Can you travel with handcrafted soap?
This is a question I get asked often at craft fairs, “Can I travel with this soap bar?”. The answer is a big YES!
Artisan soap bars are great to travel with because they are solid soap. This means there’s no ounce restrictions to worry about in the security line at the airport or liquid blow outs in your suitcase due to air pressure changes. That last one has happened to me, and even though I kept the shampoo in a plastic bag it was still a mess to clean up and waste of money to have to throwout half a bottle of shampoo.
I recently took a mini road trip and decided I would share with you all how you can bring along handcrafted soap on your travels. After all, who really wants to go from using artisan soap to using hotel soap? And since Earth Day is coming up soon I also wanted to test out the 100% recycled kraft paper soap packaging I have for bulk orders as a replacement for plastic bar soap boxes.
You might be thinking, “hello Kathryn? Soap gets wet how are you going to put it back into a compressed paper box without it getting ruined?” Below are my tips for taking your favorite Nettlesome Pantry soap bar on the road in eco friendly packaging.
Easy Tips for Using Handcrafted Soap for Traveling:
Decided how long you’ll be gone and what you need the soap for (just for hands or for your whole body and hair… maybe washing some dishes too…)
Then depending on how long you’ll be gone. Maybe you’ll need the whole bar for an extended trip. If it’s just a couple of days you could probably cut your bar up into four one ounce pieces and just bring one along with you. Alternatively, bring along one of our sampler boxes. They are already cut in to perfect travel size pieces.
Make sure to wrap your box in rubber band to keep it closed
When you get to your destination take your soap out and use a soap dish they have. If there isn’t one like at my hotel, you can use the soap box to have place to hold your bar.
To make sure the box doesn’t get too wet, use my soap saver method of hand washing
Keeping your soap minimally wet and mostly dry will go along way to keeping it in a travel ready state so your don’t have to deal with sticky messy soap. I found that using this travel box was a fantastic way to keep my soap well aired while also protected from being jostled around. On this trip I brought a bar of The Traveler with me. It’s always nice to have that crisp lemony scent to wash up with when you are in an unfamilar place.
The best part is, I know that if I accidentally forget my soap that I won’t be leaving behind plastic trash. These travel soap boxes not only use recycled paper, they are can be recycled again or even composted. I like that fact much better than the thought of micro plastics getting into my soap from rubbing on a plastic travel box or leaving behind plastic trash if I forget it or loose it.
Have you traveled with artisan soap before? Tell me your experience in the comments below.
