Solid Beauty

 A few years ago I had to make do with a smaller toiletry kit than usual while traveling, as most of my bags were filled with stuff my mom needed (she had just moved out of the country).  It was a good experience for me, since I always carried too many beauty items and didn’t even use most of them once I got where I was going.  One of the tricks I learned was to use as many solid products as possible.  First, I switched from a liquid roll-on deodorant to a stick.  Then I switched out my foaming face cleanser for a bar.  Finally I decided to take it very seriously and figure out just how many liquid products I could switch out for solids to save space in my bag. 

So after telling you how much I can’t get over my dislike of body bar soaps, now I have to tell you that when it comes to traveling, I try to fill my dopp kit with as many solid beauty items as possible.   I am comforted by the fact that the majority of my beauty routine will not have leaked all over my clothes and that I can take all of my toiletries onto the plane with me (anyone who has experienced replacing their entire toiletry bag due to lost or stolen luggage can tell you that once is more than enough). 

Although I’ve never been a big fan of bar soaps for the body, I have no aversion to using solid face soap.  My mother has been using the original Neutrogena bar for over fifty years.  It’s not my cup of tea, but if you have normal skin and want a no muss, no fuss facial bar, this might be the one for you. 

The first facial cleansing bar that I fell for was from Clinique.  Their mild facial soap not only comes in the perfect soap dish (even in travel size), but it is gentle and effective.  They also have an Acne Solutions version now.  But if you need to go in the other direction, you can get the Extra Mild (from what I’ve read, better for sensitive/dry skin). 

My all-time favorite foaming facial bar is the one I can least afford: Erno Lazlo’s Blue.  At $40 a bar it is probably still more affordable than a lot of the liquid cleansers that you would find at Nordstrom or Sephora (you will get more uses out of it), but it’s anywhere from 4-8 times more expensive than your average beauty bar.  It is, however, an amazing cleanser and if I didn’t know just how wrong it would be, I would start collecting the sample size from every Nordstrom in the state (don’t even get me started on the Laszlo Blue Firmarine face cream, which costs almost $200 and feels like your slathering heaven on your face). 

Here is Where I Talk a Lot About LUSH Handmade Cosmetics

Since I can’t drop that much money on a bar of soap, I’ve found a happy medium in the LUSH Full of Grace Serum Bar.  This product is great for sensitive or irritated skin and seems to work for all skin types (but I can only speak for me as a sensitive and oily, but maturing, kinda gal). I was skeptical when I was first introduced to this product, but I was willing to try it underneath a face mask (letting the serum sink in – it was pretty fabulous).  Having tried and loved the way that worked, I took it with me on a trip to a particularly dry climate to use as a moisturizer, since that is how most people seem to use it.  My face got so dried out while I was staying up in the mountains of Utah that I ended up trying Full of Grace as a cleanser.  After rinsing and patting my face dry, it felt so good that I just didn’t follow up with a moisturizer.  I found that my skin was happily without red and felt hydrated and soft.  The trick to this product seems to be figuring out how you, personally, want to use it.  But for travel, why wouldn’t you want to try something so flexible?

Going back to body wash for a moment, my friend Jodi would never forgive me if I neglected to mention another great LUSH product: ShowerJellies.  LUSH only makes two at this time, but they’re great options.  Sweetie Pie has a fruity scent and leaves a slight sparkle behind.  Whoosh (Jodi and my favorite) is packed with citrus and will really wake you up.  I had a hard time working with Whoosh the first time I tried it, but I have now been shown the way (pinch off a piece, add to loofah or mesh sponge, rub together and you’ve got lather).

LUSH’s line of come highly recommended by many people I know who have dry skin, though I prefer to use their massage bar, Strawberry Feels Forever, on the occasion that I use a solid moisturizer (in other words, only when I travel).  I am also very curious about one of their new releases, Putty For Your Hands which is a hand soap and lotion in one.  I may have to go to my local LUSH tomorrow to see if this new product will finally rid me of cracked and bleeding knuckles and ragged cuticles.

If you want to be able to take a whole slew of bathing products with you on your travels but have no idea how you would make enough room, consider LUSH’s non-liquid bathing options.  Bath bombs aren’t exactly the best shape for packing (being round and all), but I did once pack several in an oversized suitcase and gave them as gifts to the people I was visiting.  It left me with enough room in my suitcase on the way back for the things I’d bought on vacation.  However, most of the time you’re going to want something compact and I can’t think of anything better for that than LUSH bath melts and bubble bars.  While not all of the bath melts are teensy, both Dreamtime and You’ve Been Mangoed will fit in the palm of your hand, making them quite packable.  The bubble bars come in a variety of shapes and sizes, but again you can look for the smaller ones in a scent you’ll enjoy and make yourself a little bath kit for the road.  When I just can’t bring myself to pack a bunch of Honey Bee bath bombs, I will usually end up with a few Ma Bars and a Mangoed or two in my kit.  And there really is no end to the flavor combinations you can create by adding various items to the bathtub you end up with.

I haven’t tried them yet, but LUSH also just released “reusable bubble bars” on a stick.  Everything’s better on a stick, right?  

If you haven’t saved enough space in your travel bag by now, LUSH also offers both solid shampoos and one solid conditioner.  The conditioner, Jungle, has a lingering, slightly fruity scent and works great as a rinse-out or leave-in.  I know a few people who really love it, but I had a hard time working it through my hair – don’t let that dissuade you, though, as I have long, wavy, coarse hair that weighs more than my head.  On the other hand, I’m a huge fan of the LUSH shampoo bars.  The only problem I have is picking which one to use. 

Seanik’s marine scent is one of my favorites and it softens the heck out of my hair.  Soak and Float smells like a campfire (which I didn’t mind, but I’m sure some people would), but also helps fight dandruff.  Trichomania has always been a hit with my dry, thin-haired friends.  But Ultimate Shine is the bar I keep going back to because my coarse hair can always use the extra glossiness and this bar gets the oil off my scalp without drying out the rest of my hair.

One more, for the road… I will be ordering the LUSH Hard Shampoo Bar for my next trip to Italy to help me fight the horrible, horrible things that happen to my hair and scalp when they are exposed to the minerals in Genoa’s hard water.  I may even use it as my body soap, since I have yet to find anything that keeps me from feeling like I’ve just rolled in sand after showering there.

If you’re looking for one-stop shopping for solid products, LUSH is a pretty obvious choice.  They’ve got everything from solid toner (Toner Tabs, which you add to water) to solid toothpaste featured in Real Simple (Toothy Tabs) to solid dish soap (one of their new releases for Mother’s Day, The Dish Fairy).  There is just no end to solid solutions there.  But they aren’t the only place where you can find solid items to travel with (or love so much that you want to use them at home). 

Here are a few solid sellers we’ve heard good things about:

Badger Healthy BodyCare:  In addition to the lip and hand balms they’ve long been known for (sold at stores like Whole Foods Market and Wegman’s), Badger also carries tinned balms for your body, your feet, your cuticles, even your baby.  They also have a beauty balm that can be used for targeting areas like underneath the eyes and stretch marks. 

L’Occitane en Provence: This French skincare line contains one of my favorite items on the planet, Almond Shower Oil, but I wouldn’t dream of taking that on a plane with me.  Their solid offerings are the Shea Butter Ultra Rich Face Soap, Mom & Baby Balm and various sizes of pure shea butter in a tin, including a rose scented one (my favorite was the apricot, but it looks like it was discontinued).  They also carry a few different solid perfumes.

From Sephora…

   

There may not be a solid product for every one of your needs, but at Sephora you can find solid perfumes (by TOCCA and Pacifica), cleansing balms (like Ren No. 1 Cleansing Balm and The Balm's Balms Away), body balms (like Benefit Bathina) and multipurpose balms (like Josie Maran's Argan Balm in a tin or a stick).

The Little Known…  

Then there are the handcrafted, all natural items that you can only get on one random site or another – but that doesn't make them any less worth a go.  Check out Sylvie L's solid shampoos and conditioners; One, a skincare site that sells solid shampoo and body moisturizers; and the sweet-smelling, moisturizing Vanilla Bee Bar, available at Amazon.com and in our store.

No matter which products you choose to go with, remember that it is possible to bring your entire beauty routine with you and it doesn't have to take up an entire suitcase.