2009 Editors’ Choice Award Winner: Personal Care
Caviar Anti-Aging Seasilk Shampoo and Conditioner
by Alterna Professional Haircare
A dispensing cap with a silicone-membrane orifice is the star of Alterna Professional Haircare’s Caviar Anti-Aging Seasilk shampoo and conditioner bottles. When customers squeeze the bottle, product pushes out through the silicone-membrane orifice. When customers stop squeezing the bottle, the membrane closes up, sealing product in even when the bottle is upside-down.
The 2-in.-diameter closure is a patented stock component from Seaquist Closures. Called SimpliTwist, the closure makes dispensing incredibly easy and comfortable. Customers need simply apply light pressure to the bottle for product to dispense. The silicone valve also allows for controlled, one-handed dispensing and precise product cutoff.
No modifications had to be made to the stock closure itself, say Paul Johnson, president and CEO of Alterna, and Russ Mariano, Alterna’s creative director. In fact, the biggest challenge was designing a custom bottle around the closure’s narrow neck finish.
The width of the closure is the same as that of the bottle so that the closure sits flush on the bottle’s neck. However, the closure’s neck finish is actually much narrower—a mere 0.625 in. in diameter at its widest point. Halfway down the neck, the diameter narrows even further to 0.4375 in. This is so that a piston, which lowers down into the bottle neck when the closure is twisted shut, can lower down flush against the inside of the bottle neck, forming an airtight seal and preventing product from leaking.
To blow-mold a bottle neck narrow enough, a custom blow pin had to be created. Alterna designed the bottle in-house and hired DesignWorx Packaging to help with technical drawings, engineering, and sourcing for the entire project.
The bottle itself is ergonomically shaped with a narrow area in the middle that is comfortable to grip and easy to squeeze. The Caviar name was debossed vertically down the front of the bottle at its narrowest point. Other graphics were silk-screened on. Classic Containers blow-molded and decorated the bottles. Clay-coated newsback cartons with 75% postconsumer recycled content (PCR) were supplied by Orange County Container.
The bottle is high-density polyethylene (HDPE) with a minimum of 25% PCR. Ferco Color provided the custom pearlescent colorant, making adjustments to accommodate the yellowish tint of PCR.
Rigid nibs were molded on the shoulder of the bottle to keep the cap from rotating past its open and closed positions.
Alterna added a final, custom touch to the cap. The company glued a silver polished anodized aluminum overshell produced by Anomatic Inc. over the polypropylene closure.
Johnson says that the package solved some of the dispensing problems that Alterna had encountered in the past with customers trying to dispense viscous products from traditional pumps. “This was an opportunity for us to make it easier for our clients to get the product out of the bottle,” he says.
CPC Packaging’s awards panelists liked this package. “The dispensing system is easy to use. The best feature is that there is no leakage and no residue left on the orifice area. It makes for a clean and very sanitary presentation,” says Scott Widro, vice president of materials management and manufacturing, Chanel.
“The bottle shape is very user-friendly,” agrees panelist Jon Dinapoli, creative director, Coty Prestige. “It fits perfectly in the hand and is very easy to use.”