h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

Does anybody care to answer, or even know the answer, to what happens if a concom has passed the "sell by" date?

Nothing?
Or if the shop-owner is a nice guy he might look thru the packages each night and throw out the expired ones. They even might get recycled and in the factory they go like "Hey cool, loads of expired condoms! Let's have a water-bomb party!" ;oP

To be honest, I have no clue. I just wanted to post something. Hope you can live with that.

Well, what I really meant by asking that question is what happens when after having sex you discover the condom was passed the "sell by" date, do you have reason to panic? Even when the condom is not torn? Does it make the tearing risk bigger when it's passed the "sell by" date? Or does it mean that the spermacide won't work anymore? Does anyone know?

Interesting thought....

Well, first of all: Don't Panic!
Second, read what the guide has to say about it.
Third: Don't risk anything. See your doctor / counselor / whatever funny names you might give him / her / it and tell him / her / it what happened. Now, from my experience, you have several choices:
* If your No1 concern is getting pregnant then there is hope. You might have a chance to get pregnant. Nobody can help you though.
* If your No1 concern is NOT getting pregnant then there is definitive hope. There are pills that prevent pregnancy even after conception. But only for a short period of time. You should see the doc / whatever a.s.a.p.
* If your No1 concern is (NOT) getting STDs then I don't want to joke about it. See the doc.

Although it doesn't happen imediately after the sell by date, the same thing happens to out of date condoms as happens to balloons that you put in the cupboard after that party five years ago, they become a a perishing nusance. Due to being made from latex rubber, they rot.

Well, I did take the Morning After pill just to be sure, but I'm rather curious if there is a real risk when they're 6 months past the "sell by" date and they still seem fine, and still did afterwards..

I don't really know, as far as I know it's not the condom that makes you feel fine... It's your hormones...

Err... it wasn't really about feeling fine or not, more about if condoms will or will not function after the "sell by" date...

They can't suddenly expire overnight, so hey must have some sort of safety time lapse on them mustn't they?

I would imagine that the level of protection offered would gradually decline, in a curve, so after a couple of weeks they would be slightly more likely to break, until say, a year after the expiry date, the level of guaranteed protection would have gone down considerably, and the condom may be considerably more likely to break and/or develop tiny holes or flaws in the latex.

Best not risk it, eh?

Yes, I know, but it's kinda hard when you only discover *afterwards* that they were nearly 6 years old Of course, it was nice to find out the guy hadn't screwed more than 11 people in the past 5 years... probably even less, I didn't really count how many were left in the box

Hey yes, that is a bit worrying isn't it? I mean you can make sure a guy uses a condom, but you can't insist on checking the expiry date before he unwraps it, or can you? I never have, I've always assumed that they would use a condom within the sell-by-date...

Yes, exactly...
Well, my suggestion: Check the date!!!

My even better suggestion, carry your own condoms, then if they don't have any, they have no excuse, and by using yours, you only have yourself to blame if they are out of date. This is exactly the same situation as regards responsibility as the blokes expecting the women to be on the pill to avoid pregnancy.

Good point!!

In my case, the packaging 'expires' a lot sooner the condoms themselves. A few weeks cycling through the rain with a condom in your pocket is usually enough to kill the package.

Also, I often forget to take them out of my pocket before washing. Typically a condom survives 3-4 trips to the washing machine.

Ruining the box through cycling in the rain can be cured by storing them in a bank cash envelope like you store small coinage in.
Forgetting to take them out of your clothes before washing is also easy. You keep them in your purse/wallet where you keep your money, and as you never launder your money, you don't rot the packets.

The sell by date is the date after which the quality of the latex has degraded to the state where there is a substantial risk of the condom rupturing

Thank you

As far as I kno, the sell by is just the time when the store has to get them sold by, but U should look at the "expiry" date. If the condom didn't break than u shouldn't have any problems... but really u should check up with someone who knows more.:S

As far as I kno, the sell by is just the time when the store has to get them sold by, but U should look at the "expiry" date. If the condom didn't break than u shouldn't have any problems... but really u should check up with someone who knows more.:S