One-bag, carry-on, light travel tips, techniques, and gear

Okay, I admit it. I’m not a camper or hosteler. In fact, roughing it to me is a hotel without room service. So, just about everywhere I stay, soap is provided by the management.

But what about the multitude of people here who—either by necessity or choice—bring their own bath soap when traveling? Yes, you can bring a tiny bottle of liquid. Or you could bring a solid bar. Or you could bring a Spongeable.

Spongeables are basically body wash in a sponge. They’re available in different sizes and in separate formulas for men and women. (Blue for boys, pink for girls.) Each one claims to cleanse, protect, massage and hydrate. (They’re both paraban free and never tested on animals.)

I was interested in the ones made specifically for travel. They are about the size of an Ipod Touch.

Using them is easy: just wet, squeeze and lather up.

I will admit the shower was invigorating and the sponge was at just the right texture to feel as if I was getting a good scrubbing yet not too harsh. I guess the term would be—cough,cough—exfoliating?

The box mine came in claimed they were good for 5+ shower. The ones on the website now claim 3. I think I’ll go with the three. Five would be pushing it. At least for a good sized male.

The fragrance from the men’s version is very similar to the same smell of most of the newer body washes made for men. And I have no idea what that is.

I need to put in a personal note. I don’t like soap with heavy fragrance. The first day after using Spongeables, the fragrance was still detectable on my skin some 14 hours later when I went to bed. For some this is a plus, and is actually a selling point.

Being a good tester, I used the product again the next day. The sponge did not lather as much as in day one but still did a good job. I also noticed the fragrance was not as strong.

After day three, the sponge was done.

Unfortunately, I haven’t been able to get anyone to test the women’s version but I’m still working on it.

All in all, it’s a pretty good product and it does what it claims. If you’re going somewhere you need to take your own soap, and don’t want to bother with either tiny bottles of liquid or a bar, then this product might come in handy.

To the makers of Spongeables…..if you came out with an unscented, anti-bacterial version, for both home and travel, I’d buy it. (And I may be wrong, since I’m not a camper, but doesn’t “fragrance” attract mosquitoes and other insecty type creatures?)

Spongeables are available both on the web and at some chain drug stores and supermarkets. At $7.99 for two travel size sponges, they’re not cheap.

Spongeables provided the product for review.

(Frank II)

Update on August 20, 2011 by

Frank@OBOW

I asked a lady friend of mine to sample the Spongeable for women and write a short review. Here it is:

Too sudsy, too aromatic

The soap blend feels smooth and creamy enough on the skin, and I like that it is/claims to be paraben-free + never tested on animals. But I don’t care for the heavy scent, or for the propylene glycol and sodium laureth sulfate (two ingredients listed on the package, which I avoid whenever possible). I also don’t like unnecessary waste, and this product sudses up way too much for my needs during each use. So much so that I have to put it down while showering so that the suds-making will stop, and finish washing with bare hands—-which of course means losing benefit of the two different sponge surfaces. (Although when I did try to use the scrubber side, the sponge kept slipping out of my grip—-because of all the creamy suds!) I tried my sample three times, and then didn’t care to exhaust the soap supply on additional uses before stopping to write this review.

If this were the only soap available in the hotel or guest bath where I was staying, and I hadn’t packed any of my own, I’d use it. But I wouldn’t buy this product to take with me on travel, and I won’t be buying it to stock for guests in my own home.

(Frank II)