Does Tea Tree Oil Expire?

by Jeff Byess
(South Carolina)

Jim,
How long does Tea tree oil stay effective if stored properly ?
Thanks,
Jeff Byess
S.C.

What is the Shelf Life
of Tea Tree Oil?

According to the Australian Tea Tree Industry Association, the shelf life of tea tree oil is around 6 months after it's opened, and up to two years when unopened.

There are a few conditions though to keep in mind though. Tea Tree Oil, and most other essential oils like it cold. Think "Tea Tree Oil on the rocks".

Make it Last, with a touch of glass

You can significantly extend the shelf life of most essential oils by storing the oil in stainless steel or lined aluminum bottles, or in dark amber or cobalt blue glass bottles.

Tea Tree Oil in Plastic?

Never!
Stay away from plastic. Plastic allows the terpinen 4-ol to leach out of the oil, and within 3 months will most likely be all gone. you will be left with a poor quality, and potentially skin irritating oil compound.

You won't find plastic bottles of high quality tea tree oil, because the volatile tea tree oil passes on many of its strengths and properties directly through the plastic.

Tea tree oil breaks down in plastic, and greater concentrations of cymene develop, which is known to cause skin irritation. Any tea tree oil product stored in plastic has a shelf life of 90 days or less because of this.

Keep it Cool
Tea Tree Oil should be kept in a cool dark place. Your refrigerator is maybe the best place in your home or office to keep it cold.

Keep a lid on it
Keeping the bottle capped to prevent unnecessary oxidation is a must as well.

Do these couple of things, and you can expect to have good tea tree oil available a up to a year after purchase

What's the Danger?

As tea tree oil breaks down, several compounds develop which may be irritating to the skin, namely p-cymenes and peroxide.

When studies have been performed on high quality tea tree oil, oils that were stored away from UV light and heat were still far below the acceptable levels of cymenes and peroxide.

How do you store tea tree oil?

ATTIA (Australian Tea Tree Industry Association) recommends that the use-by (best before) date for pure Australian tea tree oil sold in commercially available small (up to100 ml) dark glass bottles stored at an ambient temperature not exceeding 77 degrees f 25 C be set at 6 months from when first opened or 24 months (2 years) in unopened bottles.

Keeping the bottle capped to prevent unnecessary oxidation is a must as well.

Do these couple of things, and you can expect to have good tea tree oil available a up to a year after purchase.

ATTIA has made available a 4 page PDF report on the "The Stability of Pure Tea Tree Oil"

Produced by the Australian Tea Tree Oil Industry Association, It is full of answers to all sorts of tea tree oil shelf life, shipping, and stability issues and questions. You can get a free copy of the
"The Stability of Pure Tea Tree Oil" report here.

Please note that the warning label on shipping mentioned in the file applies to large volume shipments and not to smaller quantities.