When to throw
a balm out.

Most people keep a lip balm until they lose it. That is usually fine, but there is a point at which an oil-based product stops being good for you, and the signs are not the ones you would expect.

It will not grow mould. A balm is anhydrous — butters, waxes and oils, with no water in it. Bacteria, yeast and mould all need water, so there is nothing in a tin for them to live in. This is why a balm needs no preservative system while a lotion needs one within days.

It goes rancid instead. The oils react with oxygen over time and break down. That is oxidation, not microbial growth, and it is what the natural antioxidants in a formula are there to slow. It is also why heat and sunlight matter: both speed the reaction up considerably.

How to tell. Smell is the first and most reliable sign — rancid oil smells faintly of old crayons, or putty, or a tin of nuts left open. Colour that has gone noticeably more yellow or orange is a second sign. Texture that has turned grainy can mean rancidity, though it more often just means the balm melted and re-set, which is harmless.

If it smells wrong, throw it out. Rancid oils are irritating rather than dangerous, but you will not enjoy wearing them.

The open-jar symbol. The little pot icon with a number and an M on the back of cosmetic packaging is the period-after-opening: how many months the product is good for once air has got to it. On most oil balms it is 12M or 24M. The clock starts when you open it, not when you buy it.

What shortens it. A hot car, which is the main culprit. A sunny windowsill. And wet fingers — water is the one thing that can introduce something that grows, so dip into the tin with dry hands and it keeps as long as the label says.

Glo Girl is good for 24 months from opening. It contains no water and no synthetic preservative; what protects it is the antioxidant content of the oils themselves and keeping it out of the sun.

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