Best Travel-Friendly Soap Options

Travel-Friendly Soap

Traveling is an inherently strenuous endeavor.  There’s lots of walking, climbing, driving, camping, exploring and wandering involved.  It’s natural to get a bit dusty while exploring the world.  

Selecting a brand or type of travel-friendly soap is an important part of travel.  Smelling decently in public spaces while staying on the road for a long period of time is more than just polite, it’s a necessary part of civilization.  

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Buying Abroad

At the lowest level, bear in mind that the world has been stormed by all sorts of industries.  Even if you don’t have soap with you when heading to an airport, there will be plenty of places to buy soap, shampoo and conditioner wherever you land.  Some travelers prefer this strategy, since it lowers the weight of their luggage and allows them to travel without being concerned about liquids in their luggage.  

However, since most people have soap brands preferences and individualized requirements for staying clean, this option isn’t how most people explore the world while smelling nice. It can often be difficult to find specific brands while traveling.

Travel-Friendly Soap Bars are Best

Right off the bat, the best soap that can be bought for travel is bar soap.  Bar soap tends to be lighter, store more easily and last longer than most other options.  It’s allowed on all flights and smells great, even if packed in a rush.  Bar soap cannot spill, damaging your clothes or luggage.  It can be replaced easily and bought according to personal preferences.

The only downside regarding bar soaps the need for a case.  A soap case, which is a watertight case which holds a wet or damp bar of soap, allows a person to pack their travel-friendly soap even if it’s still wet.  This case will protect your other toiletries.  Always try to leave a case and bar of soap out in the open air to dry as much as possible prior to packing.

Bar Soap Recommendations

I personally travel with Dr. Bonner’s Unscented Bar Soap, since the bars are affordable, they last for a long period of time and they dry somewhat quickly.  The brand receives frequent and sustained rave reviews, since it’s clean, biodegradable and easy-to-find.

This brand does everything for me. I wash my dishes while camping with it, clean my gear and keep myself fresh. Whenever I need to clean something independently, such as dirty dishes, I shave off a corner and work it into a lather.

I specifically travel with unscented soap. Scented soap can be dangerous while camping or trekking, since this may attract unwanted wildlife attention.

Bar Soap Case

As mentioned above, I travel with the bar inside a case. My preferred case is the Matador FlatPak Soap Bar Case, since it’s light, watertight and can be rolled smaller as the soap bar shrinks. Realistically, however, any watertight soap case works fine.

I personally adore solid bars of cleaning supplies.  Liquids spilling in my luggage is a nightmare and I dislike travel bottles being eyed carefully by airport security. 

I have a different travel-friendly soap bar for body washing, shaving lather, shampoo and conditioner.  They all fit in a single toiletry bag.  Travel-friendly soap bars, in my experience, are usually replaced every two or three months based on usage rates.  

Other Options for Travel-Friendly Soap

If bars of soap aren’t appealing to you, there are other good options as well.  

3.4 Ounce Travel Containers Refilled

The most common form of soap for travel are traditional liquid soaps, shampoos and conditions stored inside travel bottles.  These bottles are 3.4 Ounces, which is the legal limit allowed for liquids stored inside check-in bags.  

The advantage of using liquid soaps is the initial cost.  It’s easy to turn a home-bottle of shampoo upside down and fill up a 3.4 ounce container.  

However, liquid soap is somewhat heavy, prone to spilling and doesn’t last terribly long.  A single container allowed on a flight only lasts about a month or so.  

If your journey is only one month, then this is perfect and no extra expense is needed.  However, if you’re traveling for more time than that, or you need to use more soap, you may have to buy a new bottle in the place you land. 

In a foreign country, there aren’t always brand guarantees. Also, it’s unlikely you can use up a full soap bottle before flying out again.

However, there are some cases where liquid soap is the best option.  Most especially, during camping trips and wilderness treks.  Having a trusted, biodegradable liquid brand is a good way to stay clean and healthy on an otherwise rigorous journey.  Using liquid soap in this case is handy, since it takes very little water to get clean.

Best Travel-Friendly Liquid Soap

The best universal soap on the market is again Dr. Bronner’s Magic Soap (Pure Castile Soap).  This brand is the most popular all purpose, vegetable–based soap on the market for good reason.  It can serve as shampoo, body soap, deodorant, laundry detergent, dishwashing soap, insect repellent and shaving cream.  Again, the brand justifiably gets rave reviews.  If you can only bring one brand of soap with you, Dr. Bronner’s has the market beat.

Dry Soap, Shampoos and Conditioners

Often, clean water isn’t a guarantee while traveling.  In these cases, dry shampoos and soaps have dominated the market

Dry soaps and shampoos do exactly what they sound like.  They’re sprayed on and the alcohol or starch base of the cleanser soaks up grease and other debris.  

There are many brands of dry soap and shampoo out there, and they’re particularly good for very dry or very cold climates.  They’re popular for campers and hikers, but I’ve only personally used them on a couple of desert treks. Soap-and-water combinations are my preference.

Wet Wipes

Sometimes, a journey is long and slow with no end in sight.  In these cases, a few handy packets of wet wipes can clean up a person nicely.

While having a small pack of wet wipes doesn’t replace a decent shower, it does cleanse a person somewhat.  Wipe down your face, groin and armpits with some wet wipes (separate ones, of course) to prevent bacteria buildup and clogged pores  This can hold a person over until they reach a proper bath, shower or stream.

Wet Wipes are especially useful on long camping trips in freezing conditions. You can wipe down by pulling your arms inside your outfit without exposing yourself to the cold.

Even if you don’t plan on using Wet Wipes for your journey, I recommend putting a couple as sanitation wipes in your med kit.

Other Cleanliness Tactics

If you’re worried about staying clean on your journey, there are a few more small tricks which can help.

Firstly, consider getting a haircut before your journey.  Less hair means less to clean, which can stretch out a person’s supply of shampoo and conditioner considerably.

Secondly, rotate your clothes frequently.  When traveling, a person might have to wear the same outfit three or four times before reaching a laundry machine or sink to hand-wash attire.  This isn’t as bad as it sounds, especially if you keep the smell off.  Never wear the same clothes two days in a row and leave clothes out to breathe whenever possible.  

Thirdly, if you’re worried about smelly clothes, grab a few dryer sheets.  Dryer sheets can be stored inside luggage limit odors, stifling the scent of dirty laundry.

Traveling cleanly isn’t as hard as people think. Having a packet of travel-friendly soap can make the entire experience much fresher, while avoiding bacteria, grime and sweat.

Best regards and excellent trails,

Old Sean

Read about some rather dusty adventures on the websites blog, Leftfade Trails Blog Posts