Skincare hygiene: when to dump them out

We’re all familiar with best-before dates on food but according to dermatologists, we should be paying the same attention to what we put on our skin.

“It's easy to forget that many active ingredients - found in anti-aging creams, acne treatments, peels, and more - are surprisingly fragile. It's only a matter of time until oxygen and heat render them useless,” Amy Wechsler, assistant clinical professor of dermatology, told Allure magazine.

Here are her tips for good skincare hygiene:

Moisturising creams
Best before one year. Though a plain moisturiser without anti-aging ingredients will last well past this mark, you can contaminate it by dipping repeatedly into the jar.

Grainy scrubs
Best before two years. These hearty exfoliants are made of virtually indestructible materials, but an open tub will still become a breeding ground for bacteria over time.

Acne treatments
Best before four to six months. Benzoyl peroxide and salicylic acid, two of the most common pimple fighters, decay quickly. Keep them in the refrigerator for maximum potency.

Sunscreens
Best before one to two years - it varies, so check the expiration date on your tube. Wechsler suggests keeping sunscreen in a cooler when at the beach and trashing any tube that's been left sitting in a hot car.

Peels and masks
Best before three months. At that point their buffering agents can start to evaporate, making active ingredients such as glycolic and fruit acids more potent (and irritating). - © COVER MEDIA