Haircare and bodycare packaging for 200-500 ml products, with the numbers

Which format for which product.

Wash-off products are used in a wet hand, in a shower, upside down. Leave-on products are dosed. That single difference decides most of the table: wash-off gets a squeezable body and a one-hand cap; leave-on gets a pump. Volumes below are the sizes partner factories hold as stock moulds; 500 ml shampoo with 400 ml conditioner is the classic pair.

The compatibility rules override the table. Alcohol above about 30% attacks PET (styling waters, some scalp tonics): use glass or alcohol-rated PETG. Essential-oil-rich treatments attack AS, and oxygen-sensitive actives want an EVOH structure. The full set of rules, with the failure behind each, is on the formula-to-packaging compatibility matrix.

HDPE, PET, PETG or PCR: what each one gives you.

One rule from our matched-collection work: moulded-in white and sprayed white do not match each other. Moulded-in colour is pigment in the resin; sprayed colour is a coating; they differ in depth and in how they catch light. A shampoo and conditioner pair must be sprayed in one run against a master swatch, or both moulded from the same masterbatch lot. Colour is judged at ΔE under D65 light against the signed golden sample, never by eye.

Tube specifications for treatments and masks, Ø40 to Ø60.

Hair and body tubes sit at the large end of the standard diameter range. The barrier decision is the same one that governs skincare: a single-layer PE tube passes oxygen at roughly 150-300 units, a five-layer EVOH co-extruded tube at 0.2-1.2, about two orders of magnitude lower. Plain conditioners and hand creams do not need the barrier; oil-rich or fragrance-led treatments, and anything with an oxidising active, do. The full print-area table for Ø13-Ø60 is on the cosmetic tube specifications page; the rows relevant to haircare and bodycare are below.

24/410, 28/410, disc-top, flip-top, and the pump test.

A neck finish is written diameter / thread series. The first number is the outer thread diameter in millimetres; the second is the GPI/SPI series: 400 means one full thread turn, 410 means 1.5 turns, 415 means a tall neck with two turns. Haircare and bodycare bottles almost all run 24/410 (200-300 ml) and 28/410 (300-1,000 ml), because 1.5 turns gives enough engagement for a heavier closure or a pump on a bottle that is handled wet. A 24/410 pump will not seat on a 24/415 neck even though both are 24 mm. Specify the neck on the bottle drawing first, then buy the closure to it; the full drawing notation (T, E, I, S, X) is on the neck finish and closure standards page.

The pump test sheet. A lotion pump has around eleven parts, which is why stock (common-mould) pumps are the default and why the pump is sampled before it goes near a filling line. The numbers a partner factory signs against:

What fails in the field is the seal at the glass or steel ball under the spring: if it leaks, product flows back on each stroke and the pump starts losing doses. It is visible at incoming inspection sampling. Full pump and sprayer data are on the airless, pump and sprayer specifications page.

The tests a filled bottle passes before it ships.

These sit under the four inspection gates (IQC, IPQC, FQC, OQC) and the signed golden-sample rule on our QC standards page. For haircare and bodycare the ones that matter most are the leak test, because the pack lives upside down in a shower, and the drop test, because a 500 ml bottle is heavy.

Acceptance is arithmetic. Defects are classed critical / major / minor with AQL agreed before production (critical effectively zero, sampling to ISO 2859-1 general level II) and surfaces are graded A / B / C, so the face on the shelf is held tighter than the base.

Minimum and lead time, component by component.

A pump bottle is a bottle, a pump and an overcap, often from three plants with three separate minimums, so the honest table is per component. The figures are industry floors and partner-factory practice; as a sourcing partner we route each component to a factory already tooled for small runs, which is where the lower numbers come from. Where no small-run route exists (plated closures, extruded tubes) we cannot beat the floor either.

Add transit and calendar to every line: sea freight 25-40 days to Europe or the US East Coast, 15-20 days to the West Coast; a ×1.3 buffer on the quoted cycle; +15 days on any order touching Chinese New Year (2027: 6 February); September-November is peak season. For a Q1 launch the order must be confirmed with a signed golden sample and deposit by the first week of December. The whole chain is laid out on the lead time and China production calendar page, and the route logic on real minimum order quantities by route.

Export packing for bottles, pumps and tubes.

Empty haircare packaging is volume, not weight, so sea freight is typically 5-8 times cheaper per cubic metre than air, and the carton specification is what protects the sprayed finish for 30 days in a container. The packing standard below is written into the order and checked at the OQC gate; the full flute, grammage and FEFCO tables are on the export packing and transit standards page.

How the six-module program applies to haircare and bodycare.

Every solution page on this site runs the same six modules, because a shampoo bottle and a perfume flacon fail in the same places: an unwritten spec, an untested pump, an unsigned sample, an unowned mould, an uninspected lot, an unpacked carton. Here is what each module does for a 200-500 ml haircare and bodycare range.

The process from brief to delivery, with where each module sits, is on how we work. Empty packaging only: filling, filled-goods shipping and any dangerous-goods classification of the formula remain the brand's responsibility.

A sourcing partner, not a factory.

Vella is a Guangzhou-based beauty packaging solutions provider that helps indie and emerging cosmetic brands specify, source, sample, tool, quality-control and ship complete packaging systems — bottles, jars, tubes, pumps, closures and cartons — from vetted Chinese partner factories operating to ISO 22716 / GMP, with published engineering standards and low minimums.

No single Chinese factory makes HDPE bottles, lotion pumps, extruded tubes, spout pouches and cartons well; they are different industrial processes in different towns. Buying the range through one partner is what lets decoration be batched, the shampoo and conditioner colour be held to one standard, and five minimums be met together rather than five times over. Partner factories operate to ISO 22716 / GMP; we publish the thresholds so acceptance is arithmetic. Related solutions: sustainable and refillable packaging, perfume bottles, and the packaging solutions hub.

Frequently asked

All solutions · Skincare · Fragrance & home fragrance · Makeup · Sustainable & refill · Indie brand launch · How to evaluate a Chinese packaging supplier

The questions brands ask us most.

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• Roll-On, Stick and Spray Deodorant Packaging MOQ from China (2026)
• Essential Oil Spray and Roller Bottles: Amber Glass, Fine-Mist Sprayers, Roll-On Balls, Compatibility and MOQ
• 500 ml HDPE Shampoo Bottle with Lotion Pump: MOQ, Lead Time and Cost from China
• HDPE vs PET for a Shampoo Bottle: Material, Neck Finish (24/410 vs 28/410) and Leak Test
• How Continuous Spray Bottles Work: Bag-on-Valve vs Pre-Compression Pumps, Mist Quality, and Sourcing
• How to Open a Pump Bottle That Won't Open: Lock-Down Pumps, Twist-to-Lock, Clip Locks — and What Brands Should Specify

Not sure what to specify? Use the Packaging Spec Builder — formula, volume, quantity and launch date in, a 12-line spec sheet with MOQ verdict and order-by date out.

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