I can't get bottles of handwash to open!

If you find out a clever trick please let me know. I have exactly the same issue. So I often use the local refill shop, with a bottle that I can open. Better for the environment but it looks and smells a bit utilitarian compared to some of the bottles I have had in the past. I think I must be a “soap snob”

I only seem to open them by accident, so am hoping someone on here knows the correct way, the arrows mean nothing.

Me too Elowen. I always think I've opened them more by luck than judgment.

I've also given up using spray bottles - they seem to spray for the first two or three times then do nothing. I twist and turn and try everything to no avail.

I'm another who has trouble with handwash and similar bottles.

So do I, annoyingly my husband nearly always does it first time.

They are a gimmick. Soap is better.

I used to rely on my husband who made it look so easy. I really struggle with this.

I open mine by holding the actual lid so it doesn’t turn, then twisting the bit that spits the soap out round and round until it eventually pops up. I hate them though! Whoever invented this way of battling to get stuff out of a bottle wants shooting!

Oh I am so glad it isn't just me! I hate the things but often get them bought as gifts.

My solution was to get a generic pump, decant the crappy one in, and use that. It was much more stylish anyway, and I have now put it away because I'll probably need it again at Christmas.

I am a soap user. You can buy all different ones now to suit your pocket and your hands- what I love about soap is that it just disappears- no waste at all!!

My DH opens them for me, but I use soap bars now.

When we had the bottles though, (if DH wasn’t around), I used to swap the old pump bit for the new one, thus eliminating the need to get the new one to work!

I buy the refill bags and fill the empty bottles with that although after a while the pump mechanisms do start to wear and then I replace with a new bottle. Liquid handwashing is so much more hygienic than a bar of soap which sits in moisture in the soap dish/on the hand basin getting slimey ………😱

kircubbin2000

They are a gimmick. Soap is better.

I too prefer a bar of soap but like to have a bottle of handwash by the kitchen sink.

I just keep a spare pump as I have had this issue. Maybe they are just faulty.
I use hand soap as well. I read it kills more bacteria. I find the hand pump soaps seem to block up my bathroom sink, another reason to switch back to bars.

Yep me too.
It often happens just as I start to give up.

I can usually get the soap dispensers open but it is more luck than judgment. I cannot open spray deodorants so I had to buy a roll-on for emergencies.

I also add weed killer to my long list of items that are difficult or impossible to open.

There are videos on you tube on how to open them. You hold the part attached to the bottle firmly and turn the dispenser top usuallly anti clockwise.
I appreciate it may be difficult for some people with arthritic hands etc.

Should have said I think some videos have tips if weather I said above doesn't work.

I have been known to take a hacksaw to the top of those wretched bottles! My other bugbear is bleach bottles. "Squeeze the lid of the bottle and twist". Hah! I practically break its flipping neck and I still can't open the thing. Maddeningly, OH comes along, gives it a gentle twist and hey presto.................!

Try holding the bottle with the right hand and turning the dispenser top with the left. It works with stiff jars too. I am the go to bottle/jar opener in our house.

Supernana1

Maybe it's just me, but I nearly always find it impossible to turn the top so that the pump works.

They usually have the words 'open' and 'close' but a lot of the time the 'open' side doesn't open it. I often end up removing the whole top and refilling the old bottle from the new one.

Is it just me? Or is there a clever trick that I'm missing here?

I do exactly what you do. Pump action containers are a right swine, IMHO.

There's no 'clever trick' - I suppose it takes persistence and sheer bloody determination, if you can be bothered. Which I can't.

And don't get me started on pills in super-tough blister packets.

Glad it's just not me with this problem!

Me too.
Oh my God I thought it was only me and that a combination of ham-fistedness and impatience caused me to snap the dam plastic things off in frustration making them unuseable if they weren't already.
" I often end up removing the whole top and refilling the old bottle from the new one."
Eerr..... also guilty as charged......

If you think bleach bottles are bad, try to open a tin of Jeyes Fluid. They are on another level, clearly not intended to be opened at all.

Well I'm glad to find out it's not just me! And it's not a question of weak hands - it's a general problem. Bad design maybe?

And as for getting tablets out of a blister pack - I'm another one with that problem. One pack of tablets was so tough to open that the capsules inside actually split when I tried to get them out and spilt all the white powder. That was a job for the scissors, in the end.

So I guess we'll just have to keep soldiering on...

Thanks for all your replies.