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According the dictionary toiletries is defined as
“articles used in washing and taking care of one’s body, such as soap,
shampoo, and toothpaste.” So for the purposes of this tip, I’m only going
to talk about these toiletries and ignore (for now) the other bathroom products
you may need on your trip.

Buy, don’t pack

For the next seven months we’ll be country hopping and will be based in each city
for three to eight weeks, so to ease my packing mind we buy a new set of
toiletries at each. I’m pretty flexible when it comes to shampoo and
conditioner (or rinse) and as long as they’re the same brand/flavour, then I’m
ok. Toothpaste and hand soap (i.e. the body wash in the photo) doesn’t phase me
in the least either, so anything goes. But what I am a little OCD about is
soap, or rather Dove beauty bar. Luckily for us Unilever is taking over the
world so we have no problems finding it.

Hand sanitizers

I don’t actually like hand sanitizer because it dries out my
skin so I stopped using Dettol on trips. When we were in the Philippines, I was
introduced to little travel sized bottles of rubbing alcohol, which I brought
with me everywhere. Unfortunately, I haven’t actually found it here in Tokyo so
I bought antibacterial hand wipes instead. Frankly, it may have been
unnecessary because every eatery, restaurant and convenient store has either
hot towels, disposable antibacterial wipes or an old fashioned sink.

Tissues

Tissues seem to be the only things we have trouble buying
when overseas are 3ply tissues. In Hong Kong we did come across 4ply tissues
(heaven!) but mostly everywhere has scratchy, easily torn 2ply tissues.
Luckily, since we’re a little obsessed with 3ply, we scoured the drug store and
finally found a box of tissues with a winking king, yay! Sometimes it’s the
little luxuries that make a difference when you have the sniffles.

We bought the shampoo, rinse, body wash, and toothpaste for
105 yen each from the 100 yen shop and we bought the rest from the local drug
store (chemist). I do love the convenience of buying toiletries in each city
because I it means I don’t have to worry about it as I pack our suitcases. Win!

Travel Tip – Toiletries
1. Don’t pack toiletries, just don’t.
2. Find a supermarket/drug store/cheap shop and only buy the
toiletries that you need*
Result: Your bag will be little lighter and less likely to
have globs of shampoo spilled throughout.

*Even though the pretty sign says you can buy three shampoos
for the price of one resist the urge! Because, really, how many bottles will
you actually use? 😉

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Taken with my iPhone 4S and processed in Phoster.