On April 5, 2023, I published an article about refilling my bottle of Nivea “super water gel” sunscreen (Japanese version). Now, on April 5, 2025, I write my second article about Nivea water getlrefills. However, instead of refilling an “OEM” bottle, I filled a 10 oz OXO Good Grips Soap Dispenser (or asked my Mom to do it, either/or).
Where to begin? Let us start with why I wrote the first article.
I published the 2023 article on refilling a bottle of Nivea super water gen sunscreen for two reasons. Firstly, I like the sunscreen and was looking for an excuse to write about it. Secondly, I was proud of myself for managing to refill the bottle from the packet without spilling and wanted to brag about my remarkable accomplishment.
With that background out of the way, let us skip ahead to 2025.
As the season turned from winter to spring, I found myself almost out of sunscreen. I still have some of a bottle of Biore UV Watery Gel sunscreen (also Japanese version), but I am almost out of that one. I usually prefer the Nivea because it is cheaper, but both work well. I went on Amazon to hunt down a new bottle of Nivea water gel. While refills tend to be cheaper, as I noted in the 2023 article, I did not have an empty bottle on hand. I looked for the best sunscreen-per-ounce deal and hit buy.
Unfortunately, I did not read the fine print for my purchase (not the first time I failed the fine print test), and what arrived were two 4.22 oz refill packets. While I did get a good price, I had nothing to empty the refill packets into.
I considered how to remedy the situation, ultimately deciding that it would be best to buy a stand-alone dispenser for the sunscreen. I started browsing Amazon, sifting through a deluge of often identical dispensers from sellers will all-caps names. It occurred to me that I could narrow my search by looking for an option from a brand I have had good luck with. This led me to settle on the 10 oz OXO Good Grips Soap Dispenser, which would have room for both of my refill packets.
The “soap dispenser” arrived as expected. It took me a few minutes to figure out that opening it required pulling the pump off the top instead of twisting (not what I expected). I asked my Mom to fill it, deciding to preserve my 100% sunscreen refill success rate (“SRSr”) from 2023.
It looks good. More importantly, it works well. This aftermarket Nivea sunscreen dispensing solution has some advantages over the OEM bottle.
- It is more aesthetic. Aesthetics are not everything, but they are something.
- You can see how much sunscreen is left in the bottle.
- It holds more sunscreen.
- The bottle has a wider base so it is less prone to tipping over.
- The pump requires more force to push down and is less prone to accidents as a result.
- Its sunscreen dispensing is more consistent than the stock Nivea bottle.
There you have it. My inattention on Amazon ultimately led to my improving my sunscreen set-up. As I write this on a cloudy April day with a chance of rain, I think about how I am more ready than ever before for walks in the bright sunlight.
