Make Use of Every Last Bit of Product With a Tube Wringer
When I buy a product, I want to get every single bit of that product. It makes sense, right? Why would I pay for a full tube of toothpaste and then use 85% of it and just throw the rest away? Lunacy! For decanting and combining products, I love the Smart Funnel (reviewed here), but what about containers that are single-use, like toothpaste? For those, I have a tube wringer.
This gadget not only looks like a torture device, it’s also makes you feel like a mad scientist when you use it. And it helps you be sure to use every bit of product in a tube. But I mean, the potential for mad scientist cosplay is, on its own, a great endorsement.
To use, you simple place a tube between the two cylindrical teeth pieces (no idea what these are called, clearly), hold the wringer by the frames, and twist the handle. The teeth bits will crimp the tube while pushing it through, moving the product to the end of the tube (and the crimping action makes sure it can’t squish back).
It is important to make sure whatever tube you’re wringing is OPEN while you’re putting it through the tube torture device. And go slowly! If you wring a closed tube, there will be a pressure buildup and when you open that tube it will ERUPT and you’ll end up wasting product anyway! This is the same reason you need to go slowly (more slowly the closer you are to the tube cap). You can tell when you’ve wrung enough when a little itty bit of product comes out the end. If you’re just twisting away, you will, again, shoot toothpaste everywhere. And if we’ve learned one thing from Ramona Quimby, it’s’ that you can’t put toothpaste back in the tube.
I use this tube wringer on anything that comes in a tube. Toothpaste? Sure. Tretinoin? Absolutely. Tomato paste? Why not?! I will say that certain materials hold the crimp better than others. Metal tubes take to this wringer like they were made for each other. Toothpaste too, works wonderfully. A thicker plastic, like the hair mask pictured above, don’t make a super solid crimp seal (technical term) but it still gets the job done. When you have the tiniest bit left, you might want to use the wringer again to push out every last bit.
I’d love to know how much money and product this $10 tube wringer has saved me, but I don’t care enough to do anything remotely related to math, so let’s say $100 and two tubes of toothpaste. That’s probably not true, but it feels true.
