# Should I care if Play-Doh freezes?
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-i-care-if-play-doh-freezes/606894
**Category:** Factual Questions
**Created:** [December 20, 2011, 10:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-i-care-if-play-doh-freezes/606894 "2011-12-20T22:29:00Z")
**Posts on this page:** 7
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@boytyperanma](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/boytyperanma)
#### Post date: [December 20, 2011, 10:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-i-care-if-play-doh-freezes/606894/1 "2011-12-20T22:29:00Z")
Included in my shopping was some Play-Doh for me niece. I was going to let it float around my truck till I go around to wrapping it. It is below freezing however. It’ll certainly have time to thaw before she receives it.
Just wanted to check if freezing causes permanent damage to it.
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### Author:  [@dolphinboy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dolphinboy)
#### Post date: [December 20, 2011, 10:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-i-care-if-play-doh-freezes/606894/2 "2011-12-20T22:30:01Z")
Sounds like an experiment is in order!
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### Author:  [@BigT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BigT)
#### Post date: [December 20, 2011, 10:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-i-care-if-play-doh-freezes/606894/3 "2011-12-20T22:40:45Z")
Here’s Yahoo’s answer: [Yahoo | Mail, Weather, Search, Politics, News, Finance, Sports & Videos](http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20081201162712AAVgqID)
Ordinarily I wouldn’t trust those people, but when the answer can be found using anecdotes, they usually aren’t wrong. If some of them have problems, then I would say it’s probably not a good idea, even if you can recover it using water.
My experience with Play Doh recovery is that it’s never as good as when you first got it.
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### Author:  [@VOW](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/VOW)
#### Post date: [December 20, 2011, 11:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-i-care-if-play-doh-freezes/606894/4 "2011-12-20T23:42:55Z")
This is a WAG, but I’d figure since Play-Doh has coloring, and frozen stuff when it thaws usually shows condensation, that the thawed out Doh would be somewhat of a drippy, colored mess. You COULD roll it around on a pad of paper towels and try to absorb the wetness, but it doesn’t seem like that would be one of Life’s Enjoyable Experiences.
~VOW
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### Author:  [@VernWinterbottom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/VernWinterbottom)
#### Post date: [December 21, 2011, 12:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-i-care-if-play-doh-freezes/606894/5 "2011-12-21T00:44:34Z")
Play Doh is really dough, made of flour, water, salt and a bit of kerosene. I don’t see how freezing it would be any more harmful than freezing any other kind of dough.
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### Author:  [@VOW](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/VOW)
#### Post date: [December 21, 2011, 2:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-i-care-if-play-doh-freezes/606894/6 "2011-12-21T02:26:07Z")
To VernWinterbottom:
The recipe I’ve used for Play-Doh is water, salt, flour and vegetable oil. The commercial Play-Doh is advertised as non-toxic, and I’d think that kerosene would make it toxic.
~VOW
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### Author:  [@VernWinterbottom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/VernWinterbottom)
#### Post date: [December 22, 2011, 2:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-i-care-if-play-doh-freezes/606894/7 "2011-12-22T02:54:50Z")
Hasbro says it’s “primarily” flour, salt and water. The kerosene I read about either from Cecil or one of his competitors in the “Big Secrets” genre. It’s a small amount, to prevent mold, and it gives Play Doh its unique smell, from what I recall.
A website that published a history of Play-Doh states, “However, it is known to contain, among other things, wheat flour, water, salt, and some sort of petroleum distillate.” [History of Play-Doh](http://www.failedsuccess.com/index.php?/weblog/comments/playdoh_history)
You can Google Play-Doh and kerosene for more cites.