Showerproof Labels with Outdoor Sticky Vinyl
Let's talk decanting into travel toiletry packages for a second. Did you know that you need less than 2 mL of liquid roll on deodorant for a week long trip? Did you know that you can leave the bulky roller ball at home if you decant it into a tiny dropper bottle to apply with your fingertips?
I did!
And that isn't the only toiletry which can be downsized. Hand sanitizer is mostly gelatinous substrate made of calcium acetate and only a small amount of active ingredient (67% ethanol). You can take a smaller container for the same effect, if the smaller container is filled with 70% rubbing ethanol and you don't mind having to be careful not to spill. And Dr. Bronner's liquid soap is so concentrated that you only need a drop to wash your hands and five drops to wash your body so, again, a 2 mL bottle can take you over a week. You only need 1 oz of sunscreen per day and so can decant sunscreen per day into 1 oz bottles to make sure you aren't applying too little. And bug-dope does really well decanted into small amber essential oil vials and spread by hand. I could go on. In short, you can decant smaller than you think.
But then comes the trouble of labeling your containers. Regular office tape will stick a little bit sometimes, but regular travel with liquid soap and sunscreen will have that office tape off your container in a heartbeat. Don't even think about permanent marker as those are alcohol soluble and traveling with your hand sani will leave you wondering what the white liquid in the bottle is: lotion, conditioner, sunscreen?
There has to be a better way. And there is.
Enter: outdoor vinyl. These sticky plastics have been around for decals on cars and backlit signs in strip-malls for decades. But for whatever reason they haven't found their way into our travel toiletry kits until this post.
I would like to introduce you to, in order, my lending hand sani (in the fish), my jealously guarded hand sani (with the red band), my deodorant, and my Dr. B's soap. Oh, and there is a quarter there for scale. The EthOH, DEO, and SOAP are all labeled with outdoor rated decal vinyl and look as shiny and bright as the day it was rolled off its factory floor. Except that these bottles are over 5 years old and despite there being a whole pandemic in that time period, have been to at least three countries and on over 20 trips requiring tossing them in to a TSA approved liquids baggie. Only the fish needed a new label (it's label is painter's tape with ballpoint writing on).
But wait, there's more!
I'm not just telling you about this great way to label things and then leaving you on your own, I'm going to give you the tools to go with the know how.
First, you'll need a PDF file to send to a person with a vinyl cutter and outdoor-rated vinyl to cut. Here are two PDF files.
This first file has a lot of copies of some labels > and is in a longer rectangular form.
And this file > has been created on a 4" x 4" square canvas which only has one of each label, but also is usually the cheapest format a vinyl cutter will cut for you.
What you do with the files once you have them is that you then find someone with a vinyl cutter who has outdoor vinyl and give them the cut file and receive the final product. I tend to look on Fiverr > when I want vinyl cut.
Let me know in the comments what your permanent, shower-proof solution to labeling your travel toiletries is and/or how much you love your new vinyl labels and will never go back to your old solution.