Pack a toiletry bag with minimum liquids means to pack maximum solids. I have learned over time, when traveling, less liquids mean less trouble.

Why minimum liquids?

1. More and more airlines started to charge fees for a checked bag and more people started to travel with a carry-on bag. However, not everything is allowed in a carry-on bag, especially, liquid, aerosol and gel. Many common toiletry items are in liquid, aerosol or gel forms. This makes packing a toiletry bag for a carry-on trickier.

Some people just don’t carry any toiletry items at all and buy them when they arrive at their destinations. This is a good idea, if your destination is not in the middle of nowhere and if these items are manufactured there locally. In other words, the toiletry items that you need might be shipped from somewhere else and the shipping costs will increase the price of these items quite a bit.

2. Liquids Leak. It doesn’t matter how many layers of protection you put over the liquids. There is always a chance of leaking. For example, my mom’s contact lens solution was in a bottle with a securely tighten cap, wrapped in a couple ziplock bags, inside a small plastic toiletry bag, within a large leather toiletry bag. Guess what, it still leaked.

3. Liquids = bottles and bottles are not very environmental friendly. Liquids have to be stored in some kind of container, usually bottles. Many bottles are plastic and they take forever to decay in a landfill. I try to reuse the bottles as much as I can, but many are still thrown out to the landfill. Reducing the use of toiletry liquids would reduce the use of bottles, so not as many bottles will end up in the landfill to cause environmental issues.

Here is a list of liquid, aerosol or gel toiletry items that are also available in solid form.

Hair shampoo and conditioner

Instead of bringing bottles of shampoo and conditioner, there are shampoo bars and conditioner bars. It took us quite a bit research to find them though. We use shampoo and conditioner bars from ethique. It takes longer to produce enough foam from these bars for my long hair, than from liquid shampoo and conditioner, but these bars work! They clean my hair well, they smell good, and they help with the environment too!

Shower gel

Instead of bringing a bottle of shower gel, a bath soap bar will do. Bath soap bars are easy to find. You can find all kinds of bath soap bars in any grocery or general store.

Something like Lynne Leea’s mini soap bars would work well. There are different scents to choose from. The size is ideal for traveling.

Face wash

There are many face cleansing bars to choose from on the market. However, my skin is sensitive and it is quite difficult to find the right cleansing product that works for me. For people who have sensitive skin like me, I recommend DHC’s mild soap. It is made with olive oil and honey. Just like its name, it is mild. It cleans the skin nicely without irritating it (at least for me). Most importantly, it is solid and easy to travel with.

Body lotion

There are also solid lotion bars on the market. For example, the Honey House Naturals’ Bee Bar and the Kosmatology’s organic lotion bar. I personally like Kosmatology’s organic lotion bar. It might look funny at first slight (it looks like a deodorant), but the location bar is very moist and non-greasy. Most importantly, the lotion bar doesn’t melt in a high temperature, so it will not leak when traveling!

Face lotion

My face is so sensitive that not many moisturizers work for me, so I stick with the DHC’s mild lotion (too bad that it only comes as a liquid). But there are face lotion bars as well! For example, Ethique’s solid face cream.

Laundry detergent

Instead of bringing the liquid detergent, there are power detergent and also laundry soap bars. Power detergent is easy to find in stores, but it can be messy to carry. We carry a laundry bar instead. We have been using ethique laundry bar. It washes our clothes very well. The scent of the soap bar is nice and minty.

By the way, ethique has a whole line of beauty products in solid forms. If you need anything else, you might want to check them out.

Shaving cream

There are many choices of shaving bars on the market, just google “shaving bar” or “shaving soap bar”. However, this item so far is the toughest one to find a satisfying replacement. I don’t need to shave, so I can’t comment. Based on my dad, the texture and the amount of foam produced by the bars is not sufficient for him to have a smooth shave. Therefore, I don’t have a good recommended solid shaving bar. If you do, please let me know!

If you know some other liquid toiletry items that are also available in solid forms, but are not mentioned here, please let me know! I hope my tips help you have a pleasant and easy trip! Happy Hopping!

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