Surfing the Inner N8

Insights & Outsights from a Guy Trying to Follow Jesus

Beware the Expiration Date!

My wife noticed something unsettling about her chapstick: it expires next month.  She discovered this bit of info printed on the bottom of the chapstick, the part you twist to make it come up.

How does chapstick expire?  Does it actually go bad?  What happens if you use chapstick after its expiration date?  Does it fail to relieve your lips’ chappedness?  Does it smell?  Does it make your lips rot?  This discovery raises all kinds of questions about the very nature of chapstick.

Just so you know, I promise not to eat the chapstick after it expires.

Posted by:

Nathan Hyde

I’m a Christ follower in Ocean Pines, Maryland. After God, my wife, and daughter, my favorite things are my students, Mexican food, reading, and Orioles baseball.

6 responses to “Beware the Expiration Date!”

  1. john

    I would suggest not eating it even before it expires!

  2. Nathan Hyde

    Haha–good point, John… although the cherry one sure is tempting…

  3. Jenny Smith

    i eat chapstick all the time. it makes my tounge itch sometimes but i really like the strawberry ones and the cran-apple.

  4. Nathan Hyde

    Hmm, I haven’t tried cranapple. Thanks for the tip!

  5. Drea

    I can’t say for certain wheteher it expires but I will tell you this & you can decide. I had to go to the dermatologist yesterday to finally get a diagnosis on an issue that has been plauging me on and off for around 2 months. I have had painful dry, peeling lips, with itching and redness as well as fissures at the corners of my mouth. My doc said it was a vitamin deficiency so I started with one a day vitamins. It helped somewhat but the redness and peeling continued. It has been very painful. I tried vitamin E oil on it at the advice of my doctor but that irriatated it more. I finally had enough & went to the dermatologist. Apparently my problem is eczema of the lips (which technically is probably an allergy to something) and she prescribed me a steroid ointment to clear it up which is working beautifully. Just today I was thinking back to when my problem started and I remember my mother in law giving me two tubes of chapstick they had gotten when a local store went out of business…around 5 years ago. At the time I never thought much of it, its chapstick, how can it go bad? I can’t say for sure that’s what caused my problem but I can’t say it wasn’t the reason. My advice, don’t risk going through what I have and just throw it out if it’s old…

  6. zoe

    yes thank-you Drea i was going to give my bff chapstick and it says no expiration date so i googled does chapstick expire and sure enough i found the right answer!

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