What goes wrong

The pump failed, or the jar separated

On this page11

The product was too thick for the pump The pump was too strong for the product The dip tube was the wrong length The bulb perished The liner let the oil out The emulsion separated The jar got contaminated The pomade would not release The PET deformed on a hot fill Test it the way it will live References

A pump has a viscosity limit and nobody checks it until the product is filled.

The product was too thick for the pump

A mask or a thick cream will not travel up a dip tube, and the symptom is a pump that primes once and then draws air. Test the actual formula, not a water analogue.

The pump was too strong for the product

A thin serum through a lotion pump gives a dose nobody wanted. Matching the output volume to the dose is as real a specification as the thread.

The dip tube was the wrong length

Cut for a different bottle, so the last centimetre of product cannot be reached. A pump and a bottle are one assembly and they are often bought as two.

The bulb perished

Elastomer against an essential oil blend. For a scalp oil with real essential oil content the dropper bulb is the component that fails, and a treatment pump or a phenolic cap is the durable answer.

The liner let the oil out

Slow weight loss, a greasy label and a product that smells different at nine months. The liner is the barrier and it is the line left blank on the order.

The emulsion separated

Air in the headspace and a thermal cycle in a warehouse. It often looks worse than it is and a customer cannot tell the difference between separated and spoiled.

The jar got contaminated

Fingers in a wet product, repeatedly. A preservation problem rather than a packaging one, and the reason a jar product needs a preservative system a pump product can get away without.

The pomade would not release

Filled warm into a jar with an inward shoulder, set solid, and now trapped. A straight sided jar is the fix and it has to be chosen before filling.

The PET deformed on a hot fill

The archetype says warm fill and PET has a limit. For a wax or butter poured hot, polypropylene or glass is the material, and 73 PP containers are here for it.

Test it the way it will live

Filled, capped, upright for three months and on its side for two weeks, warm, with a user opening it daily. Every failure on this page shows up there and none of them show up on a filling bench.

References

The archetype behind this shelf is pc-lotion: 50 to 500 mL, narrow mouth, lotion pump or disc top or flip top, PET and HDPE, warm fill, medium viscosity, an emulsion, with "pourable to medium lotion, pump or disc top for one handed use" as its stated reason. All eleven leaves sit on it, including the jar crafts and the two that are not emulsions at all.

The Davis Pack Supply catalog, measured 18 October 2026. The hair care shelf is 1,261 rows: 628 containers and 633 closures. 5 mL to 2,000 mL with a median of 237; 370 containers over 6 oz, 330 over 8 oz, 187 over 16 oz and 54 over 32 oz. 342 PET, 110 glass, 94 HDPE, 73 PP, 9 steel. 349 bottles, 260 jars, 9 tins, 5 tubs and pails, 3 jugs and 2 tubes. Closures: 384 continuous thread, 43 dropper assemblies, 39 lotion pumps, 27 dome lids, 26 disc top, 16 flip top, 14 phenolic, 12 lug and twist, 11 treatment pumps, 9 round tubs, 7 buttress. Necks: 86 at 89-400, 70 at 38-400, 59 at 24-410, 58 at 70-400, 51 at 28-410, 42 at 45-400.

Written from 21 CFR part 358 subpart H, 21 CFR 201.66 and the catalog as it stood on 18 October 2026. Whether a particular product is a cosmetic or a drug turns on its intended use, which is established by what you say about it; no page here can make that determination for you. Cosmetic labeling, facility registration and product listing are covered in the grooming property and not repeated.