ruindd

I know this'll seem like a 1st world problem for most of you, but my work just put in showers and I have a couple questions. We can't really keep anything in the locker area, so i'll have to carry everything from my desk to the showers (in another building) every day.

1. What do you use for soap?

I feel silly taking soap, shampoo, and conditioner everyday. Has anyone found a good soap that'll work for hair too? Do people use bar or liquid soap? At home I use a liquid soap + loofa, but I can't really hang dry the loofa, so I think that's not an option.

2. What do you use for a shower bag?

Our shower stalls have the traditional 2 shower curtain setup. There's a stall with one curtain containing the 'shower area' and then an outer one giving you a small changing space. The only amenity in the changing space is one hook. It's a big hook (so that's good) but no table/bench or anything.

I'm wondering if someone has found a good solution for a hanging travel shower bag that'd work well in this situation. I'm really hoping for a bag that hangs, holds my damp bike clothes, holds my soap, and has a small fold out table area. That might be a lot to ask for, but maybe it exists.

3. Towel?

There are lockers, but we aren't allowed to leave anything in them long term or lock them. I think for now I can safely leave a towel in there and just accept the fact in might get stolen or thrown out at some point. I'd want to leave the towel in there to dry off while i'm working, and then i'd pick it up and pack it up to use the following day. In addition to a traditional cotton towel, I was thinking I should have a small quick dry towel as backup. In case I come in one day and my towel has been stolen/thrown away or something. Any suggestions?

4. Shower Sandals

I'm guessing I should get some shower sandals so I don't pick up whatever fungus is in the showers. Any hints or guidance on this?

Thanks for any help. I know I can manage on my own, but I also know that some of you guys have been doing this for a long time and have a lot of experience with various methods/products. Any insights would be much appreciated.

Malachi292

I have shampoo, body soap (in a bottle), deoderant, toothpaste, and toothbrush, all of which I keep in a shaving kit bag, which I keep at work in my desk. I also keep a pair of shoes at work in my desk.

On Monday morning I carry in my towel, pants, and shirt, which I keep at work at my desk all week and then I take them back home on Friday.

I carry in under garments every day.

When I'm done showering, I wrap up my biking clothes in my towel to carry back to my desk. Then I put my biking clothes up on a shelf and hang the towel off the back of my chair. I've thought about maybe installing a towel rack underneath the desk, but I haven't.

Cattywompus

I've heard that Kirk's Castile Soap works well as a shampoo and soap. I'm not sure if I'd use it on long hair all the time, but if you have short hair it might do the job. It's cheap, too.

weshigh

I shower before I head off on my commute and then just rinse in the shower at work without soap(I never use shampoo, conditioner only). Sometimes I'll reapply deodorant, other times not.

stringbreaker

Remember camp as a kid? Take the bare essentials, a bar of soap, you don't really need a wash cloth.Shampoo? if you are using a camp soap it does both, conditioner? are you male or female? If you are male why bother if female then thats another matter. Get one of those shower caddy things you can hang off the showerhead they work really well if you need a lot of stuff. Pack it with sample/travel size toiletries REI has those camp towels that dry really fast, depending on where you park it hang it on your bike and it should be dry in no time. Mostly you just cooling off and rinsing off the sweat. Poof you're done.

sauerwald

Similar here - keep soap, shampoo, shaving kit, deodrant etc all in a shaving kit bag, bring in clean clothes each day. Used to bring in a towel each week, but I am at a new site where towels are provided .

tjspiel

Gillette and others have a "Hair and Body Wash" product in a bottle.

Our showers aren't in another building but a few floors down. I have duffel bag I keep my toiletries in. I have a some running clothes in their too but that's neither here nor there. I just put my work clothes for the day in the duffel bag along with a towel I have hanging near my desk. Then I bring the whole bag to the shower with me.

Our showers are pretty spartan too but at least there's a small bench along with a hook. If there wasn't a bench I just make do without. If there's a locker room where you work, are there benches out there to use?

There are no lockers of any kind in our shower rooms. There is a bike room in the basement with lockers but it's easier and more secure to bring everything back to my workspace. I'm lucky in that I have a fair amount of room for extra stuff. I have large filing cabinet and the bottom drawer is pretty much empty. I can put the duffel bag in there and I have hook to hang my towel on or anything else that needs to dry.

ruindd

There's a bench, but I'd rather dress in private rather than in the locker room.

I think I can scavenge a low (under the desk type) filing cabinet and rig a drying rack inside. I imagine some simple dish drying racks might work.

ks1g

+1 on the combo washes. Heredity (and lazy hair follicles) has blessed me with a near-perfect head, so I don't worry too much about shampoo. I keep liquid soap/wash, razor, shaving cream, towel, etc. at work in my cubical (also dress shoes & belt) and stop in to cool down, put lunch in fridge, etc. before heading to the small locker/shower area at work (also a no overnight storage policy). If I had to carry it all, I'd use refillable travel size containers, a packable microfiber towel, and cheap flip flops for the shower shoes.

paul2432

My company provides towels and a body wash/shampoo dispenser. I kept (I am closer to work now and shower at home) toothbrush, toothpaste, deodorant, and razor at my desk. I never bothered with flip flops. When I got to work I'd unload my clothes, grab the toiletry items and carry everything to the shower. The shower is in a larger single person room with a toilet and sink, so I'd just put all my stuff on a bench.

Paul

CliftonGK1

Mini flip top bottle from the camping section at REI, filled with Bronner's Peppermint soap. Good for hair, body, washing out your chamois and socks, doing the dishes, and scrubbing the dog. What can't you wash with that stuff?

Swimmer's towel. Packs down tiny. It's just a super-soft chamois cloth.

I don't use shower sandals, and I don't need a bag to carry those few things in.

ruindd

Why not?

Oldsport

I don't use shower shoes either. I have never had foot problems. For soap, I go really cheep, I use the liquid hand soup that work installed next to the bathroom sink for body and hair. My towel is the only shower item I take back and forth.

smasha

dr bronner's liquid soap.

i kept a tote-bag full of toiletries in my desk. i'd load that up with fresh clothes from my pannier bags and a towel that spent nights on a coat-tree near a sunny-window. The tote-bag goes over a shoulder and i'd walk back and forth to the shower with both hands free. there's always a hook near the shower to hold the bag.

i used a regular towel, but there are also "pack-towels" or "camping towels" that don't look big enough to dry off a person, but they do... and then they wring dry pretty well.

sandals are a good idea. any cheap flip-flops will do.

billyymc

I'm lucky enough to have a locker at work, but I guess I'm also very low maintenance.

I use a bottle of combination hair/body wash. I also shave in the shower. Whole process takes me < 2 minutes so I do'nt feel guilty about shaving in the shower. Wet hair and face, put some gel/wash on your head, take some in your hand and put it on your face and shave away, lather, use the lather to wash off your body, rinse and go.

I don't use sandals. Apparently my feet aren't susceptible to fungus since I've never had an issue. I go barefoot a lot -- summer and winter -- so my feet seem pretty thick skinned I guess.

Frankly, I think some of you guys are a bit too metro. I've washed my hair with a bar of Irish Spring when I've had to...it worked fine. I'd use Murphy's oil soap if someone left it in the shower

Malachi292

Of course, but why when you don't have to? Besides, some of us need dandruff shampoo.

Of course, why shower at all? A weekly bath is all you really need.

ctoddrun

If you have an opportunity, you might request that your employee install a wall-mounted dispenser stocked with shower gel, shampoo, and conditioner. We have one and it's a great thing. I'm bald, so I'm not picky about what's in it, but if I were it might be a different story.

They also installed a standalone coat rack / closet rod thing (designed for hanging clothes) that we are supposed to use to hang dry our wet/sweaty clothes. I guess people complained about sweaty workout clothes (or in my case, wet from washing in the shower cycling shorts/bibs) drying out in view of people working. The rack works really well.

So I shave and brush my teeth at home before I leave, and then just shower and dress when I get to the office. Bibs, jersey, towel hang on the clothes rack during the day and are nice and dry when it's time for the ride home.

Doohickie

For me it's several minutes' walking between the showers and my office, so I carry my toiletries and towel with me (along with my change of clothes) on the bike. I have a small brush, hair gel (small tube), deodorant, shampoo (travel size) and soap. Because I don't want to carry a wet bar of soap with me, I just leave a bar of soap in the shower (no one messes with it), but carry a new bar with me just in case.

Marauder9

A bit of a PITA having to take your kit from your desk to the showers every time.
I normally do it the night before so they are there when I get to the showers but there are lots of peeps who leave stuff on the benches where I work so nobody can complain.

I normally just use shower gel (shampoo and soap in one) which saves carrying loads of bottles/soap around including your other kit.

clasher

I use an olive oil soap for everything - even shaving cream with a brush to make it lather. I've never had any problems with this kind of soap and it's cheap at the bulk food stores here. My hair is just as nice as it was when I used shampoo and conditioners on it.

jrickards

I agree with the shampoo/body bar soap, nice and compact but you have to allow them to dry or they will just liquefy in standing water - a soap container with holes on the bottom, left with the top off until the next day does the trick for me.

nkfrench 

Get some trial size shampoo and refill every so often from a normal size bottle kept at home. Head & Shoulders smells nice, rinses clean.
Use the shampoo as soap or also decant liquid soap (eg: dial anti-bacteria) into a small travel-size bottle.
Carry it back and forth in a freezer (heavyweight) quart zip-lock bag along with comb, antiperspirant, whatever.
Just set the ziplok on the floor, throw the towel over the outer shower curtain rod.
Shower feet funk are not an issue at my workplace, understand not wanting to carry flipflops / pannier space constraints. Carry some alcohol-based hand sanitizer and clean your feet after you thoroughly dry your toes. Also comes in refillable trial-size bottles.

Get a XL thin travel towel - they dry fast and pack small. Either keep it at work if your cleanup is near your desk; or carry them on the bike each day.

Washrags are a must if you don't have a shower. One for soap, the other for rinse. Used a small bucket for clean rinse water that doubled as a tote/storage for toiletries whem I kept them at the office.

ruindd

I imagine my soap is liquefying at this very moment.