Typical Liquids a woman would carry in her toiletry kit...

Skincare
Cleanser: $10-$30
Exfoliant: $10-$40
Toner: $5-$20
Moisturizer: $10-$30
Spot Treatment: $15-$25

Cosmetics
Lip Gloss: $5-$15
Foundation: $15-$50
Mascara: $15-$40
Nail Polish: $5-$20

Other
Moisturizing Body Lotion: $10
Shaving Gel: $5
Toothpaste: $2.50
Shampoo: $5-$10
Conditioner: $5-$10
Hair Gel/Spray/etc: $5-$10


Total= $122.50 - $317.50

Low prices are what a woman would typically pay in a drug store for avg-above avg products. High prices are what a woman would typically pay in a dept store.

Prices can go MUCH higher than this. Cleanser can cost $80 per bottle easily. Shampoo can cost $20. etc. Creme de La Mer, for example, costs $110 for a single liquid ounce.

Places to get an idea what women spend on cosmetics and skincare:

http://www.sephora.com
http://www.blissout.com
http://www.ulta.com
http://www.paulabegoun.com
http://www.avon.com
http://www.marycay.com
http://www.drugstore.com

I hadn't thought about it until seeing posts like this one, but these policies are definately harder on women (maybe even discriminatory?) than men.

As a guy, the liquids/gels I want to carry are: shampoo, mouthwash, antibiotic ointment, toothpaste, sunscreen, and of course my water bottle which I will set aside for now. In travel/hotel-sized containers refilled from my bottles at home or bought at the drugstore, the total of these things isn't worth more than $5-$10.

So my choices are:

1) Obey TSA's ban like a good sheep and check a bag. Risk: lose checked bag with toiletries, have to pay $5-$10 at destination. Inconvenience: baggage claim, can't stand by for earlier flights, get stranded overnight at missed connection without bag, etc.

2) Obey TSA's ban like a good sheep, don't check a bag, Risk: none. Inconvenience: have to pay $5-$10 at destination.

3) Ignore TSA's ban and smuggle travel-sized items in carry-on bag or on person: Risk: Items get confiscated and I lose $5-$10 of items to TSA confiscation and have to pay $5-$10 at destination for a total loss of $10-$20. Inconvenience: none unless items confiscated.

Given the price points involved, so far I coose option 3 because there's no inconvenience in the most common case and minor loss in the uncommon case. Great benefit if I succeed and little loss if I fail. But if the dollar values were much higher (e.g., the example of $100-$200 for a typical woman), option one becomes the only realistic choice for anyone on any sort of budget. :(

Now that I think about it, TSA has a remarkable history of coming up with policies that punish women. Breast gropes, cosmectics confiscation, and upskirt wandings come to mind, not to mention the delays sometimes created if requesting a same-sex groping because of the general imbalance between male/female screeners.

I haven't been able to find an answer to this question: Can vitamin pills be taken on board? Does it make a difference whether they are in the original container or mixed together? (I use one of those medication holder that permits putting a day's worth of pills in each compartment.) Has anyone had problems in the last few days getting through security with vitamin pills or other unlabelled pills such as aspirin? I'm not sure how strict TSA is being? The first day of the new rules, I didn't realize I had a small bottle of alcohol handwash in my carryon. It was not detected and I didn't know it was there until I got home.
The TSA Web site seems somewhat ambiguous to me on some of the info about non-prescription pills such as vitamins as opposed to medications, etc.

Isn't this a problem only for International arrivals? For every other flight you are arriving airside with access to airside shops before you leave the secure area.

[QUOTE=studentff]



3) Ignore TSA's ban and smuggle travel-sized items in carry-on bag or on person: Risk: Items get confiscated and I lose $5-$10 of items to TSA confiscation and have to pay $5-$10 at destination for a total loss of $10-$20. Inconvenience: none unless items confiscated.

Given the price points involved, so far I coose option 3 because there's no inconvenience in the most common case and minor loss in the uncommon case. Great benefit if I succeed and little loss if I fail. But if the dollar values were much higher (e.g., the example of $100-$200 for a typical woman), option one becomes the only realistic choice for anyone on any sort of budget. :(

QUOTE]

If the items are confiscated and the TSA thinks you were deliberately trying to "smuggle" the confiscated items on board you need to consider what the fine might be.

Thanks swise for the research ... add estee lauder and the stuff I buy lasts me 2-3 months in their smallest size and costs between 45 and 70 per bottle and the price jumps dramatically. I have sensitive skin, as well, so a lot of the drugstore stuff doesn't work for me so the idea about a landside drugstore still doesn't cut it.

Dov - you're still missing the point from a women's perspective. Thanks for the lesson on leaving bags if I'm returning to the same place - I am a very old hand at that, even had a Marriott Courtyard buy me a suit when they lost the skirt of one I left there. I used to travel with my purse only - those were the days. These days its I don't know where or when I'm going, hence the overnighting of the toiletries and my last minute and very expensive ticket purchase.

You know, all this discussion about landside cosmetics makes me think that someone ought to call Avis and Hertz and have them sublet their unused in-airport desks to Mary Kay... :D

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GOOD ON YA, folks! Keep linin' up VOLUNTARILY for the TSA Passenger Handling!

So far:

1) No liquids.

2) No gases, as lighters may contain, etc.

Next,

3) No solids.

To be followed up by 4) No plasma, and

5) No brains... specifically for those willing to give up their constitution for some Tootsie Rolls. This rule, on review, is already in effect and being obeyed diligently by those who continue to fly.

Actually, Lumpy, I'm surprised it took you this long to say something on the topic. :)

Hey, Supe! Been DRIVING across country for three weeks. Amazing what I find I've been missing out on rather than getting the TSA Big Feel. Stay at sites as long's I like, don't have to go barefoot, and anybody wants to grab ahold of me without a warrant better have at least one hand over his own pills.

Very, VERY enjoyable. Even at three bucks a gallon. Every once in awhile I'd hear a jet overhead, wonder who I might be sitting next to up there, and smile a little smile.

absolutely
 

Now, that's the first really great idea I've heard in a long time. Good for you!

"Oops I forgot I had that extra bottle of sunscreen in the zipper pouch of my bag because I went to the pool last weekend," will almost certainly be quite effective. I agree that "extreme" measures like sewing items into the bag would be unwise.

But as always, never allowing TSA to collect your personal information is the best course.

If TSA starts fining people for carrying hotel-sized cosmetics, I'm sure it will make the news or at least FT, and I doubt I will be the first. And I'm not even sure how TSA's fine structure/philosophy would apply to the new absurd prohibited-items list. In theory, TSA issued fines only for items that were "real threats," for for example they would issue a fine for a giant bowie knife but just confiscate a tiny pen knife.

Under that philosophy, there would be a fine for a bottle of 98% peroxide (which is one of the hypothetical "real threats") but no fine for a bottle of water. But TSA clearly knows that all of the liquid they're confiscating is not a real explosive/hazmat threat because they are tossing the articles in a public garbage can and not treating them like hazmat. If TSA really believed it was confiscating explosive makeup and explosive water bottles, it would have to process the garbage much differently.

(Aside: I wonder if TSA could be dragged into court for environmental abuses such as "dumping thousands of gallons of potential hazmat into the public landfill." If a company did that, you can bet that someone would go after them.)

I've been trying to find the answer to this one too. Anyone? Bart?

Yikes ! Thanks for the education.
Looks like getting separate credit cards was one of my better decisions :D ^