Packaging choices can make a product convenient or frustrating. When it comes to bathroom and shower-friendly products, the packaging needs to be specifically chosen for use in a wet environment. Active people look for easy, no-mess transport for use at the gym.
Here are some of the key considerations for us at All for Better Health.
The container must be waterproof.
This means the container we choose can’t allow any water to leak inside, no matter what angle it’s at. It also needs to maintain its integrity when exposed to water over a long span of time.
L’Oréal USA began producing a 100% recycled paper, shower-proof pump bottle in 2018. [Source] Unfortunately, this product isn’t yet available for small makers. We can only hope it will be in the future.
Packaging needs to be unbreakable to be shower-friendly.
Packaging anything soapy in glass is an accident waiting to happen—especially in the shower. You’d think aluminum could be an shower-friendly alternative. Without special coatings, aluminum corrodes easily. Not only does this limit the types of products you can place in an aluminum container. It also means the damp conditions in the shower can cause pitting.
The label must be waterproof.
It would be wonderful if products for the shower could be labeled with paper. However, paper labels begin to break down quickly if they get wet. For this reason, we use a poly label. It ensures products like our Minty Orange AHA Walnut Body Polish stay easy to identify because of its shower-friendly packaging.
The package needs to be sturdy.
Have you ever opened a liquid product only to accidentally squeeze part of the contents all over the place because the bottle was flimsy? It’s not an experience I enjoy! Extra time with cleanup is not for me.
You also don’t want a bottle or jar leaking all over your gym bag. You want to know the seal is tight, whether you’re carrying a tottle or a jar.
The product needs to stand up or hang on its own.
When you are in the shower, you sometimes need something more than your hands to hold your soap, shampoo or body scrub while you wash yourself. We sell American-made soap nets for our bar soaps to solve the problem of dropping soap in the shower. The drawstring that holds the soap in the net creates a wrist strap.
Summary
We’d love to package all our products in earth-friendly materials. That’s easy to do with our line of soaps and shampoo bars. They’re all packed in cardboard boxes.
However, it’s a bit more tricky with our lotions and creams. At present, we package our lotions in HDPE Tottles. (This makes them easy to carry in a purse or gym bag.) Then we nestle them in a bed of crinkle paper within a sturdy cardboard mailer.
Our creams and scrubs are available in glass and/or PET plastic jars. To protect them during shipping, we wrap the glass jars in bubble wrap. (We encourage you to recycle the bubble wrap.) Then we place the jar in a tight cardboard mailer.
As better options become available, we’ll make changes. Meanwhile, be assured. We do care about the environment.
