Tuesday, November 3, 2009

Designing a Shampoo Bottle Takes an Engineer

Garnier FructisI was taking a shower this morning when I realized that it takes an engineer to design a shampoo bottle. My fiancee buys this Garnier Fructis stuff. I don't know if it's any good because I'm not smart enough to tell the difference between two shampoos, but she is so I assume it's not bad. In any event, it may have the dumbest design I've ever seen on a product container.

Take a look at the picture of the bottle. You see that little dark greed ball at the top? That's the mechanism for opening the bottle. Now, I obviously don't know in what order you execute your shower routine, but I'd hazard to guess that by the time you get to opening your shampoo bottle, your hands are already wet.

Now, let's say, just hypothetically, that over time a thin layer of soap or shampoo builds up on that stupid little ball. Now, your hands are wet and the bottle is damp and covered in soap and you have to try to pop the top of that bottle by what means? Grabbing? Prying? Squeezing? Try as you may, you can't get a grip on a semi-spherical wet soapy cap.

But, consider what happens over time. When you squeeze the shampoo out of the bottle and then close the cap, you've undoubtedly confined a small amount of shampoo between the cap and the shampoo dispensing opening. This shampoo dries while you're at work somehow morphing into the exact chemical composition of super glue! The next morning, you have to try to un-super glue your shampoo cap by using your wet fingers to apply friction to a soapy sphere.

WTF Garnier? Just, WTF?

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