Samantha Brown Shares Her Unexpectedly Helpful Hotel Soap Tip

Few things are quite as annoying yet utterly mundane as struggling to remove a tiny bar of hotel soap from its packaging. Your hands are wet, and no matter how hard you try to tear the plastic material, it just won't open. Maybe you try to rip the wrapping with your teeth and end up with a soapy mouth, or you give up and just use the shampoo. Either way, it's very annoying. Although this is the definition of "first-world problems," we live for tiny hacks that solve life's travel irritations. Fortunately, television host and expert in all things travel Samantha Brown has a simple hotel soap bar tip. 

When you arrive at your hotel room, go into the bathroom and immediately unwrap the soap. This way, you'll avoid the sticky, or dare we say "slippery" situation before it becomes a problem. While Brown's latest hack may seem utterly intuitive, we're sure at least a few of us aren't doing it. 

Over the past few years, eco-friendly shampoo, facewash, and conditioner bars have become all the rage due to the lack of plastic packaging and compact size. From Lush to Walmart, it seems like every retailer has a version in stock. However, travelers have taken to Reddit and other forums with one problem: how do you stow your bar of soap while traveling without it disintegrating into a gooey mess? 

One option is to wrap the bar of soap in toilet paper and store it in a plastic traveling case. Instead of pealing the toilet paper off, simply let the water dissolve the tissue until it falls off. However, it's important that you only use a tiny bit of toilet paper, or the hack won't work. 

Vacation planner Michelle Johnson recently shared an ingenious travel hack for dish soap on TikTok. If you stay at a Disney hotel or take a cruise, chances are you'll have glasses and mugs in the room but no way to clean them. Johnson recommends cutting a sponge into several pieces and covering each section in dish soap. Next, seal each pre-soaped sponge in its own ziplock bag for affordable, no-mess dishwashing. This hack is another in the long line of tips for surviving a family vacation.