articles of clothing resistant to forming runs, and indeed some have said pre-chilled hose will last twice as long. (Then again, there have been those who recommend soaking pantyhose in a solution of salt water for several hours to make the fibers stronger.) Here's another example of the claim: Before everyone starts chucking their pantyhose in on top of the frozen fish sticks, it needs be pointed out this advice about using extreme cold to toughen fibers comes from decades ago. Hosiery, like so much else, has advanced with the times. Even if this did work for the pantyhose of 30 years ago, it might not have any effect now. As to what the experts actually do recommend, the Hosiery Association provides this advice on preventing runs: So, in a nutshell, don’t refrigerate batteries, but maybe put the chill to nail polish and pantyhose.
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