Getting Fresh – Sea to Summit Pocket Trek and Travel Soaps

If you’ve checked out Sea to Summit’s range of Trek and Travel pocket soaps and cleaning products, you’re probably as big a fan of them as we are.

If you haven’t seen them, you might wonder what makes them so popular among travelers. Well, each matchbook-sized package contains 50 dry leaves of hand wash, body wash, shampoo with conditioner, laundry wash or shaving soap. Enough to last through many, many hotel or hostel overnights.

Because they are not a liquid, you can navigate airport security with ease, with your toiletries inside your carry-on bag, purse or daypack. This can be particularly valuable if you find yourself stranded in an airport due to the vagaries of the weather or air-traffic controllers, while your checked baggage heads off to some destination selected at random by the airline. Need to freshen up? Simply remove one or two leaves, dissolve in water, and you’re on your way to the cleaner skin, cleaner hair, cleaner clothes or just a clean shave.

What’s not to love?

Being a new concept in personal hygiene, the method of use isn’t necessarily intuitive to some users. Here are a couple of things to be aware of:

– Because the packet contains dry leaves of soap it should be kept out of contact with the water in which you’re about to wash to prevent all the leaves from dissolving together. Our recommended method: Open the package and remove the required amount of leaves with dry fingers before you get into the shower or the bath. Likewise keep the package away from the edge of the basin while you’re washing or shaving to avoid it being inadvertently knocked into a sink full of water. If you need an additional leaf or two, dry your hands before re-opening the package. Check out this video if you would like to see the soap in action.

– Another tip about how to use dry leaves of soap: To create a lather, place the leaf or leaves in the palm of your hand, get them wet enough so they begin to soften and dissolve then begin rubbing them with the fingers of your other hand. This will produce an effective lather. This lathering step is especially important prior to adding the shampoo to your damp hair.

Follow these simple rules, and travel becomes a breeze (well, the personal hygiene side of travel anyway). But – at least you’ll be clean and fresh when you go to find out where your checked baggage went…