Plastic Free Travel

Taking a look at my plastic full toiletry bag

So, I’m veering a little off course today, actually I’m jumping ahead, to examine plastic and travel. I am on my way to California and after packing this morning I thought it would be a great time to examine what my toiletry bag looks like and how it can be improved, and boy can it be improved!

Ignoring my makeup bag – I’ll tackle that another time because I pack my daily beauty products, today I am looking at my separate travel kit that I like to have packed and ready – that way I’m less likely to forget things.

Yikes! This was an eye opener – not plastic friendly at all. From my shampoo and conditioner to my body wash, face wash, plastic razors, toothpaste, toothbrushes, toothbrush covers, dental floss, and deodorant.

My shampoo and conditioner are the little bottles from a hotel stay earlier in the year, I usually try not to use hotel products, but if one of my kids get to them first then I’ll stick them in the bag to finish off.

Of course, even though it’s plastic free July I’m keeping my bag as is until I’ve run out,, but this got me to thinking about how I can improve this bag and make it much more environmentally friendly.

Depending on how committed you are to being plastic free in your daily life will have an impact on how plastic free your travel bag will be. One tried and true method is to use refillable containers and use your daily products to refill your shampoo, conditioner, etc. Those little plastic containers will last a long time.

But since I am wanting to rethink my whole lifestyle and move to as plastic free as possible I have composed a wish list of items I’d like to have in my bag. I’ll be going much more in depth at a later time as these products at I make the change daily.

My plastic free toiletry wish list:

• Bamboo toothbrush and toothbrush holder, my little plastic one is pretty durable so it will be awhile before I need to replace it.
• Toothpaste in a glass jar
• Dental floss in a glass jar
•  Stainless steel razor
• Deodorant in a tin
• Shampoo, face and body bars. I currently don’t have any plastic soap dishes for travel so I will be looking for metal tins.

My toiletry bag is a heavy duty nylon one from Lands End, I’ve had it for many years and will have it for many years to come.

Since this is just a wish list and I haven’t purchased any actual products yet, these are all affiliate links. If you click through and make a purchase I will receive a small commission – thank you for supporting this blog.

The good thing about using bars instead of liquid is that they are allowed on planes – I don’t have to worry about the liquid ounce requirements. The stainless steel razor on the other hand cannot have the blades in them, so they would either need to go into a checked bag or maybe purchase a new blade on arrival.

I would really love to hear what you use and what kinds of solutions you have come up with for your travel toiletry needs.