Are you ready to have your world changed?
You could, of course, travel with many heavy checked bags full of clothes for your trip, or you could board the plane with a backpack of your essential items, avoiding the expense and hassle of checking a suitcase. Instead of queueing up to see an agent to check your bag, or hovering anxiously at baggage claim when you land, hoping your suitcase with all your precious belongings made it safely on and off the plane, you could travel with less. You could live with less but let’s start with the travel side of your life.
Instead of taking 2 weeks of clothing for a 2 week trip, or even 1 week, you could mix and match your outfits to be more versatile, travel with minimal options and do laundry more frequently.
You could, of course, pay exorbitant amounts of money to your hotel to wash your clothes regularly but why waste that money which could otherwise be spent on more exciting things like zip lining over waterfalls in Laos or on mountains of kapsalon. I mean, really, priorities.
So the solution to everything is really shower laundry. Let me explain how this works.
How To Do Shower Laundry in 8 Simple Steps:
Step 1: Remove your clothes
Step 2: Get into the shower
Step 3: Wash your clothes while in the shower
Step 4: Wash your body
Step 5: Dry yourself and put on a different outfit
Step 6: Wring your clothes out thoroughly
Step 7: Hang your clothes up
Step 8: Go do whatever you want for the next several hours while your clothes dry
Naturally, shower laundry is best suited to those who shower at the beginning or end of the day as you’ll only need one outfit for wearing during the day (or night) while your shower laundry dries. You could, theoretically, travel with just 2 outfits, although three is ideal in case you end up spilling khao soi all over your shorts or get too drunk to manage shower laundry one day. Things can happen.
Pro-tip: hang your clothes outside and/or in the sun (whichever combination is warmest) to allow the clothes to dry as quickly as possible.
And fear not, shower laundry isn’t just for boys. You can shower laundry as a lady. Unlike many gospels, shower laundry is not misogynistic or misandristic.
Some soaps I recommend for shower laundry:
~ Dr Bronners
~ Whatever soap came in your shower, shaved to lather up nicely
~ Whatever local laundry detergent you can find
Traveling with a small 2 oz bottle of Dr Bronners can be useful as it doubles as a body wash and a laundry detergent (and a shampoo if you have particularly cooperative hair or just don’t care.) Alternatively, just buying a small bottle of laundry detergent in most places is equally easy. Choose your own adventure when it comes to detergent.
Additional Tools for Shower Laundry:
To be clear, you don’t need any of these things to help you shower laundry. In fact, the last one is sink-laundry, not shower-laundry, but I like being as comprehensive as possible.
~ The Scrubba Wash Bag
This bag works well but you can also wash your clothes using any old black trash bag, which can also double as a pack cover in a downpour (bonus!) The scrubbers in the scrub bag are nice but not really necessary.
~ The Dolfi
Okay, so this is sink laundry tool but is handy if you and your significant other are doing shower laundry together, or if you decide to travel with an extra day or two of clothing and prefer to let something else do the work while you take a nap. It’s also handy if you’re somewhere with miserably cold water and you don’t want to be in the shower for even a second longer than you absolutely must to avoid being a smelly person.
COME FIND ME
- View amnashamimnyc’s profile on Twitter
- View amnashamimnyc’s profile on Instagram
- View amna’s profile on GitHub
TRUTH BE TOLD
The Gospel of Shower Laundry isn’t my gospel, but as my friend who preaches it far and wide is a little internet-shy, I’m helping him spread the good word. You’re welcome, A.