Why is the date on a cosmetics container important as the date printed on a grocery?

Expiration date, it may be one of the dates you often see in your daily life. When we buy groceries, many people carefully examine how to store and shelf life what we want to buy, but when we buy cosmetics, we mostly don’t look at the shelf life as carefully as groceries.

I’m not sure if you know, but almost all cosmetics have some preservatives and antioxidants added to prevent the contents from deteriorating. These ingredients are not good for the human body, but you don’t have to worry too much about them because the FDA of each country strictly limits these ingredients and concentrations within the range where cosmetics do not deteriorate and are harmless to the human body.

No matter how much cosmetic contains preservatives, if you use products that are past their expiration dates, their ingredients will deteriorate or change shape, which will prevent them from acting as cosmetics themselves. Furthermore, after you open your cosmetics, the bacteria that float in the air can breed in their contents, and they can become infected.

If you use these cosmetics, you can have various side effects such as contact dermatitis, acne, folliculitis, red spots, rash, etc. So today, let’s take a look at the meaning of all kinds of date marks on cosmetics and care for our skin smartly and safely through these.

There are three types of dates marked on cosmetic containers: Manufactured Date, Expiry Date and Period After Opening.

 

1. Manufactured Date

    It is a mark of the date the cosmetics are manufactured. it marks in two or three types, according to the country

• MFD / MFG/ M: The date of 4 or 6 digits is marked after these three types of manufacturing date acronyms.
  Examples)
  • MFG 06/2014: Means it was manufactured in June 2014.
  • MFD100614: Means it was manufactured on June 10, 2014.
  • M080919 or M08092019: Means it was manufactured on September 8, 2019.
    

• Mark in six alphabets and numeric combinations : Its first alphabet is Month, the second & third digits are Year, the second alphabet is the production process number, and the last two digits are the date of manufacture:
  (A → Jan, B → Feb, C → Mar, D → Apr, E → May, F → Jun, G → Jul, H → Aug, I → Sep, J → Oct, K → Nov, L → Dec)
  Example) J11M06 : Means it produced at M plant on October 6, 2021.

 

2. Expiration Date(Expiry Date)

    It means the expiration date and is marked in two forms: EXP and BBE/BB/BE.

• EXP:  The date of 6 digits is is marked after the acronym of the expiration date.
  Example) EXP20240621: means it will be available until June 21, 2024
• BBE(Best Before End dates), BB, BE  BB: means the expiration date of the recommended period of use
  Example) BBE 150220: means it is recommended to use it by February 15, 2020.

  

 

3. Period After Opening(PAO)

    Means the period of safe use after opening the cosmetics and is marked by the number representing the month and M.
It is marked in the icon of the cosmetic container shape like 6 M, 12 M, 24 M, etc

Examples)

• 6 M: Means that the cosmetics can be used for 6 months from the day they opened.
• 12 M: Means that the cosmetics can be used for 12 months from the day they opened.

The following is a typical PAO for different types of cosmetics.

Summarizing the above, to briefly describe the safest period for us to use cosmetics,
As shown in the figure below, the green period is the safest period for us to use cosmetics.

It is important to check the dates on their packaging when we buy groceries, but it is also very important to check the dates on their containers for our skin health when we buy cosmetics.

Therefore, if we pay more attention to checking dates such as MFD/MFG, EXP/BBE, and PAO mentioned above, even though it is a little cumbersome when we purchase cosmetics in the future, it will be of great help in maintaining our skin health.