Thread: Allegro travel bag

I found this travel bag at Walgreen's a few weeks ago for $10 in the cosmetics section. I needed a travel bag for an upcoming week-long trip, so I sprung for it. When I got it home, I was increasingly impressed by its being apparently fine-tuned for travelling with a straight.

From the outside, this travel bag looks like any other. It has a mesh-fronted narrow pocket with various slots and straps for toiletries and a larger main pocket with two small side pockets inside, one of which is closed with a zipper. The main pocket is unremarkable save that it is large enough to contain my toothbrush, toothpaste, deodorant, hair goop, large hand towel (actually a kitchen dish towel), TM travel strop, and puck of shaving soap easily without seeming overly bulky when closed up, perhaps an impressive feat in itself. Note that I'm using my Van Der Hagen soap straight from its plastic shipping container rather than in a bowl; I've found this method to be quite successful for travelling, as the packaging is watertight and compact. If you do this, be sure to let the soap air out a bit before you close it up so the water left on the surface can dry off.

The noteworthy features of this bag, however, are to be found in the smaller front pocket. The bag comes with two small squirt bottles, to be filled with your choice of necessary goops, and a soap dish, each of which has its own slip pocket which holds it securely when the bag is closed. I used the squirt bottles for shampoo and conditioner, although if you're a cream latherer you might put this in one instead. The soap dish I did not require, so I discared it, and I was thrilled to discover that its pocket is the perfect size for a standard bottle of Nivea aftershave! To the right of these three pockets is an empty space with an elastic strap, which proved eerily well-shaped and -positioned for my Crabtree & Evelyn brush. You certainly wouldn't want to use this to carry around anything overly large, but for a smaller brush like this C&E or a drugstore boar-bristle, this is perfect. Moreover, the mesh front on this pouch ensures that the bristles can dry completely even if you have to leave your adopted shave-den in a hurry as long as you keep the bag ventilated. Finally, there's a toothbrush tube held along the bottom by another elastic strap, which accomodates my two Wapis quite nicely; a quick test confirms that it also will hold my somewhat larger 6/8" Dovo Bismarck. This tube has a small hole punched at each end, so your blade is exposed to air and any remaining microdroplets of water can evaporate. I keep a square of toilet paper tucked behind the tube for drying the blade in case I can't find any in the bathrooms I use as I travel.

Overall, this bag proved excellent for travelling with a straight. My only complaint comes after my second flight with this tossed haphazardly in a side pocket of my backpack -- the squirt bottle of conditioner leaked slightly, but since the whole bag is nylon I was able to wash the mess out easily. I probably should have stored the bag more carefully anyway to ensure no damage would be done to the razors or brush, but I was travelling with a $4 boar brush and the toothbrush tube is surprisingly sturdy, so I didn't have much to fear.

Considering that this bag only costs $10 at Walgreen's, then, I feel that it deserves my unqualified recommendation. If you need a bag to store your kit as you travel about, you'd be hard-pressed to find something that more completely accomodates the various bits a wet-shaver needs without designing something explicitly for that purpose, and the price obviously can't be beaten. If the color doesn't suit you, I think this may even be available in red.

Thanks for the review.

I think I'll drift over to Walgreens and pick one up, if they have it.

Thanks,

Steve

Thanks for the review. Excellent (and cheap) find. I had given up trying to find something since all the options were so expensive.

Went to Walgreen's and got one today. They even had red (for whoever might want that color).