Custom Printed Shampoo and Conditioner Bar Boxes

The pack is usually a small tuck end carton, a sleeve that wraps round the middle of the bar, or a carton with a window so the colour of the bar shows. All three are folding card, cut to the shape of the bar.

The photos on this page show each type: a wrap band on a round conditioner bar, kraft tuck cartons for square bars and white boxes with a leaf-shaped window.

The same small carton serves both.

Most of these makers also sell bath products, so it is worth looking at the bath and body packaging range for boxes that match.

• Soap makers adding shampoo and conditioner bars to their range
• Refill shops stocking own-label bars by the till
• Salons selling a solid shampoo alongside bottled products
• Subscription boxes that send a new bar each month
• Market and craft fair traders who need a pack that stacks
• Hair care brands with a travel bar next to their bottled line

A 65 mm round bar that is 28 mm thick fits a carton of about 70 x 70 x 32 mm, which allows 2 to 3 mm on each face.

Hand-poured bars vary. If your moulds give a bar that comes out anywhere from 63 to 67 mm, size the box to the largest and the smaller ones still sit well enough.

Square and oval bars need a rectangular footprint, and a twin pack of shampoo plus conditioner wants a box about twice as long with a crease in the middle of the base. The common cosmetic box sizes page has the standard bar footprints for checking.

A closed carton protects the bar best and gives you six panels to print. A sleeve costs the least and lets customers see and smell the bar. A window carton sits between the two.

The table below shows what each style does well and where it struggles.

A dark charcoal bar, a swirled conditioner or a bar with pressed botanicals on top all sell better when the shopper can see them.

A shaped window does more than a square one. A leaf, a droplet or a wave cut into the front links the bar to your branding and costs no more than a plain shape once the die is made.

Skip the window on a plain cream bar. Print the panel instead and let the name do the work. Soap makers who already use our window boxes for handmade soap can reuse the same window shape for a bar.

One or two colour print sits well on it, and the brown base reads as hand made even on a long run.

White folding boxboard takes full colour and lamination. Use it for a bright range, a pattern or a bar sold next to bottled shampoo in a salon.

Board, rigid and finish options are available on request. Textured or linen board is an option for a premium bar, and both kraft and white take a foil logo as an option.

Shampoo bars do it less, but it still happens.

A tissue liner inside the carton is the simplest answer and is available on request. A matt lamination on the inside face also helps, as an option on white board.

Keep the window edge clear of the bar face. If the bar touches the inside of the window cut, that edge is where the mark appears first.

A closed carton with the bar snug inside stops that, and a tissue wrap stops dust from the card settling on the bar.

For single bar orders, the carton slips into a padded mailer or a small box. For a set of three, a sleeve-and-tray or a mailer with a divider holds each carton in its own slot.

If you send bars to stockists by the dozen, ask for the cartons sized so twelve pack flat in two rows. We can check the case count on the proof.

Plan it in this order so the important things fit.

1. Brand name across the top third, in the largest type the panel allows.
2. Product type under it: shampoo bar or conditioner bar, with the scent.
3. Bar weight in grams, which has to appear on the pack.
4. Hair type or use on one side panel, directions on the other.
5. Batch space on the base, blank or with a box for a stamp.

Bars shrink a little as they cure, so measure a cured bar and tell us the range.

A sleeve cut too loose is the next. If the band can spin round the bar, it will, and the print ends up on the side. Size it to the bar with no more than 1 mm of play.

Small type on kraft is the third. Brown board drops the contrast, so keep text at 8 pt or larger and in a dark ink.

If you have two bars, say so and we plan a matching pair or a twin carton.

Every order gets a free design proof from our designers before printing, and quantities are quoted per order from £0.25 per unit on a written quote. Once you approve, production takes 4–6 business days and free tracked delivery reaches any UK address in 2–3 business days.

Misprinted or damaged cartons are reprinted or refunded when reported within 10 days with photos. Send the bar details through the quote form for printed bar boxes and we come back with sizes and a price.