Beauty blogger Canon Ryder turned to TikTok to share a disturbing update about beauty products sold at TJ Maxx. But Ryder revealed that TJ Maxx is not the only third-party retailer to commit this practice, which he believes should be illegal. Although beauty products often come with expiration dates, some of these retailers sell extremely expired products to make as much money as they can from consumers like you.

Whenever you’re buying beauty products from a third-party retailer, you need to do your research. Check out the products thoroughly, so you know whether or not they are expired – and suitable to use on your face or body. By looking at a product’s batch number – which is available near the barcode – you can know exactly how old the product is and if you should be purchasing it to add to your beauty routine or not.

Ryder shared the short TikTok video to educate consumers about beauty product expiration dates. He warns that you need to beware of duplicitous retailers who do not really care about the customer’s wellbeing. These stores might include third-party retailers like TJ Maxx or Ross or any other such place that sells discounted products that are no longer on the shelves of reputable places like CVS.

Ross instructs beauty buyers to pick up the product they are interested in buying and turn it around to examine the barcode. Nearby the barcode, there should be a box – on the Olay product in the video, the box is black. This box contains what Ryder refers to as a batch number.

He then instructs his viewers to go to the Cosmetic Calculator – the website address is included in the video below – to type in the batch number to see just how old the product truly is.

When you reach the calculator, you select the brand that you are interested in buying. Then type in the batch number. Click the green calculate button, and the resource with pull together the information you want to know about the product.

According to Ryder’s calculations, the Olay product that he found on the shelf of a third-party retailer was manufactured back on January 4, 2011. With the video recorded nine years later, that is a long time to let a cosmetic product sit on a shelf without being used or purchased.

Ryder warns beauty buyers not to get “scammed” by this trick.

Many of Ryder’s fans were appalled that retailers can do this.

“That should be illegal,” one person said.

“I’m not even into cosmetics like that, but this is so interesting,” another added.

“I just sent this to like ten people omg,” a third commented.

While Ryder has a trick to check these products, what do retailers like TJ Maxx have to say about this?

According to the TJ Maxx website, they acquire products through store cancellations, manufacturer overproduction, and overstock at the end of each season. This does not explain why the Olay product that Ryder found would almost be ten years old.

Did you know beauty products could be this old at stores near you?