Hopeless pumps and squeeze mechanisms

I hate the new Fairy liquid bottles. My daughter had one and I struggled to use it with my arthritic hands. I was worried that they were going to stop making the original ones. I really struggle with mayonnaise in squirty bottles and always buy it in jars. I can’t get my hair conditioner out of its container, either, without banging it against the side of the bath with my elbow. And the Replens tubes that I use for atrophy now come in single use dispensers that I find really difficult to use ( and there’s a lot of wastage too).

Agreed! The Fairy Liquid dispenser is perfect though there is some thought that it ought to be refillable to decrease the use of plastic.

Don’t even go there!

I buy things that are pumps, rather than aerosols and half the time they don’t work after a few uses. Ditto toothpaste pumps! Drives me nuts!

Sadly, even my fairy liquid magic bottle leaked!

I bought some special eyedrops, the container was like one cylinder sliding into another. The idea was that you held your eye open with one hand, and used the other hand to hold the drop container in the right place and pushed one cylinder into the other with one finger. I couldn't begin to depress it.

In the end, I held my eye open and DH dispensed the drops. He needed both hands to press hard enough to get any drops out.

I use eye gel nightly for my Macular. I could never open the tiny top, so I used gardening pliers. It is probably my arthritic hands.

My pump shampoo keeps blocking and squirts out from the side creating a huge mess. I can’t squeeze the mayonnaise bottle hard enough but neither can my husband. Don’t get me started on the Hrt applicator, it’s a plunger type but I can’t press it because I have arthritis in my fingers. By the time I’ve managed it the gel has gone everywhere but where it should!

I gave up on the new Fairy bottle. It just leaked and then gunked up, so have gone back to the old style.
My go to tool is a pair of nutcrackers. Worked wonders on some seriously tough screw caps on Christmas wine. And excellent for getting corks out. 🍷

M0nica

I bought some special eyedrops, the container was like one cylinder sliding into another. The idea was that you held your eye open with one hand, and used the other hand to hold the drop container in the right place and pushed one cylinder into the other with one finger. I couldn't begin to depress it.

In the end, I held my eye open and DH dispensed the drops. He needed both hands to press hard enough to get any drops out.

The chemist just sold some of those to DH and they weren't cheap.

It took us a combined effort to get a drop in each eye; DH couldn't have managed the dispenser on his own.

Spray polish? There must be a way of clicking down hard the first time to break a seal because it just dribbles out and I can't press it hard enough.
Likewise the shampoo bottle needs part of the top depressed to break a seal which is far more difficult than the last one.

Or do I need to go to the gym?

Plastic bottles of "Simple"moisturiser, an excellent value no-perfume, no-nonsense face cream, are made of such solid plastic that it takes strong hands to squeeze out the contents.

When it is towards the end of the filling and getting even harder to use, I cut across the bottle with my heavy kitchen scissors (they can cut through a chicken carcass) Inside I find a thick layer of moisturiser coating all the inside, enough to last for several weeks. They must make half their profit from what isn't used!

Many of these well known everyday products are much harder to open and use than they ever were in the past.

Nearly all have been “improved”

I have often thought while struggling in the shower with them (but then forget) to write to them and tell just how difficult their product is to use. I haven’t even got any particular physical problems. So it is just them.

I find shampoo and conditioner bottles really hard to squeeze in order to get the stuff out of it, the plastic for the bottles is so hard I actually hurt my hand trying to do it with one hand. I now use two hands and squeeze it on my arm then scoop it off to use it. I also have a multivitamin container with a lid you have to squeeze in a certain place and then twist. The other day I squeezed it so hard on the kitchen counter that it catapulted across the room and the tablets went everywhere.

I find the liquid washing detergent bottles difficult to squeeze out when they're nearing the end. I've resorted to doing what you do Elegran and I cut the top bit off and scoop the last of it out with a spoon. I do the same with mayonnaise and sauces, I hate throwing those squeezable bottles out when they've still got lots inside. To coin a phrase, I like getting my money's worth

Oh gawd, all these products we use daily become a real challenge when you lose your strength and grip to open them! I too, have a can of polish that you depress the top to spray, and I can only use my right hand, not my left as it’s so stiff. Childproof tops that have to be pressed and twisted are such a pain, as are those that need to be squeezed on both sides.

I usually make my own soup, but after Christmas bought a couple of tubs of fresh soup, and trying to get the lids off really got me swearing, as they have an intractable tab that needs to be broken, before the lid can be removed, which is really difficult.

Manufacturers should appoint a testing panel of over 70s to try to remove the blessed tops of their products.

Bleach bottles - impenetrable. Those tubs of hoummus or sauces, with a little plastic widget on the side - nail breaking - even attacking said tub with a scissors it remains firmly closed. You need an entire toolbox (or a three year old) to get into most childproof packaging these days.

I don't know what most of these things are. Either we don't have them here in Germany (yet) or because of my policy of not buying anything in plastic bottles. I've never had any of these problems.

But might I suggest that many things might come out easier (shampoo, washing up liquid, anything water-based) if you diluted it a bit. add some water (once you've got the bottle open) and give it a good shake. You could certainly make sure you get out the last drops in the bottle that way.

I used to get the lip balm Lipsyl until they started to enclose the tube in soft plastic with perforations round it at the level where the top met the body of the tube. In theory twisting the two parts made the perforations tear so that the top came off and you could use it. In practice, I could twist until my hands were sore without the plastic giving way. So I wrote telling them this and suggesting that as their biggest market was older people who preferred lip balm to coloured lipsticks and whose hands were often arthritic and less strong than younger ones, they might modify it slightly. Their reply was to thank me but say that they done a lot of research into what people wanted, and that enclosed were some samples of their new product. These were three different fruit flavours of balm - all wrapped in exactly the same plastic straightjacket I had told them I couldn't open. I gave them away to younger relatives.

I bought new kitchen scissors the other week. They were encased in plastic packaging which was so difficult to get into that I had to use scissors to open it. Anyone see the irony in that?

I thought it was just me because I am really cackhanded. I find many things infuriating - even those that are supposedly intended to make life easier. Packaging nowadays is a real trial.

I get annoyed if a washing up or laundry liquid bottle doesnt have a flat top which if not would mean I cant rest it upside down to get the dregs out😡

I have a big bottle of shampoo that is quite heavy. On amazon I saw refillable plastic bottles which I thought would solve my problem. Trouble is the mechanism has to be pumped vigorously to get the shampoo out ----as a foam. Since my hair gets done first under the shower I have to have a sit down before proceeding.

Any one else cut the tops off toothpaste tubes when they're done. You'd be surprised how much more there is hidden under the shoulders of the tube

oh, I forgot my pet hate - toothbrush heads for electric toothbrushes. They are so 'well' packed they should be gold plated. Come on- it's only a toothbrush!!

I put washing up liquid into a pump action bottle that matches my kitchen so can be left next to the sink. It use less and looks very swish. Shampoo/ conditioner bottles are a source of gritted teeth for me. IMPOSSIBLE to get out all the contents and some are as heavy as house bricks . Grrr!

Any top that is a supposedly ‘safety’ top defeats me! The new tops on drinks etc are so hard. On my Goats milk a few days ago I thought the top was secure. Later milk dripping from fridge door as top was not secure! All the fights on bleach bottles have made me ask the Delivery driver to open them for me. Good job none mind helping! One of the pleasures of getting old, not complaining as it beats the alternative even if there are no awkward tops to open there 😂