Since we’ve
talked at length about travel make-up, it only seems natural to also talk about
other beauty regimes we take on the road, like hair care. It’s something that
men and women deal with every day – unless they’re bald – and is important to
looking good on the go. Why let your hair suffer the loss of space for products
when you travel? Just because you can’t devote a whole bag to it, doesn’t mean
you have to scale back on the way you treat your hair.
Does this post seem shorter than usual? You’ll be
excited to know that my slacking is all for a good cause. The shortness of my
post today is related to my return to my budget travel book. I’m doing another
round of editing and additions, so we can self-publish by the end of summer or
the beginning of fall. You’ll be able to purchase Shereen Travels Cheap on
Amazon in hard copy for yourself and holiday gifts (*hint, hint*)! It’ll also be
available on Kindle. I’ll update you as we go along. I suspect the editing,
additions and more editing will take through the end of July. I want you to
have as much information as possible when I’m done, so you’ll get your money’s
worth!
Okay, so we all
want to pack lighter and take less, but we also want to look good. Well, most
of us anyway. I know a lot of people who don’t care or have that “I’ll never
see those people again” mentality. I’m not talking to them, because the rest of
us want to have nice looking hair, even for strangers. You want to be able to
show your vacation pictures without feeling embarrassed. These are things you
can control. Of course, you may need to tweak your beauty routine a bit for
travel, because you don’t have the space to bring every hair product you own
and you don’t really want to spend more time than you have to on it when you
could be out and about having a good time. Where can you downsize or change up
items to still have great looking locks?
Solid Shampoo Bars – These are one of my favorite travel
items. Not only do you save space by not bringing a liquid, but these are super
easy to use, make your hair silky and moisturized, keep the frizz down and
don’t spill all over your stuff in your bag.
I was introduced
to shampoo bars when I went to Disneyland and LUSH Cosmetics had just opened a
store in Downtown Disney. My mom was in love with the bath bombs and other
girly stuff and I was fascinated by the fact that you could rub soap on your
head and not have it turn into a disaster. I bought an oatmeal one that claimed
to moisturize and tame hair. With thick curly hair that tends to frizz if not
treated properly, both those things were a plus. I tried it out and LOVED it. I
only wished they also had them as a conditioner. Now they do!
The LUSH shampoo
bar line comes in many different scents and ingredients, so you can pick just
the right one for your hair type. The Jungle Solid Conditioner only comes in
the one scent, but for my unruly hair, it did more than expected. It smoothed
and detangled and was easy to use. It does have a high floral fragrance, along
with other smells, but even with my allergies, it wasn’t bothersome.
These are
greatly affordable and you can even get an aluminum case to keep them in when
you travel, so they go from bag to shower and back without needing to wait for
them to dry out. If you have a LUSH store near you, you can take the time to
browse the many different kinds of shampoo bars they have, though, I’ll have to
warn you that everything starts to smell the same after a while, because all
the scents are mixing together in the small space. The shopping experience goes
just as well online, without the watery eyes.
Dry Shampoo – This is another one of my new fab
finds. I know dry shampoo is not new, but I have been reluctant to try it,
because after all, I wash my hair. If you’re a flat ironer or you tend to have
oily hair/scalp or you’re just lazy, this is a great product. Keep your hair
lasting a day or two longer after shampooing by spraying this on your roots the
day you SHOULD wash your hair, but don’t want to. It soaks up the excess oils
and keeps your hair looking just as good as the day before. This is fantastic
if you go on short trips or if you go on longer trips and just want to spend
more time doing stuff…and not your hair.
Downsize Your Liquids – If you insist on taking your own
shampoo and conditioner from home, make sure you decant them into travel
bottles or, even better, buy them in travel sizes. This is also great for mousses,
hairsprays and gels. I use spray gel to attack my hair and keep the flyaways to
a minimum, so I bought a 2 oz. spray bottle in the trial-size section of the
store for $1 and refill it every time I travel. If you can’t find smaller v
where you normally shop, check out beauty supply stores or Minimus. They have
everything under the sun in travel varieties and can help save you a ton of
space when traveling. They are my go-to website for travel meds and beauty
items I don’t already have at home.
Mini-Size Your Hair Appliances – So, you never leave home without your
flat iron/blow dryer/curling iron. That’s okay. You don’t have to. If that’s
what you need to make your hair “work”, then that’s what you need. I’m too lazy
to use more than one thing, so I take my showers at night and opt for the flat
iron. This helps in eliminating a blow dryer from my routine and it also helps
me get out the house quicker in the morning, because I already took my shower
and I flat iron before bed when it is mostly dry. When I wake up, I can just
run a comb through it, slap on some make-up and go! But enough about me…
For those of you
that are a slave to your appliances, the best way to travel with them is to
leave them at home and replace them with smaller versions. Get travel-sized
ones that retract or fold and you will find so much more room in your travel
bag than before. Every company makes travel versions of their hair appliances,
so take a trip to your local Target or wherever you go to buy these things
(ULTA, maybe) and check out the selection. Conair and Remington have some
fantastic selections and have a folding flat iron, folding mini hair dryer,
mini flat iron (so cute!) and mini curling iron. They pack in half the space –
sometimes less – as your full-sized ones at home and do the job just as well.
Plus, when you have alternatives, you don’t have to keep unpacking and
repacking them. They will always be in your bag, so you can just grab it and
go. You may have forgotten socks, but at least your hair will look great!
So, if you’re
wondering how any of this pertains to budget travel, I can tell you that it
cuts down on the items you take, keeps your travel bag manageable and also lets
you skip the baggage fees when you pack everything into a carry-on bag. The
less (and smaller) you take, the easier it is to pack lighter and travel more
efficiently. Once your plane lands, you can grab your bag and go right to
checking in instead of standing around that cattle corral they call the baggage
claim and watching everyone’s bags go around and around until they finally get
yours off the cart and onto the conveyor. Believe me, people are jealous of
those of us that grab our bag from the overhead and go straight to the taxi
stand or car rental office.
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