Abstract Refined wool wax products, such as lanoline and lanoline derivatives are key ingredients in some of the ointments, cosmetics, pharmaceuticals, waterproof coatings and other products. Beneficial medicinal effects along with melting point near normal human body temperature designated lanoline to be used in pharmacotherapy and medical treatments. Since the general requirements for sterility of medicinal substances are very strict, especially in cases of skin contact, radiation technologies represent a valuable tool to sterilize the materials for medicinal purposes. In this work, lanoline was irradiated with accelerated electron beam in air within 0–400 kG dose to simulate sterilization for medical purposes. The irradiated lanoline showed considerable fluctuation of chemical structure. The most significant fluctuation was observed for etheric species, followed by ethylene sequences with n