Toothbrush and toiletries

The toiletries bag is the easiest place to go over budget in the pack — because we pack what we have in the bathroom, not what we need on a trip. A full tube of toothpaste weighs 100 grams, a deodorant 80 grams, a bottle of shampoo 250 grams. It quickly adds up to half a kilo that could have been an extra day’s food.

The pack-light principle

Three rules cut the toiletries bag down to the essentials:

Only bring what you actually use every day. The skin’s oil balance corrects itself within a couple of days without face cream; your hair manages without shampoo for a weekend.
Bring small quantities, not small versions of large things. Decant into 30 ml bottles. A tube of toothpaste is 75 ml — you need 5 ml over a weekend.
Swap liquids for tablets or solid versions where they exist. Tablets weigh less, do not leak, and take up less space.

For a weekend trip (two nights) the norm is around 100–150 g total weight for the toiletries bag, bag and contents included. More is overpacking; less takes a little practice in going without.

The toothbrush — what people overlook

An ordinary toothbrush weighs 15–20 g and is 19 cm long. That is no crisis, but:

Cut the handle down with a saw, or snap a cheap brush in two. You save 5–8 g and a few centimetres of packing space. It sounds trivial, but it means the brush fits in a smaller toiletries bag.
Travel toothbrush with a folding handle — 10 g, compact, lasts a season or two.
Bamboo toothbrush — compostable, often 8–12 g. Good if you already use one at home; not worth buying specially for a trip.

Replace the brush roughly every three months anyway, so it is fine to sacrifice the daily one to a cut-down trail brush.

Toothpaste — tube, mini or tablets

Three options:

Mini tube (15–25 g) from a pharmacy or the travel-supplies section. The simplest upgrade from a full tube. Lasts a weekend for two, or a week for one.
Decant into a 10 ml bottle. Requires a small container, but is free and weighs less than a mini tube.
Toothpaste tablets (Lush, Denttabs, the Norwegian brand Tannfee) — you chew a tablet and brush. 50 tablets weigh about 30 g and last longer than any tube. Little space, never leaks, and does not smell up the pack.

Leave No Trace when you brush your teeth

Toothpaste contains fluoride and other substances that have no place concentrated in a small river system. The rule is simple and is called “spit and scatter”:

Brush your teeth at least 60 m from water.
When you spit, do not spit in one spot — scatter it over a large area with a strong outward breath. That dilutes it and lets the soil’s microorganisms break it down, rather than concentrating it in a single point.
Rinse with a little water from the bottle, not straight from the stream.

On a camping trip in a national park or protected area this is not “nice if you can be bothered”; it is the only decent practice.

The rest of the bag

The rest of the toiletries bag is very personal. An assessment of what belongs and what does not:

Belongs on a trip:

Sunscreen (separate article)
Lip balm with a UV factor — especially on snow and in the mountains
A small bottle of hand sanitiser (60–70 % alcohol)
Prescription medicines for the whole length of the trip + a couple of days extra
Plasters and simple cut dressings
Menstrual supplies in a ziplock if needed — also for used items going home

Home comforts you can do without over a weekend:

Shampoo and conditioner — wash your hair with ordinary soap if you must
Face cream and serum — the skin manages
Deodorant — your clothes smell more than you do after two days anyway
Shaving kit — let the beard grow
A full make-up set — a minimum at most (lip gloss, mascara)

For a week or more in the same camp, several of the comfort items can come back into the bag — it is the trip on the move that demands the hardest packing.

Next steps

Hand sanitiser and soap — siblings in the same toiletries bag, and the most important hygiene measure on a trip
Microfibre towel — light, quick-drying and belongs in the same little pouch
Sunscreen — the one cream that really should come along, especially on snow and in the mountains
What to pack in the rucksack — where the toiletries bag fits into the whole
How to go to the toilet outdoors — the same Leave No Trace thinking for the rest of your hygiene

Learn more

Text: Snuitide (2026).