The New Approach to Packing Toiletries in Your Carry-on Bag (effortless)

Today I'm showing you all my best tips about how to pack your toiletries for carry-on travel so that you have zero liquids or as few liquids as possible without sacrificing anything. I'm also going to show you the five different toiletry bags that I've used and my system for packing everything all together. So if you're flying with a personal item under the seat or you don't want any risk of things leaking or exploding in your bag, here's exactly what to pack and how to do it. First things first, in your carry-on you're allowed to bring one quart-sized bag of liquids, aerosols, gels, creams, and pastes. Everything has to be in travel-sized containers that are 3.4 ounces or 100 milliliters or less per container. My best tip is to put everything in a quart-sized ziploc bag, but I'll explain that a bit later on because first I want to show you how few liquids you actually need to be bringing. Get yourself some of these toothpaste tablets. All you do is pop one in your mouth, chew it up until it gets a little foamy, and then you just brush your teeth as you normally would. There are lots of different kinds out there. These are the ones that I use because they do come in a little travel-sized tin and I find that I actually only need about half a tablet each time. So this container actually lasts for about two weeks and that's brushing your teeth twice a day. Facial wipes have always been handy for travel, but using ones that are water activated have so many benefits. First, you won't have to pack a liquid face wash or makeup remover and second, these ones won't dry out since there's no liquid in them to begin with. And they also double as a washcloth. I like to use the Olay Daily Facials because they're gentle enough for sensitive skin, but you can use whatever ones you like. There's a few different brands out there to choose from. And the best part is these won't dry out like the pre-moistened ones. I always used to buy those type for travel, but then I would never use them all in one trip. So then by the time my next trip came around, they would just be totally dried out and not usable again. Next is soap. I bring my own bars of soap because I travel so much. So I do like bringing soaps that I know are going to be gentle on my skin. But if you're staying in a hotel, chances are they'll have some soap. So this is something that you can actually totally eliminate altogether. But if you do want to bring your own soap, if you're only going for a few days or a week, you can cut a bar of soap into smaller pieces and save even more space. And then you don't have to haul around soggy soap with you. Next is deodorant. As long as it's solid, it's not going to count towards your liquids limit. I use this travel-sized crystal deodorant because it basically looks like an ice cube. So there's no questioning whether it's a paste or a gel or a cream-based deodorant. Let's talk shampoo. I pack shampoo bars because I color my hair, so I do need to use purple shampoo. But again, if you're staying in a hotel, they'll usually have shampoo, so you likely don't need to pack this. However, I am seeing a trend where a lot of hotels now have a combined shampoo and conditioner. So if your hair is anything longer than a pixie cut, you know this is just not going to work. So in this case, I would recommend packing either liquid conditioner or bringing a conditioner bar as well. If you're going the liquids route, use one of these liquids pouches instead of the standard squeeze bottle containers. Those refillable bottles take up unnecessary space. This is because if you don't fill up the entire bottle, the bottle is still going to take up the same amount of space. And if you're only traveling for a few days to a week, chances are you're not going to need the entire 100 milliliters of product. That's where these liquid travel pouches come in super handy. They come in multiple sizes and are compact and lightweight. And since they're a pouch and not a bottle shape, they only take up as much space as you fill them. I've been able to bring so many more different liquids in my carry-on this way. They're easy to clean and they come with a little funnel too. For lotion, I pack these lotion sticks. I get them from one of my favorite shops in Canada, but there are different kinds out there that you can use. I've never ever been asked about these and I've never had to pull them out for liquids when going through security. And I fly out of one of the pickiest airports in Canada. So if you're international, this should work just fine. For face moisturizer, again you can find sticks out there, but what I do is I just pop the amount that I need into these little travel silicone containers. They're compact and seal tight and I like the wide base so they're really easy to clean. These are the 30 mil size, but you can also get them in 50 mil. They work great for so many things like creams, your hair products, coconut oil. Sometimes I've even packed my vitamins and supplements in there too. And each set comes with four containers in this little pouch and they're each a different color so you know exactly what's what. If you need to pack sunscreen for your trip, grab a sunscreen stick. And same thing as the lotion sticks, I've never had an issue with these being considered a liquid. Okay now, if you do need to pack additional liquids like some makeup, at this point you should have plenty of space in your clear quart-sized bag. And fun fact, I actually recently learned that you are allowed to bring larger amounts of medically necessary liquids, gels, and aerosols such as contact lens solution in your carry-on. But when you're in security, you will need to pull it out separately and declare it to the security officers for inspection. And it also has to be a reasonable quantity. Now to avoid any sort of spillage, I use these toiletry skins for leak proofing your bottles and containers. You just stretch these skins over top of the bottle and now they're completely spill proof. If you're always worried about something spilling or exploding in your bag, definitely try these out. You can also place a piece of plastic wrap under your cap of your bottle, but I find this just gets kind of gunky and messy so the toiletry skins are a much better system. Okay, now let me show you my liquids packing system using a few different toiletry bags. First things first, all my liquids get packed in this Ziploc bag. For pretty much every trip I go on, my liquids bag includes mistler water, contact lens solution, a few makeup items, some face cream and moisturizer, a couple of hair products, and a liquid sunscreen in addition to the stick. If you're flying out of an airport where you have to remove your liquids from your main bag to get through security, just keep this bag easily accessible so you can pop it out quickly. Then once you're through security, you can pack it away for your Once I'm in my destination, I'll usually take all the liquids out and then keep things organized in my toiletry bag or on the counter in the bathroom and then I just repack it into the Ziploc bag for flying home. Here are the different toiletry bags I've tested and I like the most. I like this style of toiletry bag because it's ultra slim so it fits nicely either on top or the sides of your carry-on bag. It's especially great for a personal item bag that fits under the Inside we have two separate kits. So what I do is place the Ziploc in the bigger detachable kit and then keep all my solids in the smaller kit so everything fits together. This toiletry bag also has little spots on the side for your toothbrush and razor and some mesh pockets for slim items. You can also hang it a couple of different ways and these dop kits are actually detachable and sealed to be leak proof as well. Also, shout out to this avocado green bag. This is my new favorite carry-on. It caught my eye on Amazon so I had to test it out for my recent trip and I am in love. It's especially perfect for this system of repacking your liquids after going through security because it's not a clamshell design, just a top open design. So there's no need to awkwardly open up your entire suitcase on the tiny little tables post security. It's got so many great features, it's affordable, it was about $150. It fits perfectly in the overhead bins. I'm just wanted to share it because it's designed so well especially for getting through security. Sometimes I use this style of bag which I love because it's got two compartments. The main one opens up nice and wide so you can see and grab everything easily and then on the bottom there's a separate zipper compartment where you can store your makeup brushes, maybe a toothbrush, a comb, or other dry products. Sometimes I even make this bag do double duty and I'll pack my cords and chargers in here in the second compartment if I'm taking as little luggage as possible. And again, easy to just pop the Ziploc bag into this kit after security and pack it away. Now this is a style of toiletry bag I bought years ago and as you can see it's pretty well used. I like it because it keeps everything upright and it is still pretty compact especially if you don't overstuff it. Once again, I just pop my Ziploc bag in here after I get through security and there's plenty of room for all my lotion sticks, my bars of soap, and it's got multiple internal mesh pockets and you can hang it if you don't have enough counter space. I originally bought this on Amazon probably over five years ago now. I will leave a link to the closest bag that I can find. I think they've actually made some upgrades so if it doesn't look exactly like the one I have here, trust me, it's probably better. If you have the space and lots of toiletries, liquids, or solids, this is my go-to bag. There are four different compartments so everything stays well organized and the big compartment has zippers from both the top and the bottom so you can easily access everything. This is also great if you're going on a family trip and want to keep everyone's things together in one bag. Now this is a bigger bag so when I bring this I usually open it up and then it packs away flat. And this one that I have, you've seen it in other videos that I featured, it's the medium size not the large size. And sometimes I've also heard from people who use this bag is that when they're going through security they just open it up so it's face up so that all the liquids are visible and that's worked fine at a lot of airports so your mileage may vary but you could also try that. And for traveling ultra lightweight you could also use one of these standard basic toiletry bags, the kind of classic design that's been around for years. You can use it to just hold all of your solids and then just keep the Ziploc bag as its own separate bag. I think I've pretty much covered everything. If you want more travel tips I have an entire travel toolkit on my website. It is totally free and has every single resource, product, service, app, everything that I use for travel. I list everything about how I save money on hotels, business class flights, I've got travel credit cards, all the travel gear that I use, everything. I also have an email newsletter that I send out once or twice a month and in there I include even more travel tips, giveaways, and just extra info that I can't fit all into all my YouTube videos. I wish you smooth sailing through security for your next flight. Thank you so much for watching and I'll see you in the next one.