Cardboard lip balm tubes

[cerelife]

I also do not think they are all that sanitary. The might be compostable but how many people really compost.

We actually DO compost everything possible in a section of our garden, but I'm with you - I just don't feel like these are sanitary.

 

[Gaisy59]

Just a thought, and this won’t work for selling, but for personal reuse once the plastic tube has been used up would boiling to sterilize it and then refilling sound like a plan? I dislike plastics like everyone else, unfortunately plastic is part of our society.

 

[amd]

for personal reuse once the plastic tube has been used up would boiling to sterilize it and then refilling

I've tried this with tubes, it's a major pain in the keister. Many times the twist mechanism won't roll back down after use, or won't roll up after "cooking". Others experiences may vary, of course, this is based on what I've tried. However, I have had excellent luck with the round eos (or similar brands). I was really surprised how easy they were to take apart, clean, and refill. Unfortunately they are not meant for jean pockets, so I use them at my desk.

 

[Susie]

I reused my lip balm tubes for years before stopping using lip balm altogether. (But that's another discussion entirely.) I used dry q-tips to clean every last bit out, then de-greaser saturated q-tips to remove all residue, then run them through the dishwasher with a full load of dishwasher detergent. Worked a charm. Yes, I know that I used all those "not good for the environment" q-tips and degreaser, but you have to choose your battles.

 

[Gaisy59]

I reused my lip balm tubes for years before stopping using lip balm altogether. (But that's another discussion entirely.)

Great so it is possible!

Ooops that reply came out in ur quote Susie, but i am so glad it worked

Susie can i ask why you no longer use lip balm?

 

[Susie]

Susie can i ask why you no longer use lip balm?

Sure, I didn't want to OT in this thread, but I can now.

I stopped using lip balm because my lips (and many other's lips, apparently) started just cracking and peeling day and night no matter what I put on them. Using lip balm (other than rarely on specific occasions) becomes a vicious cycle. You use it, which prevents the natural shedding of the skin cells by clumping them to your lip, and it makes your lips feel more chapped than when you started. Continue this on and on for years, and you have lips that are no longer properly making skin cells properly. So they crack, and they peel. Messy mess.

The bad news is that it takes about a month of misery to get your lips back to what should have been their normal function to begin with.

The good news is that you are no longer addicted to lip balm, and you learn that chapped lips last about 24 hours, and you can use lip balm only when going out in a super dry windstorm. After all, if you don't apply lip balm to your eyelids and skin of your nose, your lips don't need it either.

 

[Gaisy59]

Wow good answer! I havent used lip balm in a long time but only because i usually scraped it off with my teeth after a couple if minutes. I dont do that with lipstick so i guess i dont like the feel of balm on my lips. When i go out in the sun i have a natural color lipstick to help protect the schmackers lol.

 

[Carolyne Thrasher]

Update: so I tried a bigger tube for solid lotion sticks and it was a bit of a pain to keep from getting smudges on the tube. After a few days of setting inside and just occasionally looking at the 2 samples I made, I concluded that these would be problematic for customers. I just didn’t like them. Totally bummed by this but I’m going to try small glass pots for lip balm at my next market to see how those do. I think that’s the best plastic free option for now.

I did buy a box of compostable plastic-like drinking straws, made out of corn starch, from Amazon. They really feel like plastic. I stuck one in a flower pot outside to document its breakdown. Hopefully compostable packaging for cosmetics soon.

 

[Lin19687]

@Carolyne Thrasher Can you post a link the the Straws you got ?

 

[apothecary]

I also do not think they are all that sanitary. The might be compostable but how many people really compost.

I do. Most people I know do. I do both city and home composting.

I also use these tubes, I like them a lot and so do the testers and customers who've used them.

 

[Carolyne Thrasher]

UPDATE: I tried both lip balm and lotion sticks in the cardboard tubes and decided that they won’t work for selling. They get grease marks all over. So it looks like tins for lip balm and lotion bars it is. For me anyway.

@Carolyne Thrasher Can you post a link the the Straws you got ?

@Lin19687 here’s a screenshot of the straws. Sorry I didn’t reply sooner. Life has a way of throwing punches and curveballs. One punch was a nephew died and a happy curveball was a nephew born.

 

[cmzaha]

I do not find the cardboard tubes to be sanitary after use. At least plastic containers can be wiped off with alcohol.

 

[SoaperForLife]

I haven't experimented with the lip balm tubes but I have with the lotion (deodorant) type tubes. I haven't found them to be greasy but putting the cap back on once you've pushed the product up for application is pretty much impossible without a bit of effort to push everything back down. Sounds silly but the struggle is real folks...

 

[Rosemary]

My heart wants to use them, but I’m not sure they’re practical. I’ve also ordered a sample pack from Etsy, shakers from Amazon, and push ups from a packaging group I belong to. Living in the Mid-Atlantic, it’s still too hot here to leave anything in fluctuating temps/ humidity. Maybe they’re seasonal only, though I don’t want to have two different packages...

 

[SideDoorSoaps]

I think the lip balm tubes are so cute especially the .25 Oz ones but labeling them are soooo tedious!

 

[Maria Maria]

Is Cardboard better then plastic? Is cutting trees and using water better? Hemp is great but again water(also $2 for an empty tube). the moral issues
I'm not a tree hugger I just love the outdoors and nature.

 

[user 29721]

One would think “where do these little plastic tubes go once I’m done using them?” They take hundreds of years to break down and think of how many other “things” will be added to them in the next hundreds of years. They are not recyclable and must go to landfill. Vs cardboard tube disintegrates to compost fairly easily and fast. Think globally.

 

[SoaperForLife]

There's always the tiny tin option....

 

[Kari Howie]

There's always the tiny tin option....

How does that help? Is it refillable?

 

[Maria Maria]

I reuse by way of cleaning and sanitizing both metal and plastic.