9 Grooming Hacks for the Traveling Gentleman (+TSA Tips!)

Determining essential grooming products can be especially difficult when travel enters the equation; you want to have all the products you’re accustomed to at your disposal, but you don’t necessarily want to pack your entire bathroom! Today, we’ll share nine of our top tips to ensure you pack necessary grooming items while saving space, and without compromising your regimen.

Beyond grooming products, we’ve made several other guides also related to traveling, which you may find helpful.

1. How To Pack A Carry-On Suitcase For A Short Business Trip
2. How To Pack A Check-In Suitcase Like A Pro For Travel
3. Essential Items You Need To Pack For A Short Business Trip
4. How NOT to Dress Like a Tourist (Travel Looks to Avoid)

Grooming Hacks for the Traveling Gentleman

When you’re packing for a trip, you’ll often wonder, “Do I need this?” It’s difficult enough for clothing, but restrictions like weight allotments and prohibitions on certain products when traveling by air can complicate matters even further with grooming products. Carry out your normal grooming routine while traveling with some hacks!

1. Plan Ahead

Our first tip is to have realistic goals for what you’ll need on this trip and plan ahead. All the essentials you’re going to need, but no excess that will just slow you down.

Many packing guides will encourage you to pack as few items as possible. But, if you’re going on an important business trip or taking a much-needed vacation, you must have access to whatever you’re going to truly need to help you feel comfortable and enjoy yourself. So, rather than focus on packing as few items as possible, try to focus on packing exactly what you need.

Think about your daily grooming regimen. Put items beyond essentials like toothpaste or soap you do actually use. For instance, does your hair type require or do you prefer a particular kind of hair conditioner or shampoo? Or do you forgo shampooing entirely? Or can you make do with what’s available for free at the hotel?

In most cases, you can dispense with quality of life items when traveling. Potential usefulness does not outweigh the trouble of having to pack them. So, as great as the back scrubber or pore steamer from our better hygiene products guide might be at home, you probably don’t need them with you when traveling.

Remember that whatever you decide to bring or leave at home, there are no wrong answers. It all depends on what your hair and skin type require and what you’re going to need to feel well and put together.

When making these choices, be sure to consider how long you’re traveling. Trip duration is probably one of the biggest things to consider when preparing your grooming essentials. If you’re only going to be gone for a weekend, you might not need to pack shampoo or conditioner.

You can do this by timing your hair care routine by doing everything before and not during your trip. But, for a longer trip, you’ll probably need more supplies so you can keep up with your routine. 

2. Remember the Essentials

While there’s a great deal of leeway when it comes to some grooming tools, others are essential both for your comfort and for the comfort of those around you.

That’s why we highly recommend having access to the following: toothpaste, toothbrush, and floss. Take conventional, not an electric toothbrush. Also, pack deodorant or antiperspirant. Consider sticks as you can put in your carry-on, and you can reapply as needed.

The next essential is body wash. Bar soap is your best bet, especially when stored in a soapbox. Just make sure you drain out any water before you fly. But, some of the newer designs are leak-proof.

Of course, you’ll need hair care and styling products. A metal comb will have the greatest utility. Also, have an electric shaver. Just make sure you bring the proper socket converters if needed. Otherwise, the result could be a bit shocking.

For the moisturizer, try to find something with an SPF of at least 30. Or else you may want to at least bring sunscreen as well. If you don’t want dry skin, you definitely don’t want dry lips, so be sure to carry a lip balm. To keep dry and reduce odors conveniently, bring talcum powder. And, of course, you’ll also need a cleanser.

Don’t forget to bring a manicure set. According to Murphy’s Law, you’re more likely to suffer a cracked nail or a splinter when you don’t have access to a nail file or tweezers. Just make sure it’s approved for airline use like our set from Fort Belvedere.

Binder clips will also help to prevent unwanted razor nicks when reaching into your wash bag. Ziploc bags are great for separating dirty laundry or from wet and spillable items from getting onto things that you don’t want to get wet or spilled on. We recommend getting a multi-pack with variable sizes.

3. Decanting Can Be Enchanting

With what to pack down, this next hack is on how best to pack them. Reducing the sizes of containers is convenient for all travel, and usually mandatory for air travel. One way to do this is by decanting the contents of larger containers into smaller containers.

If you try to pack the full-size bottle of your grooming products, you’ll quickly run out of room. And if you’re flying, they’ll just end up in an airport trash can courtesy of the TSA. Many popular products like shampoo, hair gel, or lotion are sold in travel-sized containers. However, these travel-size containers are often quite expensive, costing two, three, or even four times more.

If you travel quite often and money isn’t an object, you might invest in travel-sized versions of these various products. But, with just a little time invested, you can save a considerable amount of money and space in your bag by decanting these products yourself.

You can buy generic travel-sized bottles and fill them at home. Just make sure you purchase quality containers with crack-resistant materials and tops with tight grooves on the caps. This will help you avoid leaks and spills. You may even have suitable bottles around your house. Just make sure they abide by local air travel rules.

For the TSA, all liquids, gels, creams, or pastes must be in 3.4-ounce bottles or 100 milliliters or smaller when traveling. When decanting, you’ll want to use a mini funnel, and you can buy one for a couple of dollars. It will make the process much easier, and it’s definitely worth the investment. You can also get sets on Amazon that contain both the mini bottles and the mini funnels.

Low and medium viscosity liquids like shampoo, conditioner, serum, cleanser, hair gel, moisturizer, or mouthwash can all be easily decanted into smaller bottles. Using the smaller bottles won’t adversely affect their functionality.

Products like toothpaste, cologne, contact lens solution, and deodorant are all nearly impossible to decant. They’re just much harder to use without their proper applicators.

If you travel often or spaces are at a premium, it might be worth the investment to get multi-packs for things like travel-sized deodorant or toothpaste. But, if you don’t travel often and space isn’t an issue, the full-size version is fine.

For products with spray or drip applicators like cologne or contact lens solution, there is an added cost of buying a smaller travel-sized item just to justify the ease of use. So, either buy travel-sized or bring the full size if it’s allowed by your air travel guidelines.

And guess what? That’s not the only way to save space. You can also try to bring some of those fragrance samples you have lying around.

4. Use Multi-Functional Products

A great way to avoid bringing multiple products is to bring one product that does multiple things like a Swiss Army knife of grooming. But, just please don’t bring a Swiss Army Knife on a plane. Products like these aren’t ideal for everyday use, but they do save a lot of space when traveling.

Vaseline is a great lip balm to counteract recirculated airline air. Or, apply a thin layer where you spray your cologne, and it will help maintain the aroma longer. We usually shy away from combination shampoo-body-wash-conditioners, but they’ll help to cut the total number of items you need. You might want to check out the top-selling offering from American Crew.

Many facial soaps and conditioners also double very well as shaving soaps. Consider the olive and tangerine moisturizing soap from Nesti Dante. And for the ultimate in multi-use soap, there’s the utility bar from Beardbrand. This jack-of-all-trades can be used as a body wash, face cleanser, shampoo, shaving soap, and beard wash.

If you decide to bring male cosmetics to even out your complexion or cover blemishes, you could bring foundation, concealer, or powder. Or we could use a product that does all of these things, like the beautifying balm from Lab Series or the tinted moisturizer from STRYX.

5. Use Solid Products When Feasible

You can avoid having to manage liquid product restrictions by focusing on dry and solid products instead. As mentioned, bar soaps are much easier to pack than body washes.

There are some products you might want to consider in their solid form. Dry shampoo, for instance, is very popular because it’s easy to pack, and you can use it on the go. Amika offers a spray-on variety that comes in a travel size, while the version from Redken comes in a powder form.

Similarly, a volumizing styling powder is much easier to pack than a hair gel. The offering from Billie Floof comes in a light and dark hair variety. And blotting sheets will allow you to cleanse your face quickly, and you won’t even need access to a water source to do it. You can also use wet wipes for your face and your body in general.

6. Get Freebies Where You Can

Of course, investing in all these travel alternatives can get a bit pricey. So, when possible, take advantage of anything you can get for free.

Most hotels and rental lodging do offer some free items. Usually, everything you’re going to need for a shower and toothpaste as well. Airlines, if you fly first or business class, do offer whole toiletry kits. If you’re content to use these products and you know they’re going to be available, feel free not to bring your own and use theirs instead. 

Most hotels will even provide you with more if you run out. If you especially enjoy a product, consider asking for a few and use them as part of your travel grooming kit.

On that note, whenever you get miniature versions of products, especially as samples, consider saving them for your trips. For instance, at regular dental visits, you might get a toothbrush, toothpaste, dental floss, and mouthwash. They’re the perfect size for travel.

At the mall or fragrance stores, you may regularly be able to receive samples of fragrances, and it’s even possible to receive a specific sample of your favorite cologne if you ask for it. You can also get free sample sizes of certain products like body wash, conditioner, and contact lens solution at department stores or other retailers.

7. Avoiding Leaks and Spills

Once you’ve gotten your products packed, you want to ensure they’re separated and not leaking on your other items.

When you fly, changes in air pressure can cause the air in bottles to expand. This can force the liquids in the bottles out. So, when filling your containers, fill them up as much as possible. Use all the products before returning home and refill any partially used bottles before traveling again.

You can also add extra layers of protection. Cover the mouths of containers with plastic wrap and then screw the tops back on to prevent leaking. And consider wrapping any products that might leak in a plastic bag just in case.

8. Dopps Are The Tops

For protection and organization, we recommend that you store most of your grooming products in a Dopp bag. Invented by and named after the German-American craftsman Charles Doppelt, the Dopp bag will help keep you organized. The Dopp bag is often also called a “toiletry kit.”

It provides a barrier between your grooming items and the rest of your luggage in case of spills. As an organizational tool, the Dopp bag keeps you on track when it comes to tight packing. It should be able to fit into your usual checked bag easily.

You’ll also want it to be lightweight for maximum portability. Go with a durable, lightweight fabric like nylon or canvas. Leather may look better, but it’s also much heavier.

The Dopp bag lets you organize. It has pockets, dividers, and sections that make it much easier to pack when traveling. And because you’ll know exactly where everything is, it greatly reduces the hassle of flying.

You also want a Dopp bag that fits your needs. See if you can fit all of your grooming essentials in that bag. If they don’t fit, you’ll either need to pare things down or a lot more space. You can also repurpose a bag you already own as a Dopp bag.

Finally, if you travel fairly often, it might make sense to have a regularly stocked Dopp bag at the ready. So, when packing for a trip, your bag will already be ready to go, saving you time from having to pack and unpack it each time. Think of it like your grooming go-to bag.

9. Don’t Worry, They Have Stores Abroad, Too 

Generally speaking, it may be more cost-effective to pack grooming essentials, rather than to purchase them when you reach your destination. However, if you’re worried about weight and space, it may be more convenient to buy certain items once you arrive, especially cheap utilitarian toiletries like bar soap, toothpaste, floss, mouthwash, generic shampoos, and deodorant.

You may also consider just buying items that carry restrictions prohibited on planes. Think of blades for your razor, if you prefer to use one. If you’re planning to do this, make sure you schedule time for your trip to the store upon arrival. 

This tip also applies to anything you forgot to pack. Unless you’re climbing Andes Mountain or plan on trekking in the Gobi Desert, chances are, if a city has an airport, it also has a store where you can buy toothpaste, deodorant, and shampoo. Like convenience stores, big box stores, and grocery stores. And depending on where you are, you can also buy more specialty products. 

But, you’ll want to avoid getting anything too expensive unless you plan on bringing it back with you. Also, it’s important to be mindful of where you are going. Certain products, like particular hair care supplies, might not be available in foreign markets.

If there’s anything that you have that you know you just can’t live without, double-check before departure to make sure that you’ve packed it. But, to ensure you don’t forget anything, we have a list of our favorite grooming items to help you out. Feel free to add to or subtract from it as needed.

One Bonus Tip

Do your packing on your bed, on a large table, or flat surface where you’re able to keep organized and see what’s going on. And with that, you’re ready for your next big trip!

Outfit Rundown

I’m wearing a purple polo from Hugo Boss, khaki trousers, a brown belt, and brown dress shoes. And finishing it off with my Fort Belvedere brown shadow-striped socks. Check out the Fort Belvedere shop for socks like these.

What is your favorite grooming hack for traveling? Did you have any techniques you want to share with the community? Please share them in the comments!