Perhaps my objections to your laundry advice were a little harsh. As someone who has traveled alone with several small children, my experience is extensive in this area. I might add a little additional product advice. If you can repackage it in a travel friendly container, nalgene perhaps-“Zout” will get most any organic stain out, but it can also remove paint or sticky labels, so be careful. It used to be available only at medical uniform stores, but it is now available in most supermarkets or chain pharmacies. Rene Furterer (Amazon has it) makes a shampoo that lathers in salt water, in the event that fresh water is at a premium.

The soap in the sock advice is a novelty. I also wondered about the hypersensitivity issue mentioned in the earlier comment. Perhaps we should simply appreciate the possibility that someone’s feet won’t offend us.

Potentially allergic reactions to ingredients in some foreign soaps that you might find in far away hotel bathrooms are an interesting idea. “Pure” soap itself is not regulated. A pure soap is defined as a product composed exclusively of alkali salts of fatty acids (see http://www.goplanetearth.com/fda_defines_soap.html ). However, if a soap product contains fragrances or moisturizers, then it is classified as a cosmetic, and regulatory agencies like the FDA (Food and Drug Administration) require them to be hypoallergenic, that is, not likely to be irritating, even upon prolonged contact (after all, one rarely rinses off all of the soap particles one applies during bathing). The FDA standard for approval to market goes even further by requiring these cosmetic soaps to be not harmful upon accidental contact with the eyes (albeit they may be irritating to the eyes). It’s unlikely that these cosmetic soaps will cause a problem on the skin of the feet if they don’t cause a problem when applied to more sensitive skin during bathing rituals. Allergic reactions to cosmetics are rare (see http://www.cfsan.fda.gov/~dms/cos-safe.html ). Reactions to soaps are apparently even rarer.

All that said, your key point is well taken: traveler beware. No one really knows what all the ingredients are in a foreign bar of bathroom soap, and some countries have, shall we say, “more relaxed” regulatory standards than others.

Good luck on your next trek.

P. David Mozley, M.D.

I am uncomfortable with the idea of leaving a small amount of detergent in any article of clothing, especially an area of such high friction as the feet. Is it possible that someone with sensitive skin might have an allergic reaction? Walking the streets of a foreign city with an itchy rash would be enough to put a damper on anyone’s vacation.

Any do you really think that just because you put the MD after your name you don’t need to spell? I’m not that impressed that I can ignore sloppy language use.

Fashion can be equal to function if you think hard enough about it. It is a service to others not to visually offend.

And wear not only beautiful but comfortable shoes, same rationale. Be kind to others.

If you will please consider Googling “travel laundry soap” or something similar, then you will hit plenty of sites that will ship you single-use packets of Tide, Woolite, Forever New, and other laundry detergents.

Your point about shampoo is well taken. In fact, hotel shampoo often leaves more of a fragrance than hand soap, which can provide more of an anti-odorant benefit when you take off your shoes for an overnight flight at the end of a long day on the road. (Don’t you wish that the whole world would take my advice on this matter?)

My apologies for not being more sensitive to the fact that it might be easier for men than women to buy underpants that are multi-colored. Popular brands, such as Jockey, Dockers, Polo, Fruit of the Loom, and many others, sell underwear for men that are colored just like Brooks Brothers business suits. Perhaps I should resolve to spend more time thinking about women’s underwear in the future. In the meantime, maybe the basic principle will still be useful when thinking about the clothing you select to leave home with. Most any solid color is probably more robustly stain resistant than white. Black outerwear might constitute the highest form of fashion for evenings out at home, but it doesn’t hold up well on the road. Solid colors show wrinkles all too well after just a few hours of sitting on them. The wrinkles tend to become even more dramatic after a trans-oceanic flight. Little disguises the problem like the stripes and checks motifs in old fashioned business suits for men. The same color patterns are becoming increasingly available in outer wear for women. It seems like a veritable truth that grays, blues, and browns hide dirt better than black, but it might be that data from well controlled scientific studies are hard to cite.

At the risk of sounding even more pedantic than usual, my advice to women includes:

>>Prioritize function over fashion.

>>Wear non-white socks or socklettes while out of the road so that your feet don’t blister.

>>Select underwear that is resistant to staining and inhospitable to microbes that depend on moisture for their survival.

>>For comfort as well as hygiene, everyone should travel in underwear that is at least one size larger than the undergarments they wear at home.

>>And perhaps most importantly, always feel free to push back on or ignore advice from men like me who act as if we know what’s best for you.

Good luck on your next journey.

P. David Mozley

The drying advice is inventive. High tech laundry equipment is not in my experience, so the fun of doing more than simply hanging up the stuff on the shower rod escapes me, but it sounds like you enjoy it. I’d add the advice of taking enough tiny underwear instead so you could simply wash it before the return trip and avoid the custom agents entertaining luggage search.

How about a packing article next?

I will go absolutely out of my way to find either through the hotel or my guide, a nice local woman to beat my cloths clean against some rock in a local water source for a buck or two (or whatever the local currency is)then what we’ve (think the Gypsy in Katmandu)been known to do in the past

)

Best,
Steve