It’s happened to me a few times at LAX and other airports where my bag gets flagged and the nice TSA man or woman approaches me and says, “Is this your bag?”, and I smile and say, “yes!”, all while clenching my teeth because I am about to lose my flight. Inevitably, most of the time it has to do with the darn little bag where all of my toiletries are supposed to fit. Well, I have been known to try to sneak two of those ridiculously small bags through airport security. The problem is that most of my products are bulging over the top and I can’t get that darn zipper closed. They usually wave both bags at me and say, “Miss, you are only supposed to have one of these bags not two” and I make some sort of excuse, they look through the bags to make sure nothing exceeds 3 ozs and then let me go.
So here are the TSA rules, these are taken straight from their website: “You are allowed to bring a quart-sized bag of liquids, aerosols, gels, creams and pastes in your carry-on bag and through the checkpoint. These are limited to travel-sized containers that are 3.4 ounces (100 milliliters) or less per item. Placing these items in the small bag and separating from your carry-on baggage facilitates the screening process. Pack items that are in containers larger than 3.4 ounces or 100 milliliters in checked baggage. Any liquid, aerosol, gel, cream or paste that alarms during screening will require additional screening.”
I am here to solve this problem once and for all. In my quest to get my question answered and fit all my toiletries in the TSA approved bag, I first had to explore all the toiletries that I need for my upcoming trip.
Let’s start by making a list and delineating which are liquid/paste/aerosol/gel/cream and must go in the ridiculously small TSA approved quart-size bag. I’m going to do the best to find a replacement for any liquid to a solid to save space. I have found a bar shampoo, conditioner and lotion on Amazon and will be trying them this week. Stay tuned for those reviews. Just these 3 items, if I like them, will save me some space for my hair/face products in my TSA bag. So, here is my list:
- Toothbrush
- Toothpaste (Quart bag)
- Shampoo bar
- Conditioner bar
- Lotion bar
- Face soap bar
- Deodorant (Quart bag)
- Sunscreen (Quart bag)
- Face lotion (Quart bag)
- Eye cream (Quart bag)
- BB cream (Quart bag)
- Makeup wipes
- Hair spray (Quart bag)
- Beach hair spray (Quart bag)
- Brush
- Hair ties
- Daily contacts (no need for solution)
- Feminine hygiene (just in case)
- Lip balm
- Prescription meds
- Make up (mascara, lipgloss, BB cream go in TSA bag)
- Travel sized perfume/ cologne (Quart bag)
Ok, I think this sums it up for me. I feel like I’m pretty low maintenance, you may have less or more, but you get the idea of the list. All you have to do is add or delete what you use and then struggle making it all fit. Ha ha.
Now, I am going to put all the TSA required liquids into a cute clear bag, I’m not a fan of the quart size ziplock bags. They are boring. Then, my makeup will go in another cute bag and then my other items will go in the third.
Ok, as you can see above, they all fit, but barely. The ziplock barely locked and then came undone. I think the trick if you are using a ziplock bag is to use the real zipper bags. So the TSA doesn’t give me a hard time, I will put in a ziplock bag then put into my cute Keep Calm and Carry On bag.
On a long journey even a straw weighs heavy.
-Spanish Proverb
How do you like to travel, do you always check your toiletries in your checked suitcase or do you struggle to carry them on? What tricks do you use to make them all fit? Share your thoughts below! 🙂
