# Shelf Life of Sunscreen

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shelf-life-of-sunscreen/451513>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [June 2, 2008, 6:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shelf-life-of-sunscreen/451513 "2008-06-02T18:23:56Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 3\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![HeyHomie](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/heyhomie/32/207_2.png) [@HeyHomie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HeyHomie)\
**Post date:** [June 2, 2008, 6:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shelf-life-of-sunscreen/451513/1 "2008-06-02T18:23:56Z")

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Is sunscreen essentially good forever? I’ve got a bottle that I bought two summers ago, and it’s got enough in it to last one more summer, at least. Is it still good?

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**Author:** ![MsFancyPlants](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b487fb/32.png) [@MsFancyPlants](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MsFancyPlants)\
**Post date:** [June 2, 2008, 6:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shelf-life-of-sunscreen/451513/2 "2008-06-02T18:42:14Z")

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Sunscreens will not last forever and all the tubes I’ve ever seen have an expiration date printed on them (though the date may be hard to find). Most information I’ve read about sunscreen suggests it be replaced every year.

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**Author:** ![Solfy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/848f3c/32.png) [@Solfy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Solfy)\
**Post date:** [June 2, 2008, 7:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shelf-life-of-sunscreen/451513/3 "2008-06-02T19:05:13Z")

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Someone else around here had a bad experience with expired sunscreen recently.  
It quit screening. IIRC it was a year or two old.