Sunscreen: If you have a bottle of sunscreen left over from last summer, you might want to toss it. Over time, sunscreen breaks down (a process that can be sped up with exposure to direct sunlight and too much heat), and most bottles are labeled with an expiration date. If your bottle has no date, the Mayo Clinic recommends that you trash it after three years.
Bug repellent: According to Sawyer, the company behind our top-pick bug repellent, a bottle should be fine to use for about three years, and then you should retire it. If you use a bottle of repellent after three years, it won’t harm you, but you’ll probably find it to be less effective at repelling bugs and keeping you bite-free.
Mascara: A 2008 study conducted over three months found that germs and microbes can fester inside a mascara tube over time, and it concluded that mascara should be replaced every three months (this may be where the common advice of a three-month replacement period originated). However, your mascara may be able to last longer.
At the bottom of your mascara tube, you may see a number and a capital M (such as “3M” or “12M”); this is known as the “period after opening” (PAO) symbol, and it indicates how many months your product should be good for after you open it. You should follow the advice of this symbol. If your mascara gets dry and flaky before the time advised by the PAO symbol, you may want to replace it sooner.
With its buildable formula and fluffy bristle brush, this mascara accentuates the depth and length of lashes—without giving them a heavy or gunked-up look.
At-home COVID-19 tests: The FDA initially authorized at-home COVID-19 tests to have expiration dates of about four to six months. Portions of the test can degrade over time, so you might get inaccurate results. Therefore it’s best to avoid using a test past its expiration date. If your tests are expired, consult this FDA list, which notes extended expiration dates for certain manufacturers, or check the manufacturer’s website for more information.
First-aid kit essentials: While a first-aid kit may seem like a “set it and forget it” kind of thing, items in the kit need to be kept up to date. Bandages can’t expire, but their adhesive could degrade to a point where they don’t stick anymore, according to a surgeon we interviewed for our guide to treating cuts and burns. Creams, salves, and painkillers can also expire. All medications have expiration dates on them, and the FDA advises that people should avoid taking expired medicine.
Pregnancy tests: Pregnancy tests do expire, and they should be used before the expiration date on the box. First Response and ClearBlue—which make some of our pregnancy-test picks—both encourage consumers to check the expiration date on the box before using a test. According to ClearBlue, expired pregnancy tests cannot be counted on for accurate results because they “may not be able to detect hCG levels that a non-expired pregnancy test could, which could lead to a false negative result.”
Top pick
This wand test is the most sensitive home pregnancy test available in the US. It’s also easy to use and read.
Condoms: Latex-free LifeStyles Skyn condoms, our top pick, come with an expiration date on the box. The company explains that you may see individual condoms with different expiration dates in the same box, but the box will list the earliest expiration date of the bunch. Latex condoms should not be used more than five years after the manufacture date (and they should come with an expiration date on the box).
Personal lubricants: Commonly used for a variety of sexual activities, personal lubricants also have an expiration date. In an episode of The Wirecutter Show, Bianca Alba, who wrote several of Wirecutter’s sexual-health guides, told our podcast hosts that most water-based lubricants should last for a year and a half or two years. Our pick from Aloe Cadabra should have an expiration date on it. Bianca said that oil-based lubricants could potentially become rancid, but you should be able to smell it and know that something’s wrong. Überlube, which makes our top silicone lube pick, says its product expires three years after the production date, and this date should be engraved on the bottom of the bottle.
Smart-home products: Your smart doorbell or thermostat may not “expire” in the same way that sunscreen and lube do, but many consumers may not be aware that smart-home companies could stop providing software updates at some point. For example, Google Nest says it will update software for “at least” five years, but there’s no guarantee it will do so forever (it’s worth noting that this is not specific to any of our current smart-home picks). And when a company stops providing software updates for a product, it’s a good idea to replace your device, said senior staff writer Rachel Cericola, who covers smart-home tech. “You are possibly missing out on new features, but more importantly, you are missing out on security and other fixes,” she said.
