The Travelite® FAQ

Mary C. recently wrote to me with the following:

I am so glad that you have started up your Web site again. I have checked it consistently for years hoping to see something new. You have always had the most wonderful suggestions for traveling light. My husband and I have been traveling with carry on bags since the Denver International Airport started up its new baggage system which tore up or lost bags consistently. We never check anymore and I am always looking for ways to reduce what I carry.

Can you please do an article on small toiletry kits? Since we cannot put our liquids into the kits any longer, we really don’t need to tote much on our trips. All the kits I see online are so large that they take up most of your carry on bag. I cannot be the only person that wants a kit that is small, has a hanger for convenience, and easy to access. It would be very interesting to find out what type you would use on your travels.

Boy, I sure remember all those horror stories about that baggage system when Denver’s new airport first opened. Although I’m sure they’ve ironed out those wrinkles, I’m glad that gave you the opportunity to start packing lightly.

From left to right, some examples of typical toiletry kits:
Travelon Independence Bag Toiletry Kit, Lewis & Clark’s Hanging Toiletry Kit, and The Body Shop Hanging Wash Bag.

As for small toiletry kits, you ask a great question. You wanna know a little secret? I don’t use toiletry kits!

The problem with products sold as “toiletry kits” is that they tend to include the whole kit and caboodle. Most of them have extra pockets, a built-in hanger, a mirror, and many more features. On top of that, because toiletries are designed to hold bottles and tubes, they are by nature crafted to be able to stand up on its own. A good toiletry kit should be sturdy enough for you to let sit on your hotel’s bathroom counter, like a box of facial tissue.

The problem, as you’ve already encountered, is that they’re simply way too big for traveling with lightly.

I know what you’re thinking. “Lani, if I have to stuff all the liquid items into tiny bottles in a quart-sized plastic bag, I have so much else that can’t fit, that’s not liquid, that has to go somewhere. I need a toiletry kit!”

Not so fast. Let’s take a look at what you can do to pare down the contents of your toiletry kit.

Minimize what you need to pack in a toiletry kit

Blow dryer/curling iron/hair straightener – How important are these for your hairstyle? Is there a way you can wear your hair so that it doesn’t need to be blow-dried, curled, or straightened? Better still, can you talk to your hair stylist about getting a wash-and-wear style for your trip? If you are traveling for business, your hotel room will likely have a blow dryer. If not, a quick call to the front desk will patch you through to someone who can bring up a blow dryer for you, usually at no charge.

If you absolutely refuse to go without a blow dryer, you can do two things: A) Get a very small travel-sized blow dryer, and B) Pack it in a (clean) sock so you don’t need to take up precious room in your toiletry kit.

Electric razor/beard trimmer – My suggestion is to just buy a disposable razor at your destination. If you wear a beard or mustache that needs trimming, you can either take care of that before your trip (trimming everything shorter than you normally would, and letting it grow out during your trip), or just purchasing a small pair of scissors at your destination. Remember that you can also take a blunt pair of scissors with you, and that round-tipped trimming scissors designed for babies will do the trick for most beards and mustaches.

Hairspray aerosol can – I really discourage travelers from using aerosol cans. Even the smallest ones designed for travel are still pretty bulky. While the finer mist from an aerosol can provides a nicer finish, consider if the hassle of carrying one beats the convenience of using a very small travel-sized pump spray bottle (or an even smaller hand-sanitizer pen-sized mister filled with hairspray liquid).

Shaving cream – If you’re used to your can of shaving cream or gel, you might be surprised to learn that there are a lot of great alternatives, not the least of which is ordinary soap!

Anti-perspirant/deodorant – In addition to smaller travel-sized versions of these, you can also use “deodorant crystals.” Brands like Crystal Body Deodorant are often found in health food stores, and are basically mineral salts that inhibit bacterial growth in your armpits. These are neither liquid nor gel, and need not be packed in your transparent plastic baggie.

Tip: To minimize body odor, consider trimming your body hairs before your trip. Guys, you might feel awkward imagining trimmed armpit hairs, but taking them down to a short length (for example, half an inch) will make it harder for bacteria to thrive. You can do the same with your… other regions! Left-handers with no family member willing to help trim the left armpit (or the right for right-handers) might consider actually shaving the area before the trip. Just do so a week or so before the trip to give it time to grow back. Make sure to use a new razor and wet the area well to avoid painful snags or ingrown hairs. An electric beard or hair trimmer would be easiest here.

Hair brush – If you have too much hair that you cannot use a small comb, consider getting a travel brush that folds in half. There are a couple of popular styles (this one, from Magellans, being one of the most popular), but the common feature is that they usually fold in half. Getting a hair brush with a handle that folds away or collapses is a great way to save space in your toiletry bag.

Folding travel brush from Magellans.

Manicure set – Instead of taking a large grooming set with you, pare it down to the minimum: Nail clippers with a built-in nail file, and a small pair of tweezers. I don’t like to cheap out on tweezers. I prefer the more expensive ones from Sephora or Tweezerman (with the slanted head), because they are so exact as to make removing slivers and eyebrows easy. They don’t lose the grip on what you’re tweezing, and they pull cleanly so you it doesn’t hurt anymore than it should. Everything else related to manicures, I suggest leaving at home. If you’re worried about chipping your nail polish, simply go au naturale but get a nice glossy buff instead.

Make-up – If you removed your electric gadgets and bottles of liquid, most likely what you will be left with is your make-up. Although this one probably deserves its own entry, for now my suggestion is to go with minimal make-up and using smaller containers.

Now that you’ve pared your toiletry kit packing list down to the minimum, half your battle is over, and you no longer need a large bag! Now let’s take a look at some options for a smaller toiletry kit.

Sample toiletry kits

My favorite is the Eagle Creek Pack-It system, because they have so many sizes and variations that you’re sure to find one that fits your needs. A couple of their items stand out:

Eagle Creek Pack-It Cosmo Pouch – Designed specifically to hold cosmetics, this very simple pouch is what I use. It’s lined with polyurethane so I don’t have to worry if I spill a bit of eyeshadow powder. This pouch is pleated and you can get a surprising amount into it. Its only drawback is that if you have a lot of tiny items (lip balm, eye drops, tweezers), you might have to hunt around for them at the bottom of the bag.

Eagle Creek Pack-It Cosmo Pouch is a simple elegant solution for your non-liquid toiletries.

Eagle Creek Pack-It Sac – A very similar item is their Pack-It Sacs in small or medium. The main difference is that the pleating isn’t as wide, the material on the outside is a laminated mesh (so still leakproof), and the sac comes with a little keyring clip on the side, which can be convenient if you want to hang it off of anything (although since the clip is small, you will need something else, like a carabiner, to clip it on anything substantial, like your camp site’s public shower stalls.

Other manufacturers have similar products, including Jansport (with its Spillproof Sak Set). If you’re looking for one Web site with a lot of affordable options, take a look at MEC out of Canada. They have a lot of items, including their On Sight Universal Pouch, On Sight Mesh Organizer, or their truly simple Cactus Creek Ditty Bag.

The Cactus Creek Ditty Bag from MEC is probably the simplest toiletry kit you can own. And at $3.75 (Canadian), it’s cheaper than a Grande Mocha from Starbucks!

In a true pinch, consider using a gallon-sized Ziploc baggie. You can see everything, and you can’t beat its price!

But I want to be able to hang my toiletry kit…

Here are two tips if you want to be able to hang your toiletry kit:

• Loop a carabiner keyring off of the your zipper
• Carry a folding travel hanger from which to hang the kit off of

Depending on the sac/pouch you get, some of them will allow you to hang them and still keep the zippers open. Give each one a look to see which work best for you.

Cheap carabiner keychains will let you hang your toiletry kit.

Just remember, regular toiletry kits have too many bells and whistles, like hangers, mirrors, etc. since their goal is to give you “more bang for your buck” when all you need is a small case.

Are you trying to minimize the amount of liquids you pack in your carry-on? Do you tend to use the little bottles of hotel shampoo, but periodically find yourself staying at a budget motel that only provides bars of soap? One alternative is Travelon’s Shampoo Sheets.

If you’re familiar with dissolving soap sheets, these Shampoo Sheets will be a very familiar concept for you.

Soap sheets are basically wafer-thin sheets of soap. I don’t think they’re shaved soap so much a dried film of soapy liquid. Most of them dissolve as soon as you get some water on them, and they’ve been around for quite some time.

Travelon’s Shampoo Sheets

These Shampoo Sheets come in little plastic containers about the size of a roll of dental floss. Opening the flip-top reveals sheets of translucent film that, when put in contact with water, turn into a lather.

The biggest advantage to these Shampoo Sheets are that they are neither liquid nor gel; they contain no water whatsoever. So you can put it somewhere else in your bag and free up the space in your transparent toiletry bag for bottles of other items.

Caveats

You get 50 sheets per pack of Shampoo Sheets, but the instructions say to use between 1 and 6 sheets per shampoo. I currently have shoulder-length hair, and 1 sheet is wholly inadequate for even much of a lather. I think 1 sheet might work if you have a buzz cut. I tried three sheets at once and it was still a pretty lackluster lather. I would not recommend these as your primary shampoo, but as a back-up or when space is a premium, they should work fine.

Travelon also sells other types of sheets:

• Hand Soap Sheets
• Conditioner Sheets
• Shaving Sheets
• Body Wash Sheets
• Laundry Soap Sheets

Of these, I also tried the Conditioner Sheets—stay away from these! Because they are not soapy, they do not lather nor dissolve easily. The Conditioner Sheets remind me of the dried conditioner scum that collects around the mouth of a dispenser pump; and if you’re familiar with those, you know that those are very hard to rinse out. I wound up trying 4 sheets at once. They were difficult to dissolve, and I wound up with clumps in my hair that I couldn’t rinse out. I found little clumps stuck in my hair after I got out of the shower!

For the others, I don’t know if they’re partiuclarly helpful since the Laundry Soap Sheets will probably require quite a few to get any lather, and regular soap should work just as well instead of all of the specialized soap sheets.

Retail seems to be about $5.00, but you can purchase one here from PackingLight.com for $2.95 (despite its name it is not affiliated with Travelite).

A quick note: Earlier today, I sent an e-mail about reactivating this site to the 1000+ readers who’d subscribed to my Yahoo Groups announcement list over the years. I was kind of steeling myself for a bunch of unsubscription requests and negative feedback, but I was pleasantly surprised to receive a number of messages thanking me for reviving the site. It’s nice to know people are still interested in this topic—thank you! You can sign up for the Travelite Yahoo Group announcement list here, or send e-mail to this Yahoo Groups address.

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I’m always on the lookout for things I can use to travel with, and every so often I come across an “A-ha!” item. There’s just such an item on the market right now, and since I don’t know how long the fad will be happening, let me share this with you so you can buy a few for your stash.

Most smart travelers don’t bother traveling with aerosol cans, because it might not pass the security muster in some places. If you carry any spray bottles at all, they’re little pump spray bottles like the one pictured here:

Small spray bottle.

These spray bottles aren’t bad. I use them for all sorts of things, from hairspray to wrinkle releasers. I often also fill one with clean water to spritz my face with when I’m on a longer flight. But for most of my trips, I rarely ever use the entire contents of the bottle—and that means I’ve always had room to trim it down a bit. The problem is, it’s darn difficult to find spray bottles in stores—empty or not—that are much smaller than 2 ounces. You do occasionally run into a few; usually with things like eyeglass cleaner solution. You have to be rather careful with those, though, and make sure to wash and rinse them out really well to clean out the original contents.

Well recently, I’ve started seeing an even smaller bottle of pump spray—an amazingly tiny 0.17 ounce size! They are all sold filled with hand sanitizer, and they seem to be the current fad (remember when all hand sanitizers a few years ago were of the rubbing alcohol-gel type?).

A little pen-style bottle of hand sanitizing spray.

Here’s what’s really cool about these things:

• They all come with a pen clip on its cap, so you can clip it in your pocket for easy access
• They are all about the length and size of a Sharpie marker
• They are safe to refill (after proper cleaning) because the original product is meant to have contact with your skin
• They are refillable!

So far, I’ve come across these at Longs Drugs, Walgreens, CVS, Wal-Mart, and other drugstores.

There are a couple of caveats:

• The plastic spray bottle is manufacturered by at least a couple of different brands, and the Wal-Mart house brand has a “pen cap” that neither snaps in place nor has a long enough sleeve over the bottle, leading me to lose the cap in my purse all the time.
• Some of the bottles have the labeling silkscreened on, so if you’re the type to “relabel” your empties you will have difficulty removing the original labeling.
• There is at least one brand that allows you to pump the pen cap itself. These bottles are not refillable.

Now I routinely carry these little pen-sizes spritzers. I filled one with hairspray. I have another that I keep empty, then fill with water before I embark on a plane, which lets me spritz my face. I keep it in my breast pocket so I don’t even have to fuss through my carry-on. You could easily use these for things like bug spray, light cologne, and liquid sunscreen.

I use an address label to keep tabs on what the contents are (I use weatherproof mailing labels from Avery), but you could easily use a grease pencil as well.

Happy spritzing!