Take Dr. Bronner’s soap and leave everything else at home

While packing for my European odyssey, I made great efforts to pack as light as possible. One experimental decision I made was to cut way down on toiletries, and adding Dr. Bronner’s Magic Liquid Soap to my packing list was one of the best decisions I made.

My old toiletries system

Traditionally, I have traveled with a Zip-loc bag in which I have:

• Deodorant
• Toothpaste
• Toothbrush
• Soap bar
• Laundry soap (for sink washes)
• Razor
• Shaving cream
• Lotion
• Listerine

Blessedly, I am of “thinning” hair and don’t need shampoo!

This bag isn’t too big, but in my zeal to reduce bulk and weight for Europe I started investigating ways to cut down on this stuff. And my research led me to order a small bottle of Dr. Bronner’s Magic Soap from Amazon, so I could test it out at home before the trip began.

Dr. Bronner’s, with its infamously text-choked, impossible-to-read label, comes in several different scents, all of which are proudly organic and natural. I don’t know the science behind soapmaking (besides what I learned from Fight Club), but as I understand it, many people feel that regular store-bought soaps are full of harmful chemicals that strip away natural oils that are good for your skin, and these soaps dry you out. People may get used to the “clean” feeling of being bone dry and sterile, but many skin problems can be attributed to these hurtful soaps. This includes so-called moisturizing soaps.

So goes the thinking anyway. And I’m an open-minded, hopeful guy, so I gave Dr. Bronner’s a shot.

Dr. Bronner’s is very concentrated, so you need very little, but it can be used for many different things. I started by using it for my showers – just a few drops on a washcloth. If you use too much you can sting your skin, but mine seemed ok. It was clean, I smelled fresh according to others, and I couldn’t help but notice that this could be very economical. A bottle is pretty cheap, considering how you need so little of the concentrated stuff.

I also began to use it as a shaving cream, just with a few drops on my palms rubbed together and applied to my face. The soap contains natural oils, and moistened my skin well enough for a shave without the hollow, preternaturally cool feeling that lingers after using traditional shaving creams and gels.

Next I tried it as a toothpaste, and this is one that some websites reported was tough to get used to: whatever scent of Dr. Bronner’s you have, it will taste like soap.

Well after a couple days of using no regular toothpaste, I was totally used to Dr. Bronner’s. Just a single drop on a toothbrush was enough; it sudsed up and I looked like a rabid Cujo, but it worked fine.

Then came my final test: laundry. Having bought a Scrubba rubber laundry travel bag, I tried Dr. Bronner’s in my test load, and it seemed to work fine too.

Imagine all the stuff I can leave out of my bag when backpacking, I mused to myself excitedly.

My new and improved toiletries bag

The real test, of course, was actually using this system while traveling. Knowing that any product I might want to buy would be available on the road, I left most of my toiletries behind and now my Zip-loc bag looked like this:

• Dr. Bronner’s (3-4 small bottles)
• Toothbrush
• Razor
• Deodorant (not too necessary in winter, really)
• Toothpaste
• Soap bar
• Laundry soap (for sink washes) *
• Shaving cream
• Lotion
• Listerine

That’s it!

Now, the fact that I took a few bottles sort of negated the “bulk and weight” aspect of all this, but it really wasn’t too bad, and I loved the simplicity and health of it. Besides, I only used one bottle at a time and stuffed the rest down in my bag somewhere, and they really weren’t that heavy anyway.

(*I must say that since using Dr. Bronner’s for laundry was depleting it too fast, I started using guesthouse soap from our showers for laundry when our rooms had it, and we bought cheap laundry soap bars sometimes too. This was due to the difficulty in buying replacement Bronner’s in Europe and not its efficacy in cleaning clothes.)

Now, having used Dr. Bronner’s as a soap (and shampoo, sort of), shaving cream, toothpaste, and (mostly) laundry soap exclusively for over a year, including the entirety of my Europe trip, I can say unequivocally that it’s absolutely a must for travel.

Even in the European winter? Yes!

Eastern Europe in winter is known for its harsh, cold air. Yet my skin was always fine, with no dryness even on parts that were exposed. There was no itchiness, and no other skin ailments. My teeth felt fine, the laundry was fresh, and I wasn’t nicking myself shaving (any more than usual). In contrast, Masayo, who didn’t use Dr. Bronner’s, had dry skin problems and more coughing spells throughout the trip. Can’t say for sure why, I’m just sayin’…

Several months after the trip, as I write this, and still using Dr. Bronner’s exclusively, I still feel the same way. I feel funny using regular soap or toothpaste, like I’m slathering chemicals all over myself.

Dr. Bronner’s is cost-effective and has a wide range of uses. The only drawback is that it’s a relatively obscure American product and can be hard to find. Mine ran out by the time I was in southern Poland, and I bought some expensive bottle of soap from a little beauty boutique. It went fast, and wasn’t as good. In Prague, I was able to find a store via Google called Biooo that sold the real stuff, and stocked up again, buying several small bottles that lasted the duration of the trip.

I haven’t found anything better than Dr. Bronner’s for traveling and for living at home too, and I can’t imagine going back to the chemical-y, multiple-products system. I love the simplicity and cost-effectiveness of Dr. Bronner’s. And I’m not being paid to write this or anything, it’s just a helpful travel tip I want to tell you.

(Order a small bottle of Dr. Bronner’s liquid soap from Amazon.)

How do you stay clean and healthy while traveling? Any more ideas for cutting down on toiletry bulk?

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