Festival Hacks: How to Pack Smart and Breeze Through the Bag Search
By Salt of the Earth
Festival season is glorious. Live music, questionable dancing, and three days of living out of a rucksack. Less glorious is the moment security fishes your deodorant out of your bag and drops it into the confiscation bin, never to be seen again. It happens to thousands of liquid deodorants and aerosols every summer. Here is how to pack smart, stay fresh all weekend, and glide through the bag search without losing a thing.
Can you take deodorant to a festival?
Yes, but not every kind. Aerosols are banned or size-restricted at most major UK festivals, and glass of any kind is banned almost everywhere. Solid deodorants and roll-ons are generally fine. The exact rules differ from event to event (Reading and Leeds ban aerosols over 250ml, whilst some day festivals ban spray cans entirely), so always check your festival's prohibited items list before you set off.
The safest option in your washbag is a solid deodorant: nothing pressurised, nothing that smashes, and nothing for security to quibble over.
The ultimate festival hack: a crystal deodorant
A crystal deodorant is a solid block of potassium alum, a natural mineral salt. Glide it over damp skin and it leaves a fine layer of mineral salts that stops odour-causing bacteria from getting started. No aerosol, no glass, no liquid, and nothing on the banned items list to worry about.
Our Crystal Travel Deodorant (£4.49) is the one to pack. At 50g it takes up less room than a bag of crisps, it is unscented so it will not clash with your suncream or perfume/aftershave, and it is rated 4.87 out of 5 across 71 customer reviews. It also keeps going long after the headliners have gone home: around 7 months of daily use on average, and up to 18 months if you use it lightly. One festival, one summer, and most of the year after that, all from one little crystal.
How do you use a crystal deodorant?
Wet the crystal, glide it a few times over each clean underarm, and let it dry for a few seconds. That is it. At a festival, a splash from your water bottle does the job nicely. It goes on completely clear, leaves no white marks on your favourite band t-shirt, and because it is unscented you can layer whatever fragrance you like over the top! If you are new to crystals, our guide to the classic deodorant crystal covers the full story.
