Solid Toiletries for Carry-On Travel: What Exists and What Does Not

A solid wash kit gets almost everything out of your liquids bag, but not everything has a solid version worth using. Shampoo, conditioner, body wash and toothpaste are genuinely good as solids. Deodorant works for some people and not others. Proper high SPF sun cream has no real solid equivalent, and no clever packaging changes that. Knowing which is which stops you buying something disappointing and finding out at an airport. We sell a solid bar, so you can assume we are keen on solids, which is exactly why it is worth being straight about the gaps.

• 1. What counts as a liquid at security?
• 2. What has a good solid version?
• 3. What does not have a good solid version?
• 4. How do I build a solid wash kit?
• 5. How do I keep solids dry in a bag?
• 6. What about the return journey with wet kit?
• 7. Summary
• 8. Frequently asked questions

What counts as a liquid at security?

The EU baseline is 100 ml per container, all of them inside one transparent resealable bag of up to one litre, one bag per passenger. That is the rule every airport in the Netherlands, Belgium and France works from, and it is still what you should pack for.

Security counts far more things as liquid than most people expect: gels, pastes, creams, lotions, aerosols, sprays and anything pourable or squeezable. Toothpaste counts. Mascara counts. Solids do not, and that is the whole point. A soap bar, a shampoo bar, a 3-in-1 bar, toothpaste tablets and a stick deodorant all go loose in your bag.

The rules are changing, but unevenly. Some European airports now have CT scanners, which build a three dimensional image of your bag and let staff allow larger containers, in some cases up to two litres with no bag required. The rollout happens airport by airport, sometimes terminal by terminal. Your outbound airport may be relaxed and your return airport may not be.

So the practical rule stays simple: assume 100 ml and pack for 100 ml. For the detail on soap specifically, see can you take soap on a plane.

What has a good solid version?

More than you would think, and most of it is as good as the bottle. An honest verdict on each.

Item	Is there a solid version?	Liquids bag?	Honest verdict
Shampoo	Yes, widely	No	Excellent. The most mature solid category
Body wash	Yes	No	Excellent. The original solid toiletry
Face wash	Yes, bars and powders	No	Good, if you pick something mild
3-in-1 bar	Yes	No	Excellent. One item instead of three
Conditioner	Yes	No	Good. Longer or curlier hair still wants one
Toothpaste	Yes, tablets and powder	No	Very good. Odd for a morning, then normal
Deodorant	Yes, sticks and balms	No, if it is a solid stick	Works for some, not others. Test it at home
Sun cream at high SPF	Sticks only, no true equivalent	Stick no, bottle yes	Do not rely on it. See below
Hand sanitiser	No	Yes, or use wipes	Wipes are the workaround

Worth knowing: washing bars are not all the same chemistry. A traditional soap bar is made by saponifying oils. A syndet bar is built from synthetic detergents instead. Rinsed bars are syndet: Sodium Cocoyl Isethionate is the first ingredient and there are no saponified oils. The difference is laid out in what is a syndet bar and shampoo bar vs soap bar vs 3-in-1.

What does not have a good solid version?

Sun cream is the big one, and it is worth being blunt. No solid product does what a bottle of high SPF sun cream does. Sticks are useful, but they are not a replacement.

The reason is quantity, not chemistry. An SPF number is measured at a specific thickness on the skin, and that thickness is more generous than what most people manage from a bottle, let alone a stick. Dragging a waxy stick across your face, shoulders, arms and feet at that coverage takes a lot of passes, and almost nobody does enough of them. You end up with a fraction of the number on the label while believing you are covered.

Where a stick earns its place is as a supplement: nose, ears, cheekbones, your parting, the tops of your feet, and topping up over a base you applied properly. Take the stick if you like it, and take a bottle as well, or buy sun cream when you land.

The smaller gaps: hand sanitiser has no solid version, and wipes cover most of it. Contact lens solution has none either. Insect repellent comes as a balm and hits the same coverage problem. Liquid medication is generally exempt from the 100 ml limit when you declare it.

How do I build a solid wash kit?

Swap the things you use every single day, then stop. Converting the whole bathroom at once is how people end up with a bag of half used experiments. A kit that covers a week away:

• One 3-in-1 bar for hair, body and face. The single swap that removes the most bottles, since it replaces three.
• A conditioner bar, if your hair is long, curly or colour treated.
• Toothpaste tablets or powder.
• A solid deodorant stick, tested on a normal week at home first.
• Sun cream in a bottle, in the liquids bag.

That leaves one small liquids bag holding sun cream and any medical items, instead of a bulging plastic bag pulled out at the checkpoint. For the full version, see hand luggage only toiletries, and if you are coming from bottles, shampoo bar vs liquid shampoo and do shampoo bars work in hard water are the next two to read.

How do I keep solids dry in a bag?

Air is the whole answer. A bar that goes back into a bag wet stays wet, softens and loses shape. Three habits do almost all of the work:

• Keep it out of the water stream. A bar in a puddle dissolves between washes. Put it on a corner of the sink or a shelf above the spray.
• Let it dry before it travels. Ten minutes of air while you pack makes a difference.
• Store it somewhere ventilated. A tin with holes, a mesh pouch, a cotton bag. A sealed plastic bag is the worst option: it traps every drop against the bar.

Looked after this way, most people get somewhere between 30 and 60 washes, depending on use and storage. There is more in how to store a soap bar.

One more thing on where you wash. Solid does not mean you can lather up anywhere. Keep it to places where the water goes into a drain: a shower, a bathroom sink, a campsite or marina wash block. Not the sea, a river or a lake, not sand or open ground, and not an outdoor tap that soaks away into the soil.

What about the return journey with wet kit?

This is the weakest moment for a solid kit. You shower on the last morning, and forty minutes later it is going into a bag. What works:

1. Blot the bar with a corner of your towel, just enough to take the surface water off.
2. Stand it on a windowsill while you pack everything else. Last thing in, not first.
3. Put it into a ventilated tin or pouch, in an outer pocket rather than buried in clothes.
4. Take it out as soon as you get home and let it dry on a rack or dish.

Out of time? Wrap it in a flannel rather than plastic. The cloth absorbs the surface water instead of holding it against the bar.

The compensation: a softened bar is a cosmetic problem that fixes itself once it dries. A bottle that opens in a bag is your clothes, your book and the lining of your luggage.

Summary

Solids stay out of the liquids bag, which is the whole reason to bother. Shampoo, conditioner, body and face wash and toothpaste all have solid versions as good as the bottle, and a 3-in-1 bar collapses three into one. Solid deodorant suits plenty of people, so test it at home rather than on day one of a trip.

High SPF sun cream is the honest gap. Sticks are good for small areas and poor at covering a body, so take a bottle or buy it on arrival. Keep bars out of standing water, give them air before they travel, and lather only where the water drains.

Frequently asked questions