How to Pack a Sustainable Carry-On for Your Next Flight

Written byRegenerative Travel
Date

Packing a carry-on bag for your trip can be hard. Packing a sustainable carry-on bag can be even harder.

Even for the most eco-conscious travelers, convenience often trumps sustainability when it comes to packing your bag for airplane travel. That means travel-sized plastic products, and lots of them: shampoo bottles, toothbrushes, razors, and any number of chemical-ridden creams, sprays, and lotions to keep yourself feeling clean and put together during a long flight.

While convenient, these products add to the mountains of plastic that are building up in landfills, and the ingredients are often toxic unsustainable. Pollution doesn’t take a vacation just because we do, so it’s important to find ways to make sustainability accessible, no matter where we are—at home, abroad, or in the air.

Fortunately, packing a sustainable carry-on no doesn’t have to be hard. With these five sustainable items, you can make your airplane travel more eco-conscious—whether you’re taking a red-eye across the globe or a domestic flight for work—without sacrificing convenience or quality.

A white Larq water bottle sitting on some driftwood on a beach
1. The LARQ Bottle

From overpriced plastic bottles at the airport terminal to those flimsy plastic cups on planes, it seems impossible to drink water while avoiding plastic when you travel.

Luckily, the LARQ water bottle is here to prove that you can hydrate yourself with pure water anywhere you go, in an eco-friendly way.

Equipped with a portable digital water purification system, this stainless steel bottle gives you clean drinking water at the touch of a button. Plus there’s no need to worry about replacing filters; the battery is rechargeable, and a single charge can last up to a month. It even intelligently activates its water purification system every two hours to keep your bottle stink-free.

Choose from the five colors available to make this travel-friendly bottle a stylish addition to your sustainable carry-on bag. With a sturdy, double-insulated design that was made to last, this bottle will keep your body hydrated and your water cold wherever your travels take you.

Oui shave plastic-free razors and skincare products
2. Oui Shave Single-Blade Razor

Finding a good razor to take when we travel can be a hassle, so many of us opt for disposable plastic ones that are not only bad for the environment, but can also harm and aggravate the skin.

With Oui’s zero-waste, single-blade razor, you don’t have to sacrifice a good shave for convenience or sustainability. This stainless steel safety razor is the first of its kind, specially customized for women and made for sensitive skin. The carefully designed weight of the razor, the angle of the head, and the blade exposure combine to give you the best shave, smoothly gliding along the skin.

Easy to transport and made to last, this is the tool you need for a close, irritation-free shave when you travel. And with its shiny, rose gold finish, it will add some much needed style and sustainability to any toiletry bag.

While you won’t be able to carry the blade on your flight with you, it’ll be waiting to give you the perfect plastic-free shave when you land.

Carry-on sized Innersense dry shampoo
3. Innersense Refresh Dry Shampoo

Get the quality, eco-friendly hair care you need on the go with Innersense’s Refresh Dry Shampoo.

Innersense makes certified organic products from pure, sustainably sourced ingredients, giving you a green, toxin-free way to keep your hair refreshed both on land and in the sky. Witch hazel and tapioca starch work together to condition the hair and reduce excess oils, while certified organic honey adds volume and increases shine.

There’s no need to douse yourself with a cloud of chemicals from an aerosol spray can like with other dry shampoos—this foam-to-powder dry shampoo allows you to meticulously apply it only in the places where you need it, and its effortless application makes it a quick and convenient solution for greasy hair.

So whether your hair is curly or straight, black or blonde, or anything in between, this sustainable, travel-friendly product will keep your hair looking and feeling its best during your travels.

Tata Harper's Hydrating Floral Essence is perfect for your carry-on
4. Tata Harper Hydrating Floral Face Mist

Airplane cabins are notoriously dry, and when we fly, it shows on our skin. But with Tata Harper’s Hydrating Floral Essence, you can keep your skin moisturized on your flights and help the planet at the same time.

This face mist uses hyaluronic acid to plump and hydrate the skin, while its antioxidant-rich floral blend minimizes the look of fine lines and wrinkles. Notes of rose and lavender will keep you smelling fresh no matter how long you’ve been traveling, and you can even use it over your makeup.

With its travel-sized glass container and packaging made of 100% post-consumer materials, this face mist is the eco-friendly answer to your mid-flight, dry skin woes. Tata Harper are pioneers of the farm-to-face movement, and they use only natural ingredients grown and manufactured on their farm in Vermont to create high-quality cosmetic products that are good for your skin and for the environment.

A beige carry-on cosmetic case from Beis
5. Béis Cosmetic Case

You’re going to need a stylish way to store all of your new sustainable carry-on items, and there is no better option than The Cosmetic Case from Béis.

Available in either black or beige, this case has a spacious design that gives you plenty of room to store your makeup, toiletries, and accessories. Its double-sided brush holder keeps your tools tidy and secure, even with the inevitable moving and shifting on a plane, and its compact mirror will come in handy if you need to touch up your makeup during your flight.

Plus, the water-resistant lining keeps its contents safe and dry, and the material is easy to clean, so you don’t have to compromise on style or functionality.

This cosmetic case helps you do good as well as look good. Béis has partnered with Girl Up—a United Nations Foundation that helps educate girls in developing countries—to help empower the next generation of women around the world.

Next time you’re trying to pack a sustainable carry-on, skip the struggle and consider any of these products to make your travels a little greener, no matter how long your flight is.

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