The other day I was talking with the Okami family who owns KoAloha Ukulele.
I thought the conversation would hover around music and ukuleles.
No. We started talking about toothpaste tubes. More specifically, how to squeeze them.
You see, Alvin Okami, the founder of KoAloha, is also an inventor. He designed what’s now the Tube Press (shown above), which helps you squeeze every last bit of toothpaste out of any tube. (While he doesn’t own the patent anymore, his name is still on there as inventor. Cool, right?)
I brought it up with friends — including my boyfriend — and I was surprised by the reaction. Apparently, it’s annoying — really annoying, if you ask the right people — if you don’t squeeze the toothpaste tube from the bottom.
“What’s wrong with you?” one of my friends asked me, when I admitted I don’t always squeeze the tube the “right” way. “You’re a mid-tube squeezer!”
Is it that bad? I mean, aren’t there worse habits to get upset over?
It must be annoying enough that folks are designing all kinds of tools and gadgets — from the Squeezit Tube Squeezer to the EZ Squeeze Tube — to remedy the situation.
So I’m throwing it out there: does it matter how someone squeezes out toothpaste? Are we talking dealbreaker here?
37 Comments
Toothpaste squeezing on the scale of 1-10 is a negative 5. It represents the heights of anal behavior. As long as the paste comes out who cares? There are some who believe it represents who you are as a person… those people need professional help. Somehow I manage to get every last bit of toothpaste out with devices that are readily available. They are called my left and right hand. Like the great toilet seat debate. Some people need to get a life.
Whew. I thought maybe I needed therapy. 🙂
I squeeze in the middle. When the tube becomes mostly empty, THEN I will use my toothbrush as a “dough-roller” and flatten the tube from the bottom moving the paste inside to the top end of the tube. Then until it’s empty, I squeeze from the bottom, (which is usually for 10 more squeezes or so).
The REAL debate is how to put a roll of toilet paper on the roller. Most guys have the paper coming OVER the roll, while most girls have it coming out from UNDER the roll. Why is this?
…of course, OVER the roll is the correct way, haha!
Toilet paper…. interesting….now you have me thinking…. not sure which method my wife uses.
Toilet paper — that debate will live forever. I don’t know anyone who prefers the roll coming from under… then again, I’m a mid-tube squeezer…
THERE IS AN ANSWER TO THAT. SOME PEOPLE SAY IT SHOULD BE UNDER SO THAT THE CATS CAN’T WASTE ALL OF IT AND COULD SAVE MORE TISSUE BUT IT SHOULD BE OVER BECAUSE IF IT’S UNDER, THE GERMS FROM THE WALL COULD STICK ON THE TISSUE WHICH IS MORE WASTE OF MONEY IF YOU GET DISEASES JUST BECAUSE YOU WIPED YOUR ASS WITH A TISSUE THAT IS FULL OF BACTERIA.
Toothpaste is a serious situation. Really.Especially that pro-Crest. it’ll turn your teeth brown. Read alot of horror stories about toothpaste and the stuff thats in it…stuff they arent telling us. Like anti-freeze for example.What a nightmare when you think you’re doing something healthy, and then your teeth turn brown. be careful out there. Aside from that….as long as one lights a match or uses air-freshner dont think the bathroom & the contents there-with-in would be a deal breaker(the toilet seat situation should be re-visited as an entire seperate topic). Dont worry, be happy,and lets see some smiles! Aloha
O.S., as for the toilet seat, I switched to keeping the seat down all the time when my g.f. and I moved in together almost 20 years ago. l also have switched to sitting when I “make shishi!” It keeps the bathroom MUCH cleaner!
Is this T.M.I. everyone? LOL!
I read this blog last night about the pros/cons of toothpaste tube shapes. I guess the stand-up tube has saved a lot of marriages.
Not a dealbreaker, and there is no right way to do it (no indicator of character or human skill), but it can be an issue when people share a tube. i am a far-end squeezer, and i can easily share with a middle-squeezer. I have a bit more trouble with sharing with a person who squeezes out way too much and then screws the cap on right over all the extra toothpaste hanging out, leaving toothpaste caked on the outside of the cap and all over the neck and shoulders of the tube. So, about once or twice a week, I clean it all up, and suffer in silence. That is if you don’t count this post…
W.O., yes, yes, yes… caked on toothpaste drives me nuts and is the basis for arguments sometimes, haha!
Oh, that’s annoying. I wonder if I do that, too…
Sorry for the double-comment, but just as there are no atheists in foxholes, there are no middle-squeezers as the toothpaste tube nears empty.
does it really matter? when the amount of toothpaste left gets low, you’re either going to have to squeeze from the bottom to ush the remnants up to the top or you’re going to waste a bunch when you throw the tube out. works out the same in the end.
I think the dealbreaker is if this issue is a dealbreaker.
LOL, well said!
I always start with the middle, and then when there is less paste in the tube, move towards squeezing from the end.
OK, in my defense, I do squeeze anywhere on the tube, not just in the middle. But as the toothpaste lessens, I’ll start doing all those squeezing techniques, from using the edge of the counter to rolling the bottom.
But give me a fresh tube and we’re in trouble!
CAT: I am anal so I squeeze from the “bottom”. However, because of this, you cannot have a tube stand up once about a third of the tube is used. So I put the tube upside down in the toothbrush container, or cap side down. My logic is that gravity will help to flow the paste toward the cap side….Ha! Do people put their tube on its side or in a container when not in use? Now with plastic tubes, they don’t crack like the old rolled metal type as the tube is consumed. I remember as a kid, sometimes too much rolling up of the end caused the paste to come out through the cracks on the side.
I actually have a stand-up tube that I don’t stand up! Hah!
Hello Cat, as long as I get the tooth paste out I’m guud.
I should stick with those gel ones.
Toothpaste squeezing. Wasn’t WW1 fought over this issue? I think Maria divorced Arnold due to his tootpaste squeezing ( the whole baby with the maid thing was a cover story ). The next Presidential election will have this a platform issue. The guy who’s predicting the apocalypse said toothpaste squeezing was one of the 7 signs of the end of days. Be prepared.
That and leaving the toilet seat up…
When women have to start using public unisex toilets, I predict a lot of women will experience a change of attitude WRT the toilet seat up/down issue.
LOL!
I used to squeeze only from the bottom up but nowdays I squeeze anyplace. When the tube is almost empty I squeeze from the bottom and will even fold it over to get every last drop of toothpaste. No problems with the wife, she has her own tube to use and abuse.
Separate tubes! There’s an idea!
Cat – I’m just glad everyone’s brushing their teeth! Haha, not brushing would be a dealbreaker.
And it doesn’t matter where you squeeze it from. I’ll do both interchangeably. Sometimes I squeeze the middle, sometimes the bottom, and sometimes I’ll first squeeze the middle – close the cap – then squeeze the bottom to flatten it out.
Yeah, sometimes I’m weird like that.
I think you hit the nail on the head — as long as we’re all brushing our teeth.
Next blog: reusing your dental floss. Seriously. People do.
no way! that’s gross!
i reuse floss all the time. i use it to wrap my bait on my hook so it doesn’t fall off when i cast. usually, when i change bait, the floss is still there, so i re-use.
floss that i use for my teeth, though? nope
Now, that is just sick! LOL
if one has the cranial rectal inversion syndrome(head up their arse) about toothpaste squeezing and sharing, simply buy his and hers. problem solved! Buy toilet seat covers that public bathrooms have, for the home-another problem solved. Not sure how to solve the situation if the guy wants to borrow the girl’s make-up though….
ARE YOU INSANE? You have to squeeze the tube from the bottom. It says so clearly on the side of the tube (Aquafresh). If you don’t the separation layers become homogenized and you end up having to do more squeezing by pushing the stuff that got squished to the bottom by squeezxing in the middle.
I like to live dangerously and take my chances by squeezing the middle…..
I use a pump (mentadent). No worries only one way to get toothpaste out.
IT’S NOT LIKE IT COMES OUT FROM DIFFERENT TUBES THAT THERE HAS TO BE A RULE ON IT. IF THE REASON IS SO THAT YOU CAN SAVE MORE TOOTHPASTE, THEN WHY NOT JUST USE YOUR TOOTHBRUSH TO SQUEEZE THE REMAINING TOOTHPASTE. IT’S JUST A MATTER OF INITIATIVE AND BESIDES, IF THE OTHER REASON IS SO THAT IT WON’T BEND IN THE MIDDLE, WHO CARES? DOES IT BOTHER YOUR OCD OR OCPD? DON’T STRESS YOURSELVES OVER A TOOTHPASTE.