Has anyone been able to find travel sized toiletrties--like those permitted in the 3-1-1 bag--overseas (especially Europe)? If so, what did you find and where?

I'm actually a fan of Lush solid shampoos. They last a long time, lather well, and take up less space/weight than an equivalent liquid shampoo. It sounds odd, but it's great stuff.

You could also try Eco-dent for toothpaste. I haven't tried it, but it's on the to-do list. I've seen it sold at Whole Foods.

Crabtree & Evelyn has a lot of small, travel-size bottles of their products. If you're near a large US city, you can go in to see what you can get before you leave; that way you can restock with your favorite products halfway through your trip if it's a long one. You can search crabtree-evelyn.com for international locations before you leave, too.

I'm fond of Lush, but beware of certain items: the jelly soaps won't make it through many airports. Too bulky to stow it in your 3-1-1 and too 'jiggly' to make TSA happy. Although they'll be glad to give you samples of products, they do not have true 'travel size' bottles of anything. BYO leakproof travel jars to Lush; some of their products are by the pound.

If you use hair conditioner, Lush's Jungle is a solid block; it works, smells nice (to me), and is one less thing to cram in the baggie. A 1" square block will last more than a week if your hair is shorter than shoulder length.

Note that it will melt in hot climates - it's not for hot or humid countries if you're trying to avoid bagging it. It looks like a soap bar unless it's waaay too hot. You can use it as shaving cream if you don't like the shaving oils on the market.

Weleda Plant Gel toothpaste is available all over Europe and in most health food/natural foods stores in the US; its 100ml tube is good to get back on the plane to the US, and their Children's Toothpaste is under the 3oz US limit. No fluoride, works, and doesn't have any questionable stuff. No foaming, so no mess using it in flight, too. Travel sizes are available.

I prefer repackaging as well as I have found that I end up with too many expired products between the regular sizes I use at home and the travel sizes I was buying. Plus, I want to minimize the waste I create by buying a bunch of small packages. I've been filling contact lens cases with creamier or stickier product that I need but only in small amounts (e.g. neosporin, moisturizer, hair product). I suppose you could even put some toothpaste in one too. I mark them on the bottom section (not the lids) with a permanent marker so I know what is what. The cases are leak proof and probably work best for shorter trips. I have not had any trouble getting them through domestic security.

Try alltravelsizes.com
They have a large assortment of travel items in small sizes.

Just dealing with the main things, for a month-long trip I took 100ml of shower gel from Lush; two 45g tubes of Colgate Total toothpaste (from the supermarket); and a 100ml tube of moisturiser. I used these up completely. I used a Lush solid shampoo bar which was fine on the hair but fairly messy once wet and it would stick to its little tin if put in still wet - so I got a strip of plastic from a biscuit packet to go under it and make it easily lift-outable. It probably could have lasted three months though.

You can get 50ml empty bottles from The Body Shop, at least in Australia. Lush might sell them too, I can't quite remember. Perhaps Lush only has 100ml containers of gels etc in Australia too, if Alana hasn't seen them. Halfway through my trip I decanted the remaining gel into a smaller empty container I'd been carrying for that purpose. It helped a lot.

If you can, avoid liquids like the plague. The less you have to deal with the 3-1-1 bag, the better.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/eastercat/2859437244/
The above links to a photo that lists all my non-liquid toiletries. The conditioner, deodorant, perfume, facial cleaner, and moisturizer all came from Lush.
If you're a guy, you'll probably need shaving oil (unless you're going for the ZZ top look). According to Doug Dyment, 1/4 ounce lasts 3 months.

I, too, like shaving oil. The only downside is I seem to need to change blades more often when I use it. Does everyone else have that problem?

I got into wetshaving with a brush and shaving soap. I also use a DE razor but can't take it when I'm traveling, so disposables work for those occasions. A brush and travel shaving soap takes up more room than shaving oil, but the small luxury of lather up in the morning is worth it for me.

And a shaving brush will do wonders for your skin :-)

Threads like this make me happy to be bald! I do use shaving oil exclusively for my whole head, not just my face. I will never go back to foam.

As for oil and blade life - I can't say. I only shave about twice a week and them usually just my neck so I get a few weeks at least from a blade.

Lucky Brad...I should have said I use shaving oil for travel but like Jeff, use a brush and soap at home.

I'm starting to use Travelon Shaving Sheets when traveling. They don't have to go in the 3-1-1 bag and a couple of sheets mixed with water mimics the feel and shave of a brush and soap--almost.

I purchased this for my husband to use about two months before we traveled, and while he likes it better, he definitely has noticed that he must change blades more frequently. (This is a man who could almost shave twice a day) We are currently tracking whether it is more cost effective to buy the shaving oil and change blades more often or buy shaving cream more often and change blades less frequently.

www.Alltravelsizes.com, www.Zpacks.com and minimus.biz all carry travel size items and they are easy to order. One of the unique items they sell are the Lightload Towels
www.ultralighttowels.com. These are super absorbent towels that are survival tools. You can use them for so many things like firestarter, static electricity insulator, wind scarf, first aid supplement, padding for blisters or rashes, and so much more. They also pack down to the size of a silver dollar. Lightload Towels also has a full sized beach towel that fits in your pocket.

I've discovered the refillable tubes at http://www.easytravelerinc.com and use them for shampoo, lotions, and the soap that is part of Brad's StinkFighter formula, etc. The key to the kit from EasyTraveler is the big syringe and lots of adapters that make it easy to suck and squeeze so filling a tube is a matter of a few seconds, and not nearly as messy as you might think.

I have some derm creams that are way too bulky in their typical 50-60gm prescription tubes, so I repack them in 5cc hypodermic needles. I clip the needle and epoxy an electrical twist-on connector to the needle stub and it makes a dandy cap. These are calibrated so that I know exactly how many days a 5cc syringe will last. They're cheap, too, and nearly indestructible.

Finally, I take a hacksaw to my toothbrush and high-grade disposable razors. My Gillette Mach 3 disposables typically last two weeks shaving with plain-old deodorant soap in the shower. I do practice the old trick of "stropping" it down my thigh, however, before every use.

The best folding brush I've found (with real bristles, not those horrible molded plastic spikes) is a cheap one made by Goodie. Just Google for "Goodie folding brush comb" and you'll get some hits. There are amazing compacting folding brushes at the Tokyu Hands store, but they are only available in Japan.

The best compact deodorant I've found is Nivea "Dry Confidence" in a 20ml pump (refillable). One bottle seems to last me a month. This was pricey at LHR and hard to find in the US, but a compact sprayer could be used with any high-grade liquid deodorant. I like the smell of Febrize so much I might make my own formula that includes a whiff of Springtime Freshness!

My whole toiletries kit is the typical airline zip bag plus a tiny fold-over mini-dopkit that I got on a BA flight once when miraculously bumped to business class. It easily fits in a jacket pocket. The bottom half is mesh where I keep razor, etc., and the top has another zipped compartment where I keep emergency meds: Ibuprofen, Zyrtec, Ambien, etc.

Brad, that Stinkfighter formula is fantastic. I bought *exactly* the items you suggested, and it works flawlessly with my ExOfficio shirts and other mostly-polyester t-shirts and underwear. I give you full credit--to anyone who will listen, that is. Stinkfighting isn't much as a conversational gambit!

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Buying small toiletry items by mail or web generally is not necessary. Beyond the sample sized tubes of toothpaste one often acquires at routine dental visits, most drugstores and even some grocery stores will have a section selling travel-size containers, though, of course, the selection by brand may not be as great.

I agree with Alan Birnbaum that buying small toiletry items by mail or web generally is not necessary. Where I live, Target has a large selection of travel-size grooming supplies, and many of the items cost substantially less than at other discount stores or grocery stores.

In fact, I know a couple of young women who consider a trip to Target as part of the routine when they're getting ready for a trip.

(And my only affiliation with Target is as a shopper.)