The One Travel Hack That Keeps Toiletries From Exploding Mid-Flight
- Toiletry explosions in suitcases during flights are a common issue due to changes in air pressure causing liquids to expand and leak.
If you've ever been a victim of your toiletries exploding all over your suitcase–you know just what a nightmare that can be. Even if you secure the caps as tight as possible, or place them inside plastic bags, it still doesn't fully prevent the liquids from exploding. This happens because of the change in air pressure once you get in the air, and any air inside of the bottles expands. Sometimes, this causes the liquid to get pushed out.
As someone who travels extremely often , I've made sure to avoid the toiletry explosions as best I can. I unfortunately learned my lesson when one year I was living out of a suitcase while on a tour with a Broadway show. I had to travel with large shampoo and conditioner bottles, plus liquid medicines, makeup and much more. One day after a flight to a new city, I unpacked my suitcase to find that not only a bottle of shampoo, but a bottle of sticky medicine had exploded all over my bag. Many of my belongings were ruined, and I searched for a way to make sure this never happened again.
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Photo by Chicago Tribune on Getty Images
Secure a plastic bag under the toiletry cap
In a TikTok made by Stephanie Booth Home, an account dedicated to organization and cleaning hacks, she shares a game-changing tip to prevent toiletries from exploding mid-flight. All you need for this hack is a zip-top baggie. Unscrew the top to your toiletry item and place the bottom of the baggie over the opening of the bottle. Then, wrap the bag around the bottle tightly so that the bottom of the baggie covers the opening securely. Take the top of the bottle and screw it back on, right over the plastic. Lastly, zip the top of the bag around the bottom of the bottle to make it extra leak-proof. Taking the extra step to do this will secure the bottle completely from top to bottom.
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Melissa Cabey
Other ways to secure your toiletry bottles
If you run out of zip-top baggies and are in a pinch, there are a few other ways that you can secure your toiletry bottles before traveling. If you have plastic or saran wrap, you can take either of those and secure it over the top of any opened bottle. Similar to how you do the zip-top baggie method, all you need to do is screw the top back on right over the plastic.
If you travel often, and want to be a bit more eco-friendly, there is actually a product out on the market that was made for this very specific issue. On Amazon, there are multiple brands that sell silicone bottle covers for travel. These covers are stretchy, and you can stretch them right over the top of your toiletry bottles. With this method, you don't need to unscrew the top first. You just stretch the silicone over the top of the bottle as a whole, and it secures the bottle from any type of leakage or explosion.
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This story was originally published by Parade on Dec 15, 2025, where it first appeared in the Travel section. Add Parade as a Preferred Source by clicking here.
