Please note that I am referring specifically to metal ointment tubes in this guide. I have no experience with the plastic tubes and cannot give advice regarding them.

I am sure that a lot of my fellow DIY formulators have pondered over proper container selection for their product many times.

There is always a compromise between cost, ease, suitability, and microbial contamination concerns.

A containment and dispensing option which I overlooked for far too long, and which I never see advocated amongst the DIY community is the use of ointment tubes.

For many topical leave-on products, ointment tubes are a great way to dispense easily without worrying about introducing contamination (especially compared to tubs and jars), without the frustration of squeeze bottles (which are a pain to fill and tend to leave a decent amount of product in them at the end), without the fragileness of glass, and without the cost and complexity of pumps.

You may wonder, as did I:

1. Where do you get ointment tubes?
2. How much do they cost?
3. Do you need special equipment?
   
4. How do I get the product into the tubes?
   
5. How do I seal the tubes?

The answer to #1:

• The same place compounding pharmacies get them -- distributors. You can find them easily and many sell to individuals
• Art supply shops -- they are sold for paint but, in my experience, are perfectly suitable for topical products as well. I get mine from my local shop but they also sell online - example 1 - example 2
• Large online multi-goods dealers such as ebay, alibaba, amazon. Experience may vary considerably so caveat emptor

The answer to #2:

• Between a few tens of cents and a dollar and change -- factors being: size, quantity, material, and source

The answer to #3:

• No special equipment is needed

The answer to #4:

• The tubes are filled from the bottom in one of two common ways:

1. placing on suitable paper, rolling it into a cylinder and placing that into the tube and squeezing it out while removing the paper

2. placing in a bag and squeezing it out using a pastry tip or other type of tip

• For the record, my favorite is the paper method and I use disposable parchment paper to do it

The answer to #5:

• Use a straight, flat metal object such as a table knife or a putty knife or a cake spatula to crimp the end, then fold it over a few times

Videos demonstrations are available here:

• https://pharmlabs.unc.edu/labs/ointments/videos.htm

I advise watching them as they are short and will give you a good idea of how easy it is.

I hope that some of you will find this information useful and I encourage you to pass it on to other DIYers if you do.