Toiletries to the excess

After spending almost four days in Yogyakarta, it is time for us to pack up and move on. Tomorrow morning we are leaving for Borobodur. Since we are going to Prambanan (a temple compund 17 km northeast of Yogya) this afternoon, we decided to pack our backpacks before leaving.Packing is not one of my strengths, normally I pack for a week even if I am only going away for the weekend. Hence, packing for 8 months on the road was distressful for me. I remember a good friend asking me how I would cope with nothing more than a backpack. He just couldn't imagine me travelling for that period of time with less than a huge trunk (or two).
I am proud to say that I manage very well with the clothes that I brought (not evenfilling two thirds of my backpack!). The one area where I failed completely when it came to bringing only what is needed: toiletries.
Nice looking bottles filled with even better smelling creams, scrubs, shower gels (you name it) are just extremely appealing to me. Our bathroom was stuffed with my tins, bottles or containers of shampoo, conditioner, face masks or all sorts of hair styling products, so when the idea of taking a break to do some extended travelling started to form, I stopped buying beauty products and started an attempt to use it all up before we left.
We did very well and the week before departure, all we had was billions of practically travelsized toiletries. At least that was how I felt then, so I packed it all thinking how smart it was to bring it all and just use it up as we went. The best thing was, I did not have to part from any of it!
Today, five odd weeks later I realize how wrong I was. It would have been so much better just to bring the necessities and see from there if there is something else you desperately need and then buy it.

Since I have a problem with throwing things away if they are not used up completely, I am now carrying way to many tins and bottles filled with all kinds of beauty products which I don't really need. My skin will probably thank me though, as it has never ever been this pampered before: I exfoliate, cleanse and cream at a rate my face and body have never seen before, and I try to make Matthias use my stuff as well so that it will be gone faster.

What did I learn from it all?
Bring only what you need: Shampoo, conditioner, soap, toothpaste, body lotion and sun screen.
Buy the rest when you need it.
And: Glass containers are NOT suited for backpacking... They tend to be fragile and heavy.

My side of the bathroom (this is not all though, some things are already packed...)

Matthias' side of the bathroom