Cream Tubes

What You Need to Know About Cream Tubes Packaging

Flexible and squeezable. Tubes have become a common packaging choice in a variety of industries, but have become especially popular in the personal care industry. Tubes are most commonly a round shape, but are extremely versatile with size, barrier, and dispensing options. With such versatility, tubes are a popular choice for packaging products ranging from beauty creams to industrial chemicals.

All tubes have an orifice, head, shoulders, and body. Length and width of the body can vary depending on the size of tube needed. Also a range of orifice sizes are available depending on how quickly you would like product to be dispensed and the viscosity of the product. For example, less viscous (more watery products) would work better with a smaller orifice in order to prevent too much product being dispensed at once while more viscous (such a thicker, creamy, or more gummy type products) would need a larger orifice.

Cream Tubes are most commonly made from plastic, aluminum, or a laminate (a mixture of both materials) to provide additional barriers to protect the product.

Aluminum
A traditional tube material that is still used today. They are often used for artist paints, adhesives, toothpaste, and other viscous liquids. Aluminum tubes can be referred to as 'collapsible' since thare more rigd and can dent.

Plastic
Plastic tubes are only made from plastic and are mono-layer. As a single layer, it is the most cost effective to produce, but will only work with products with non-active chemicals.

Laminate
Laminate tubes typically consists of a hybrid of materials for stronger barrier properties. There are different types of laminate tubes and are divided based on the materials the tube is made of. The most common types of laminate tubes are: ABL, PBL, and APT.

Depending on the product and how it needs to be dispensed, there is a wide selection of tube heads to pair with the tube body to fit the product's needs. Flip-top caps are most commonly used across many industries, but you will discover a much more diverse head style in the personal care industry to optimize dispensing product. Below is a list of some of the most common tube head styles you may come across:

Flip-Top (most common tube head style)
Brush
Doe Foot
Disc
Dome
Lotion Pump
Needle Nose
Pin Point
Rollerball
Slant Tip
Soft Spatula
Soft Tip
Sponge Tip

What Type of Squeeze Tube is Right for Your Application?

Today, plastic squeeze tubes are called upon more than ever as the vehicle of choice to deliver cosmetic and personal care products.This is because tube packaging is a low cost, efficient, shelf stable and aesthetically pleasing way to deliver a product. In fact, squeeze tubes are becoming the "go-to" package of choice across many industries today. Squeeze tubes are a flexible choice to hold and dispense a wide range of products along with being easier and less expensive to manufacture, fill and seal compared to other packaging solutions like glass jars and bottles. Plastic tubes are also known for their durability and resistance to breaking. Since tubes offer an air tight sealed system, they can increase product shelf life. They are also considered convenient by the end consumer which is of importance in the beauty business because dispensing the product with ease is as much a part of the experience as the formula itself.

Choosing the Look of Your Tube
Choosing either matte or glossy varnish depends on your preference for the look. There are two tips to keep in mind; first, a gloss finish can be less expensive and second, some varnishes can add a bit of structure if needed to the tube. However, most importantly, you will need to figure out what type of cosmetic tube is needed for your product. The tube needs to suit the product in terms of compatibility, aesthetic and product evacuation.

When the product development team gets together to "talk tubes" the conversation can become complex. It is critical for the product success to select the right empty tube material, the right "tight" fitting cap, as well as, the appropriate and efficient filling and sealing systems. You must consider every product detail including the product formula, the viscosity, the type of product and its use, as well as, the aesthetic.

To get started, we will start by discussing the basic category of tubes to consider which include plastic tubes, laminate tubes, and aluminum tubes.

Polyethylene Tubes (PE) or Plastic Tubes
You will need to become familiar with basic plastic tubes that come in different grades of polyethylene (PE) from low density (LDPE) to medium density and high density (HDPE). These types of mono-layer or multi-layer tubes are suitable for everyday skin care products, or products with short shelf life, such as cleansers, creams, shampoos, lotions, and conditioners. They can be built with a barrier coating for additional protection to the product.

Laminated Tubes
Laminated tubes can also be polyethylene but have an additional laminated coating which can serve two functions. First, laminate tubes provide the benefit of extra barrier protection for more volatile or irritant ingredient products. Secondly, the laminate layer allows for more complex art. However, since laminate tube material is produced flat, they typically cannot accommodate 360-degree art which is a drawback of the laminate tube. Laminate tubes are generally used for products such as tubes of toothpastes, acne products, sun blocks, and hair products. There are also several different barrier options, the most common being EVOH which serves a stronger barrier function than mono layer PE tubes above.

Aluminum Tubes
Aluminum or metal tubes are known for offering the best barrier protection for your formula. Also known as collapsible tubes, they can be used with the most aggressive or delicate formulas. Overall, aluminum tubes provide better protection than plastic squeeze tubes due to their heavy gauge material. They also offer an aesthetic many branded product lines prefer to plastic. The metallic look can now come in a variety of colors to enhance or completely cover the aluminum. Collapsible tubes compliment cleansers, active ingredient lotions and ointments. Keep in mind when evacuating metal tubes, the body of the tubes may take on a new distressed shape and have little to no recovery from in-use dispensing.