Newer Doesn't Mean Improved in the 5 oz Pump Version of Ancient Minerals Magnesium Lotion
UPDATE DEC 2019: Ridiculously weak 'pump' system in the new bottles that easily break. Like other reviewers, the last bottle I got has a defect. It was my only bottle and full, and definitely not in my budget to toss out and try another. Fortunately I had not yet tossed my empty bottle that had consistently worked. So I used a thin flat screwdriver to pry off the top and discovered that the 'pump' system is a recipe for breakdowns.<br /><br />In that test, I got my answer to my earlier review down below why, oh why did they now not let us open up the tops. The reason is we would have discovered there is no 'pump' as we know it and have destroyed the super delicate plastic cone the size of a small crouton that now is part of the 'pump,' which actually is a 2 part process of suctioning, where the suction lifts the bottom by so much, which then pushes out so much lotion.<br /><br />So there is no straw or pipe as a regular hand lotion, but just a narrow hole where there is this delicate plastic cone loosely fitted into that hole at the bottom, the cone only a delicate lattice of plastic, and the larger end of the cone then sits loosely inside the top part that we depress. With that cone only a weak lattice of delicate plastic, it is easy for something to break or go wrong, but it wasn't ultimately the cone that was my problem, but the internal bottom floor was not perfect, but off. So the suction was null and void.<br /><br />Wow...give me an old fashioned pipe hand-lotion pump any day, especially at this price of this lotion, for this means taking scissors and transferring the thick lotion to another bottle or jar of any kind. I did try using the old parts of my empty bottle on the new full one, but it worked partially until it stopped, and that is what led me to figure out it is the bottom piece that is hidden by a pry-able cap on the bottom, which is defective. So be warned and have on hand empty jar or bottle which you can transfer the contents to if even shaking does not bring out anything. As I experienced, the top does pop off with a thin flathead screwdriver.<br /><br />This was my original review:<br /><br />I'm a praying woman and you can believe that I am praying they will bring back the original 8 oz version of Ancient Minerals Magnesium Lotion after having no recourse but to buy the new smaller 5 oz by said name and company. Well it never makes me happy to have to pay the same for almost half of the product, and this proved no different as I need a certain quantity of the lotion, and not a certain ml per ounce in that I will change the amount I use as if it is a prescription drug of which I only need x-dosage of. I have found the original lotion a God-send working much needed aid for muscles aches, arthristis aches knees, ankles, back etc.<br /><br />And to cover that area means so much lotion. So here I got almost half the size for same price, and it didn't transform into less usage because they are touting now it carries an extra 7 mg per 1 ml, because it still takes x-amount whatever that is, to treat the areas I need. Plus another very needed ability the old bottle gave has been removed! And that is the ability to unscrew the top and take out to the last dollop as this isn't cheap. Instead they've made it a sealed bottle so you can't get out the last bit, or open it to just get a tiny bit.  What this has meant is I find myself going through this smaller bottle at an alarming rate for its cost, and thus using much less in effort to make it last the same time as my budget can't afford replacing this more often that I could before with the 8 oz.<br /><br />Plus get this, despite what someone else has said here, it is quite a lot thinner than the previous version, which is a negative to me. People new to the product expect a easy thin lotion like a handlotion and so the thickness I could see often would get complaints; but when you realize this is normal, it ends a bonus because it spreads more, reaches more. But now the consistency IS like a thin handlotion and so not only do you have 5 ounces instead of 8, but a thinner lotion about 1/8th the thickness of before, I suppose so it can flow through this pump. I haven't found it to be 'better' working than the 33 mg 8 ounce, and so have found no justification for paying more for less, and having  a bottle that no longer opens. What is up with that for all of my handlotion bottles can twist open, so why the move to seal it off---I can only rationalize so a customer is forced to dispense a full amount, and hence go faster through the bottle to the math of 150 pumps. Well, people can just pump in microcosmic presses to get near the same, but even so, I like to open a bottle to get the last amount. I still have bottles 2 years old that came to almost empty I can still get amounts from that are good for little things that have not expired.<br /><br />At $20+ dollar a bottle, if the product is still potent I want to get the final use of it. Of course one can take scissors to this new plastic bottle, but it will just be more of a mess, and I guarantee with this thinner amount, the option to get months worth or even a year plus won't be there, since there was half there to begin with. I wish Ancient Minerals would produce both versions, so those who want a pump bottle lotion-thin version can have this one, and those of us who want the original thicker larger bottle can stick with that. Maybe that is the company's plan, I hope, but if not, if this has superceded the older 8 ounce, I can't give it 5 stars; I only give 2 because the product still works, but it has been at the price of a lot of valuable removals of the older original lotion that I find a grief.<br /><br />**UPDATE October 24 2017***<br />After having gone through 5 of the new pump bottles since my this review, I learned there is no way one can expect to find even a drop of lotion left over once the last pump has been reached. I DID take scissors to the first pump bottle I went through (less than a month lasted) and found it utterly clean inside. I could see that as the pump innards (not technical) pushed the lotion upwards, it has been designed to totally fit the inside so that absolutely NOTHING is left at the last pump. After 5 bottles in a frame of time I would have gone through 1.5 of the old larger size, when you knew the lotion from the larger 8 ounce squeeze bottle, this is a tremendous disappointment and ripoff as each time I haven't been able to make one of these 5-ounce bottles even get to the end of 1 month. As I'm on a fixed income, I can't afford to buy 2 of these $24 bottles per month; I could just swing the larger size as for sure I could at least get 2 months out at the rate I need to use it. Plus, the fact the older bottle wasn't by a pump mechanism like some of those toothpaste pumps that have a floor that climbs up pushing the toothpaste and fills the inside, and instead required one to squeeze the bottle to get some of the thicker lotion out, that combination of the lotion being twice as thick minimally, and it was free of any progressive rising tightly-fitting cylinder, always, always meant I could count on another couple of months of getting use out of the lotion while I also made use of a new 8 ounce, so it was affordable.<br /><br />Even now I STILL have @ 4 bottles of the old larger one still useful with enough dollops yet on the inside walls that I keep them as reserve so that when I am inbetween a bottle I just finished and waiting for a new one to come in the mail, I have a supply to keep using that hitting the bottle on my fist or using my finger to swipe the inside walls gets me a useful amount.<br /><br />Having had the larger bottles left me experiencing the painful difference: there is no way around it, when I pick up a brand new smaller 5 oz, it literally feels like half and even less the amount of the older 8 ounce, and it even makes me wonder if there is less than 5 ounces. And, being thinner the new formula, one is indeed getting almost half the same in the 5 ounce of the new compared to the older one, as the older formula was so thick you couldn't pour it out, but had to hit the bottle a little on your palm, or just open the top and dab a little out.<br /><br />This has left me considering getting the still reasonably priced oil, and testing if first putting hand lotion on my palm, then the amount of ancient minieral oil will result in the same advantage I found with the lotion, in that the lotion never burned my skin, as $48 a month for the right number of the newer bottles does not fit into my budget. The newer formula has its conveniences, but this isn't a product I buy to use like hand lotion to soften my hands or a small area like that as elbows. It is a product I use to aid against muscle aches, prevent cramps at night, on my back, feet, knees, calves and whatever my senior body decides to throw at me.  Now if you have never had the use of the 8 ounce, it's like the adage you don't miss what you never knew, and if you only have a small area to cover like knees, or fingers, the smaller size might last you a long time. My own mother uses it just when she has a headache, and at that rate of use and amount it will last her more than a year because she only uses a pea size once a month or less.  In this journey the down-sizing and formula thinning started me on, I did give a try to other brands, not all, but of the ones I tried, I haven't found one that has worked as well for me. You know on the old bottle, some complained about the thickness, and some complained that it was hard to get out, but there were others like me who found that a plus because it it wasn't designed to be a hand lotion but more like a medicinal ointment/cream of which we are all used to getting a dab out on our fingers and spreading on what ails us. Maybe that led to Ancient Minerals thinking it would be all love from the people by thinning the formula and making it an easy pump. Well, to a point, IF they had kept the same size 8 ounce or even more 12 ounce to make up for the thinner formula so that save value was there for what actually is $4 to $6 more a bottle for there were times I could get the older formula at $18 a bottle, free deliver. If they decide to make this a larger size pump bottle at a good price for larger size so one bottle would last me the same as the older formula, then my complaint would be over. But since this is the only choice, a down-sized bottle at a rich-person's price to spend a month on lotion, it stays at 2-stars because it is too costly now. Because of the cost I know my mother would benefit from this lotion on her other aches and pains, but I see her refusing to use it except for the smallest rare times as if it is to her like turning to luxury liquid gold and her thriftiness makes her unwilling to use it more, even if it has meant she just suffers the pain. Now then what is the use of such a product change if it results in a price too high for those on a fixed income to bring themselves to use it? Then it becomes another display item on the cupboard shelves much like high priced perfume. I am sure her one bottle will still be there until it expires 2 years from now; at least I use my own, but I feel the monetary pain when each new one ends unpractically before 30 days.
Rating: 2 stars