We don’t often stay in hotels that supply toiletries but they are common in Iran and you only have to be staying in a cut above grotty, to be offered them in abundance. I recon it’s a combination of the Iranian’s love of plastic disposable products, and being hospitable….and the better the hotel the more you get. We have been offered everything from sewing kits to shower hats to shampoo.

Poor hubby, he so loves a freebie and its hard for him to say no – but he loves the planet more so we refuse these complimentary products and use our own stuff.

Yup! The easy way to avoid plastic crap in hotel rooms is to bring a wash bag full of your own products. This works whether you are in Iran or Huddersfield…. we have a set of reusable travel bottles which we fill up with home-made products, we leave them in our wash bag along with spare wooden toothbrushes and hey presto, ready to go, anywhere, anytime.

Of course you don’t have to make your own stuff you can buy your toiletries in bulk then decant off into smaller bottles as needed.

You can get sets of plastic bottles from chemists like Superdrug though be warned the cheaper bottles are not very durable.

Muji also do a good range of handy, pretty bottles.

Camping shops have some great hard-wearing options though they are more expensive.

If you really don’t want to use plastic you can get metal bottles (usually plastic epoxy resin lined), though please note they are not so good for backpacking. They tend to crumple under pressure.  You see  choice of bottles, and plastic versus metal discussion, here

If you want to make your own plastic free cosmetics have a look at this