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It’s the “just in case” that does it.
Just in case my skin acts up. Just in case there’s a nice dinner. Just in case the hotel shampoo is awful. Every one of those is a fair thought on its own, and left to my own devices I can talk myself into all three.
So if your toiletry bag has gotten out of hand, there’s nothing wrong with you. It’s just that nothing is telling you to stop. The thing that actually decides this isn’t a list. It’s the bag.
The bag decides, not the list
Fly carry-on only and your liquids go through security in one clear quart-sized bag.
Nothing over 3.4 ounces, and it has to close.
That’s the rule, and in a way it’s the best thing that ever happened to how I pack, because the question stops being what might I need and becomes what earns a spot in here.
Whether you still have to pull that bag out at the checkpoint depends on where you’re flying from these days. Some of the newer scanners don’t ask. But plenty of airports don’t have them yet.
So pack it where you can reach it and assume you’ll be asked.
Get the two big bottles out of there
Shampoo and conditioner are almost always the two things hogging that bag, even in little hotel-sized bottles.
Swap them for bars and they stop being liquids at all, so they don’t count against you. If you only change one thing, change that one. It does more than everything else on this page put together.
The only thing to know is that a wet bar needs somewhere to dry. A tin, or a small mesh pouch. Otherwise you’ll open your bag at the next hotel to a soggy mess and blame me.
What else doesn’t have to be a liquid
Once you start looking, quite a lot of it. Toothpaste tablets instead of a tube. Cleansing melts, which are dry sheets that turn into face wash the moment you add water. A sunscreen stick instead of a bottle, which also can’t leak. Dry shampoo as a powder rather than an aerosol, so there’s no pressurized can to worry about and you can do your roots in an airport bathroom in about thirty seconds.
Deodorant wipes come individually wrapped, so one lives in my day bag rather than a whole stick riding around a city with me. That’s the one for landing off a long flight and going straight to a check-in desk.
They’re not all perfect replacements for the liquid version, though.
The toothpaste tablets are fluoride free, for one, so check that against what you want before you switch.
I’ve put the fine print for each of them on my travel toiletries list: what it’s actually for, and where it stops being useful.
For what stays liquid
Some things I’m not giving up, and those go into travel bottles that came with labels. I’m done squeezing an unmarked bottle onto my hand to find out what’s in it.
Fill them about three quarters full. Cabin pressure pushes liquid out of a bottle that’s full to the top, and that’s how a whole packing cube ends up smelling like face wash.
And for anything you’d rather not decant at all, silicone covers go over the bottles you already own. The covers keep caps closed tight, and if a cap does work loose up there, the cover catches it and the leak stops inside the cover instead of in your clothes.
One bag that does both jobs
My liquids fly in a free-standing clear bag that doesn’t look like a sandwich bag and doesn’t split open at the third checkpoint.
Over time I’ve learned that the free-standing clear bag also means I can leave the liquids in the bag on the bathroom counter rather than spreading toiletries across every counter, sink and random shelf in the bathroom and then leaving something behind in one of them. Matt appreciates that our travel bathrooms no longer look like my makeup bag exploded.
Three small things live in there permanently and I never think about them again. Toothbrush covers, because a loose brush head touches everything else in the bag. Lip balm, because altitude is dry and chapped lips are the small miserable thing nobody packs for. And little rounded-tip scissors for eyebrows, cuticles and whatever thread is hanging off a shirt. Short rounded blades are fine in a US carry-on, but it varies by country, so don’t pack a pair you’d be sad to lose.
My makeup list is short
Six things go with me. Tinted SPF moisturizer, face cream, deodorant, a multipurpose balm, one lipstick and mascara. That’s the lot.
Now run that list against the quart bag. Only three of them have to go in it: the moisturizer, the face cream and the mascara.
The balm and the lipstick are solid, so they don’t count at all. Neither does deodorant, if yours is a stick rather than a roll-on. But I use and love Nivea deodorant so it earns a spot in my liquids bag. I buy the six-pack at home and travel with one.
The rest of my makeup is powder, and powder isn’t a liquid either. Blush, bronzer, eyeshadow, setting powder: none of it belongs in the clear bag, and all of it can ride in your suitcase instead.
So if you’ve never sorted yours into liquids and not-liquids, do that once at home on the kitchen table. You’ll probably find the bag is half full of things that never needed to be in it.
Two on that list are doing more than one job, and that’s deliberate.
The tinted SPF moisturizer is sunscreen and base out of the same bottle. The balm is multipurpose, which is why there aren’t three small pots in there instead.
What I don’t carry is a whole second set for the evening. If there’s a nice dinner, it’s the same face with the lipstick on.
Two more that ride along in the same pouch: makeup remover wipes that come wrapped one at a time, so an open pack isn’t drying out in your suitcase, and spiral hair ties, which don’t leave a dent after a long flight.
And most of it you can just buy there
Full-size anything stays home. Security takes it, and even in a checked bag shampoo leaks.
As for the rest of the “just in case” pile, you don’t need that stuff on most trips. And on the rare one where you do, buying it when you get there is easy. Somewhere like Europe or Asia the local version is often nicer than whatever you’d have carried over anyway.
That’s something I wish someone had said to me a long time ago: if you forget something, you buy it. That’s all that happens.
Two I do carry anyway, because you want them at the moment you can’t go out and buy them. Compressed towel tablets, each the size of a coin until you add water, for the rental that turned out to have no washcloths. And enough detergent to wash something in a sink, which is most of the reason two weeks of clothes fits in a carry-on. The rest of that kit is on my travel laundry list.
And if you want the whole system this belongs to, the capsule wardrobe and the three pairs of shoes and all of it, that’s my free guide, Lisa’s Carry-On Only System.
Frequently asked questions
What toiletries should I take on any trip?
Shampoo and conditioner bars, toothpaste tablets, a solid sunscreen, whatever skincare you genuinely use every day, and lip balm. For anything past that, ask yourself once whether you’ll really use it.
How do I fit toiletries in a carry-on?
Stop trying to pack the liquids bag better and start taking things out of it. Bars, tablets, powders and sticks aren’t liquids, and shampoo and conditioner alone usually free up half of it.
Do I still have to take my liquids out at security?
Depends on the airport. The newer scanners often don’t ask, and plenty of airports don’t have them yet. Keep the bag somewhere you can reach and assume you’ll be asked.
Are shampoo bars actually worth switching to?
For carry-on travel, yes, and mostly for the space rather than the hair. Just give them somewhere to dry between hotels.
How much makeup should I bring?
Less than you’re planning to, and I say that with love. Mine is tinted SPF moisturizer, face cream, deodorant, a balm, one lipstick and mascara. The rest is powder, and powder doesn’t go in the clear bag.
What if I forget something?
You buy it there. That really is the answer. Medication is the one real exception, and that belongs in your personal item rather than a checked bag.
