How To Travel Light: TSA Liquid Carry-On Restrictions

The biggest bugaboo of travelers who wish to travel light is the TSA Carry-On Restrictions for Liquids. You’re allowed a maximum of 3 ounces of each liquid, gel or aerosol you want to carry on, and all the liquids you want to carry on must fit into ONE quart-sized, zip-top, sealed plastic bag (the 3-1-1 Guideline). Agree with it or not, the restrictions are there, and if you want to fly and carry on your luggage, you’ve got to follow the rules.

The biggest problem is getting everything you need into the single quart-sized zip-top baggie. Sure you could buy several 2 and 3 ounce bottles, but if you had 2-3 ounces of everything you needed, you wouldn’t be able to fit it into the baggie.

The trick is to take only what you need for the duration of your trip, plus one day. Why plus one day? Just in case.

Step One

Start with a call to your hotel. Most hotels can provide everything you need to stay clean. They may not provide deodorant, dental floss or specialty face cream, but they can keep you soaped, shampooed, conditioned, lotioned, shaved and minty-fresh.

A five minute phone call allowed me to discover that the hotel where I’m staying provides both a shaving kit and a toothbrush and toothpaste. All I have to do is ask when I check in.

Inside the room are the standard supplies: shampoo, conditioner, face soap, body soap, body lotion and mouthwash.

If you’re going to skimp anywhere in your minimal allowance of carry-on liquids, I recommend skipping the shampoo, liquid soaps, shaving cream, and toothpaste. What the hotel provides should be fine, unless you use a specialty shampoo, lotion or soap. Then you need to make room for that in your quart-sized baggie. Your conditioner, if you use one, and any styling products you use on your hair, are what’s important.

Step Two

Go to Google Maps and enter the address for your hotel. Next, search nearby businesses for grocery or other specialty stores you may need. I did a search for grocery stores near my hotel and realized that I have eight choices for a place to buy shaving cream, shampoo or body lotion—all within a quarter mile of the hotel.

If you are staying with friends or family, however, skip this step. Unless they live in a hotel, they probably have someplace nearby where they buy food. Many grocery stores also have health and beauty aisles. You should be able to spare an hour within a day of your arrival to hit the store and get what you need. But check with them ahead of time. If you’re going to your in-laws, they may have your vacation already planned out for you and you won’t actually have time to go to the store.

Step Three

For those things you just absolutely have to take with you, I have three words: samples, samples, samples.

Sample bottles are your friends. Every time you get a small sample bottle of something, save it. Even if you don’t use what’s inside, rinse it out, make sure it is dry and then store it for your next trip (I keep all my empty, dry, ready-to-use sample bottles in a baggie in my suitcase).

Many companies now offer sample packs that you can purchase. I purchased a sample pack at Whole Foods. It’s the MyChelle Skin Care Sampler, and it had every kind of container I could want. Burt’s Bees also sells a package of products based on skin type, but the containers are a tad larger than I liked. The Container Store also carries “smalls” for traveling.

If you buy something from a specialty store (I think it’s fairly obvious a lot of my skin care stuff comes from Origins), ask for a sample when you make your purchase (or ask for a sample of something else they carry that you’d like to try). Most stores are happy to provide samples, especially if you’re already a paying customer. Just ask—the worst they can do is say no. And those little foil or plastic sample packages? Perfect for travel.

Which would you rather take on an week-long trip? The big bottle on the left which has enough face wash for a month, or the two smaller bottles on the right which have enough face wash for eight days?

Both choices meet the TSA restrictions for carry-on liquids, but the two smaller bottles hold roughly 1/3 the amount of the larger bottle. And take up 1/3 the space.

But, Amy, you ask, how do you fill those teeny-tiny bottles?

With one of these:

I got that one from the pharmacist. I asked for a plunger-type syringe for dispensing infant medication, and she gave me two. Wasn’t that nice? If your pharmacist isn’t that nice, check the infant medication aisle, or try another pharmacy.

How To Fill The Travel Bottles

Remove the plunger from the syringe.

Load a SMALL amount into the body of the syringe–slightly less than you think will fit in the sample bottle—better to make two passes at this than have some go to waste.

Replace the plunger and squeeze it gently until the product is near the nozzle.

Squeeze the air out of the empty sample bottle if it’s malleable (but don’t squeeze so hard you compromise the bottle itself). This will allow you to get more product into the bottle without having to stop and tap the cream or liquid to the bottom to shift the trapped air as often (two types of matter cannot occupy the same space…. that air has to go somewhere, and you don’t want it pushing your product out of the bottle to get there).

Slowly fill the bottle.

Clean and dry the syringe. This is where it’s handy to have a few syringes. While one is air drying, you can use the second one to fill another bottle.

How Much Stuff Do I Need?

That depends. How long will you be gone? How much face cream do you use each day? How much conditioner? How long does that two-ounce bottle of hair gel really last you?

The only way to answer these questions is to experiment. Get a sample bottle of conditioner and use it. How many hair washings did it last? That sample container of eye cream? How long did it last? Five face washings? Six? Ten?

Get out your sample bottles. Fill them. Use the small bottles in your daily routine. Note how long it takes you to get through each one . Then you know how quickly you use up different lotions and potions. Based on that, figure out how much you need depending on the length of your trip. Keep those notes in your suitcase, alongside all those sample bottles…then you’ll know for the next trip exactly how much you need.

What Do I Put It In?

For cleansers and thinner liquids, I like the small bottles with screw-on lids.

For thicker creams and gels (especially eye creams and night creams), I like the flat containers.

If you don’t have time to collect a bunch of sample containers for small-volume products, head to the pharmacy or grocery store and buy some contact lens containers. They’re small, water-tight and lightweight. Perfect for traveling light.

Shampoo, Conditioner and other hair care products are probably your biggest-use items and you’ll need at least 1-oz or 2-oz bottles of everything (under the current TSA restrictions, the maximum bottle size is three ounce).

Regardless of what kind of container you use and what you put in it, LABEL EVERYTHING. If you don’t have a label maker, use a small piece of masking tape and a fine-point Sharpie. It’s no fun to spend time trying to figure out what’s in all those little bottles. A few seconds labeling as you fill bottles saves frustration later.

What Are My Options–Item By Item

Shampoo & Conditioner

• Take only as many ounces as you need
• Use the shampoo the hotel provides
• Buy some when you arrive (but any left over should be left behind)

Leave-In Hair Conditioner

• Take only as many ounces as you  need
• Buy some when you arrive

Hair Gel/Mousse

• Take only as many ounces as you need
• Buy some when you arrive
• Wear your hair in a twist for the entire trip and forgo it entirely

Frizz Control, Straightening Sprays other Hair Stylers

• Take only as many ounces as you need

Facial Cleanser

• Take only as many ounces as you need
• Use a bar-soap type cleanser such as Neutrogena
• Use what the hotel provides

Face Lotions & Creams

• Take only as much as you need

Over-The-Counter Acne Treatment

• Take only as much as you need

Body Cleanser

• Skip it. Use the soap the hotel provides

Body Lotion

• Only take it if you’re hypersensitive to scent. Since I am hypersensitive to scent, I can take enough of my own unscented lotion to get me through, or I can compromise and take less, and use the hotel-provided lotion on body-parts far away from my nose… such as my legs, for instance.
• Use what the hotel provides
• Buy some when you arrive

Deodorant/Anti-Perspirant

• Take a solid. It doesn’t go in the quart-sized baggie
• Get a sample size (get two, you need to test how long it lasts)

Dental Care

• Dental Floss doesn’t go in the quart-sized baggie
• Use the toothpaste the hotel provides
• Use a powdered toothpaste (which doesn’t go in the quart-sized baggie)
  

Hair Removal

• Use the shaving kit the hotel provides.
• Use men’s shaving soap. It doesn’t go into the quart-sized baggie.
• For women: hit the spa and wax 2-3 days before you leave. Do not do this if you haven’t waxed before and don’t know how you react to the treatment.

Fingers and Toes

• Have a mani/pedi-cure before you leave. No sense spending trip/vacation time doing your nails (not to mention having to sacrifice precious space in that quart-sized baggie)

Any unused portions of items you purchase when you arrive should be left behind (an 8-oz bottle of shampoo, even with only an ounce or two of shampoo in it, must be surrendered at the TSA security check point). A consideration in deciding what to take, what to buy and what to use for free.

If you want to know more about what you can and cannot take on the plane with you, and the volume and packing restrictions, visit the TSA website for a complete list.