Are paper tubes suitable for oily balms?

Yes, with the right liner. We add a moisture resistant inner liner or a compatible push up mechanism so an oily formula does not soak into the paper wall. Tell us the formula and we will spec it.

What is the minimum order?

There is none. Start with 100 tubes to test and reorder at a lower per unit price as your line grows.

What sizes do you offer?

Diameters from about 1 inch for balm up to 3 inches or more for bath products, in the height you specify. We build to your fill volume.

Paper Tube For Cosmetics

Name: Custom Cosmetic Paper Tubes | Free Design & Samples
Brand: The Best Price Boxes

Kraft paper tubes for skincare, lip balm, deodorant, bath salts, loose tea and powdered products. Size the tube by its inner diameter rather than its outer, because the wall adds 1 mm to 3 mm on each side and that is what decides whether your product drops in cleanly.

Wall thickness runs from about 1.0 mm for light dry contents up to 3.0 mm for heavy fills and glass inserts. Closures include push on caps, peel off membrane seals, cork stoppers and telescoping lids, each of which needs a different amount of headspace above the product.

Custom printing, colors, sizes, finishes and board choices are all available. Free design service, free samples, free shipping and no minimum order.

Pricing depends on size, material, and quantity, request a free quote

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MATERIALS

PREMIUM FINISHES

Shipping and Turnaround

Standard production runs 7 to 14 business days, depending on the box style, print method, and finishing you choose, a simple kraft mailer moves faster than a box with foil stamping or spot UV. Need it sooner? We handle rush requests case by case, so email us your deadline before you place the order and we’ll tell you straight whether we can hit it.

Shipping is free, anywhere in the world. We ship with FedEx, UPS, USPS, and DHL depending on your location and order size, and you’ll get a tracking number as soon as your order leaves our facility.

Standard turnaround: 7 to 14 business days
Rush orders: handled case by case, contact us with your deadline
Shipping: free worldwide via FedEx, UPS, USPS, or DHL
Tracking: provided once your order ships

Paper tubes for cosmetics are rigid cylindrical containers made from wound kraft or white paperboard, used for lip balm, deodorant, bath salts, powders, and solid cosmetics that suit a plastic free package. We make them with no minimum order quantity, so an indie beauty brand can order 100 and a growing line can order tens of thousands, at a per tube price we will quote against your current supplier.

The build is a spiral or straight wound paper wall with a fitted paper or metal cap, and the wall thickness sets how premium it feels. For push up cosmetics like balms and deodorants we add a paperboard or biodegradable twist mechanism, while for powders and salts we use a shaker or a plain lid. Standard diameters run from about 1 inch for balm up to 3 inches or more for bath products, in heights you specify. Print goes on a wrap label or directly on the tube, with matte, gloss, soft touch, or a natural kraft look, plus foil and embossing for a premium finish.

Brands move to paper tubes for the sustainability story and the shelf differentiation, because a plastic free cosmetic reads better to a lot of buyers now. We help you match the mechanism and liner to the formula so an oily balm does not soak the wall, and we quote finishes on the same order. Send your fill and the format you want and we will spec the tube and a free proof. If you have a competing quote, send it and we will try to beat it.

Paper Tubes for Cosmetics Questions, Answered

Are paper tubes suitable for oily balms?
Yes, with the right liner. We add a moisture resistant inner liner or a compatible push up mechanism so an oily formula does not soak into the paper wall. Tell us the formula and we will spec it.
What is the minimum order?
There is none. Start with 100 tubes to test and reorder at a lower per unit price as your line grows.
What sizes do you offer?
Diameters from about 1 inch for balm up to 3 inches or more for bath products, in the height you specify. We build to your fill volume.
Do you beat competitor pricing?
Send a comparable spec and quote and we will match or beat it where we can. That is what our name is about.

Looking for more options? Browse all our Custom Tube Packaging, or request a free quote on custom paper tube for cosmetics with no minimum order and a price match.

Related cosmetic packaging: Cosmetic paper tubes pair with our foundation boxes, cosmetic labels, and skincare boxes. No minimum order.

More Custom Tube Packaging

See the full Custom Tube Packaging range, or explore related options with no minimum order and our best-price guarantee:

What is a Paper Tube for Cosmetics?

A paper tube is specified by its inner diameter, not its outer, which is the opposite of most packaging. Your product needs 1 to 2 mm of clearance from the inner wall, and that clearance has to survive a manufacturing tolerance of about half a millimetre, a combined tube and cap tolerance of around 0.6 mm, and up to half a millimetre of swelling in humid conditions, so 1 mm specified can arrive as none. Wall thickness follows the filled weight, from 1.0 mm under 100 g up to 2.0 to 3.0 mm for glass. Free design, free dielines and free samples, with no minimum order.

What are the Advantages of Using Paper Tubes for Cosmetics?

Inner diameter is the number that matters

A paper tube is specified by its inner diameter, not its outer. This trips people up constantly, because most other packaging is quoted the other way round. Your product has to fit inside the inner diameter. The outer diameter is that figure plus twice the wall thickness, and it is what determines whether the tube fits a shelf, a shipper or a display. Quote the wrong one to a factory and you get a tube that is two or three millimetres out, which on a 30 millimetre tube is the difference between a product that slides in and one that does not go in at all. When you brief us, tell us the widest point of your product and we will work outwards from there.

Common inner diameters

Use	Typical diameter
Lip balm	about 30 mm inner
Travel candle	50 to 65 mm inner
Cosmetics and candles generally	50 to 60 mm outer
Three wick candle	70 to 90 mm inner
Food and can style	70 to 99 mm outer
Wine and spirits	over 100 mm outer

The practical floor is about 10 mm inner diameter and 20 mm tall. The ceiling is around 350 mm across and 1200 mm long, which is well beyond anything cosmetic.

Clearance, and why one millimetre is not enough

Leave 1 to 2 mm of clearance between your product and the inner wall. One millimetre is the practical minimum and three is about the point where the product starts moving around. Here is the part that catches people. That clearance has to survive three separate variations stacked on top of each other.

Source of variation	Typical figure
Tube manufacturing tolerance	plus or minus 0.3 to 0.5 mm
Tube and cap combined tolerance	plus or minus 0.6 mm
Expansion at 80 percent humidity	0.3 to 0.5 mm

Add those up and a tube specified with exactly 1 mm of clearance can arrive with none, in a humid warehouse, at the wrong end of the tolerance band. That is not a defect, it is arithmetic. Specify 2 mm and the same tube works in every condition. Paper is hygroscopic. It takes on moisture from the air and swells, and it does so in the direction that closes your clearance. Any tube specification that ignores humidity is incomplete.

Wall thickness follows weight

Wall thickness is not a style choice. It is set by what the tube has to carry.

Contents weight	Wall thickness
Under 100 g	1.0 mm
100 to 500 g	1.2 to 1.5 mm
500 g to 1 kg	1.5 to 2.0 mm
Glass bottles	2.0 to 3.0 mm

Glass is the outlier because the failure is not the tube collapsing, it is the tube failing to protect the contents when the parcel is dropped. A glass bottle in a 1 mm wall is a broken bottle. Winding method changes this too. Moving between spiral wound and layer wound construction generally needs another 0.3 to 0.5 mm to reach the same rigidity, and thickness can normally be trimmed or added in steps of 0.2 to 0.3 mm without retooling.

The closure decides more than you think

How the tube closes changes the internal height you need, and it is worth deciding early because it is not a late stage change.

Closure	Clearance it needs
Easy peel lid, rim allowance	5 to 8 mm
Cork stopper	15 to 20 mm
Telescoping lid	about 20 mm

A telescoping lid slides down over the body, so roughly 20 mm of the tube height is lid overlap rather than product space. Size the body for your product and then add the closure allowance on top, rather than discovering later that the usable height is 20 mm shorter than the tube. Height itself is usually adjustable by 5 to 10 mm without changing tooling, so small corrections cost nothing to make. Diameter changes are not, because the diameter is the mandrel.

What to send us

The widest point of your product, measured. Not the nominal size, the actual widest point including any label or cap.

The filled weight. This sets the wall thickness.

Whether it is glass. Glass changes the wall thickness band on its own.

How it closes. Peel lid, cork, telescoping lid or something else, because that decides the height allowance.

Where it is stored and shipped. Humid climates need the clearance at the top of the range rather than the bottom. Design and dielines are free, samples are free before a run, and the unit price falls as the run gets larger, because setup is a fixed cost spread across the order. Terms used here are covered in our packaging glossary, and if the tube is going inside a shipper the corrugated specification reference covers the outer.