10 Easy Hygiene Tips to Stay Fresh During Your Travels

By Your Health Magazine

When packing for another adventure, you probably grab your chic travel essentials first, like a cute carry-on bag or your favorite neck pillow for the flight. However, jetting off in style isn’t just about looking good. You also have to feel fresh, clean, and confident, no matter how long the journey is or what’s on your travel itinerary. That means staying on top of hygiene at all times.

Long flights and busy days sightseeing can leave you feeling grimy and uncomfortable if you’re not prepared with the right hygiene-related essentials. To make sure you stay refreshed and confident from takeoff to touching down at your final destination, here are five travel hygiene tips every jetsetter should know.

Pack Solid Toiletries Instead of Liquids

Liquid restrictions when flying can add extra stress when packing for a trip. That’s why solid alternatives, like bar soap instead of shower gel and small shampoo bars instead of a bulky bottle, come in handy.

They’re compact, making them travel-friendly, and they’re also mess-free, so you don’t have to worry about liquids spilling into your suitcase during the trip. They’re also perfect in situations like unexpected cancellations or delayed flights, when you might need to freshen up without access to hotel amenities.

Pack Quick-Dry Travel Towels

Big, fluffy towels might be tempting to pack for your trip, but they take up too much luggage space. They also won’t dry quickly enough, leaving you feeling damp and uncomfortable after showers and days at the beach.

Instead, bring quick-dry towels that are lightweight yet highly absorbent. These towels dry within minutes, keeping you fresh with every use. Remember to pack a couple of them in your bag for hostel showers and spontaneous swims by the pool.

Refresh Your Hair with Dry Shampoo

Long travel days, especially in tropical climates, can leave your hair greasy and weighed down, and that never looks flattering on anyone. However, washing your hair isn’t always practical, even after activities like a sunrise volcano hike in Bali or lounging on the beaches of Bantayan Island in the Philippines.

Keep your hair looking fresh and voluminous even after a tiring travel day with a few spritzes of dry shampoo. It absorbs excess oil while refreshing your roots, making your tresses look clean and polished even without a full wash. Dry shampoo is also ideal for a quick touch-up before dinner or catching a flight if there’s no extra time to wash your hair.

Always Have Antibacterial Wipes in Your Purse

Foodie adventures, like trying out all the street food in Osaka or hitting the local markets in Thailand, are amazing. However, using your hands to hold food and touching handrails when you move around the city can leave you feeling dirty and germy.

One easy solution for this is to keep a small pack of antibacterial wipes in your purse wherever you go. It gives you a quick way to clean your hands or surfaces you eat on, reducing germs and keeping you feeling hygienic even on the go.

Create a Travel-Friendly Oral Care Kit

Maintaining oral hygiene when you’re traveling can be tricky. You’ll have meals on a plane where you share the bathroom with hundreds of other passengers, and eat snacks throughout the day in your destination without a chance to freshen up. You can’t exactly pack your full bathroom setup and find a sink at every corner. A compact oral hygiene kit will be your best friend while traveling.

Pack a small bag with a foldable toothbrush, a tiny tube of toothpaste, travel-size mouthwash, and some floss. You can even throw in a portable device like a red light oral care kit that emits red light therapy for teeth if you need extra brightening and freshness on the go. Toss that kit in your bag, and you’ll never have to worry about bad breath or feeling conscious about your breath throughout your travels.

Carry Breath Strips Everywhere You Go

Spending the day eating, like you would in popular food destinations like Taipei or Seoul, can leave your breath smelling a bit funky. Breath strips are a terrific and easy way to neutralize those odors, keeping your mouth feeling fresh and minty no matter how much you eat throughout the day.

Keep a pack of breath strips in your purse or pocket. Pop one into your mouth each time you feel a little less confident about your breath. It also comes in handy when you need to chat with new people or hop on public transport.

Bring a Mini Deodorant for Quick Touch-Ups

Walking tours and crowded public transport can leave you feeling sweaty and less than fresh. Having a mini deodorant at the ready allows you to quickly refresh in seconds in the bathroom. Get one that is lightweight and portable so that you don’t have a hard time carrying it in your purse or coat pocket. This is a great way to boost your confidence and feel clean all day, no matter how much walking your day involves.

Use a Portable UV Sterilizer

If you’re worried about the germs that might be lurking on your belongings while you travel, a portable UV sterilizer can help sanitize your small items, like jewelry, keys, and even your phone screen. Just pass the device over your things, and they’ll be clean and fresh in a few minutes.

UV sanitizers eliminate 99.9% of bacteria, making them essential for traveling germophobes. The fantastic thing is that many of them come in a portable, travel-friendly size, so it’s easy to toss them in your bag and bring them with you wherever you go.

Invest in Packing Cubes for Dirty Clothes

Traveling, especially with just one piece of luggage, often means your dirty laundry gets mixed with clean, unused clothes. Without a solid packing system, you might end up digging through a jumble of dirty, soiled clothes to find what you need.

Fortunately, compression packing cubes can separate worn clothing from fresh ones, keeping your suitcase neat and tidy. They also keep dirty clothes contained, reducing odor buildup in your bag while optimizing space. These packing cubes are a must if your itinerary is jam-packed with sweaty hikes, beach days, or long days walking in the city.

Pack a Travel-Size Fabric Refresher Spray

Long flights or road trips can leave your jackets and coats smelling stale. Meanwhile, sheets and pillows on hotel beds or upholstered furniture in hostels may not always be fresh and pleasant-smelling.

A travel-size fabric refresher spray can quickly revitalize and freshen up all these fabrics, whether it’s a thick wool coat you’ve been wearing all week or a couch in your hotel with a foul odor. It’s perfect for instantly making your clothes and surroundings feel clean and inviting.

Endnote

Staying fresh while exploring the world doesn’t have to mean packing an entire luggage full of shampoo, soap, and bulky toiletries. It just means being thoughtful enough to pack what you need to stay clean and fresh your entire trip, whatever the demands each day brings. Follow our hygiene tips above, and you’ll arrive at every destination feeling clean, confident, and ready to dive into a new adventure.