Bellroy Hanging Toiletry Kit Plus Review

What you need in a toiletry bag depends on the traveler and the trip. If you’re squeezing everything into a 30L travel backpack, you’ll want something smaller than if you’re packing into rolling luggage, whether it’s carry-on size or a checked bag. Even if you have space in your suitcase for a large Dopp kit, can you make it work in a tiny cruise ship or camper bathroom? Maybe, maybe not.

However, the 8L Bellroy Hanging Toiletry Kit Plus seems made for that situation. It has space for everything you need, even if that’s more than an uber-minimalist packer would consider, and includes a hook to get it up off the countertop. How does it work out? We took it on a weekend camping trip in a travel trailer to find out.

External Components

The Bellroy Hanging Toiletry Kit Plus is made with the brand’s recycled Dura Weave fabric, a polyester made with 100% recycled plastic water bottles. It feels sturdy and is a little shiny, yet it’s easy to wipe clean and repels moisture from spills. Other materials used in the bag include virgin nylon, polyester, and recycled nylon.

There’s a rubbery Bellroy patch on the front, and that’s it for branding. The patch matches your chosen colorway, whether Black, Sea Kelp (green), Stone (beige), or Clay, a brownish red we’re testing. It’s a subtle look that we like and is in line with other Bellroy gear, so you’ll probably like it if you’re familiar with the brand.

There is also a YKK zipper to access the main compartment and other YKK zippers inside the kit. We have no issue with functionality, but the bag is so large that it would have been nice to have a second zipper pull so we didn’t have to completely open it from left to right just to grab a hair brush. A webbing pull makes it easy to use; we just wish there was more than one.

Atop the bag is a webbing carry handle so you can pull it out of a bag or carry it with you to the restroom. It’s large enough to fit most hands without your knuckles digging into the bag, and it works well for short-term use.

Behind the handle is a slip pocket. If you stick a finger inside, you can fish out the aluminum hook and use it to hang up the bag. The hook doesn’t include a swivel, but it slides on a short length of cord and can twist in any direction, so you can hang it on door hooks, towel bars, or anything else you can get it around.

That lets you keep the rather large bag off the countertop during your trip, which our tester found convenient when using it in a tiny travel trailer bathroom. We’re getting ahead of ourselves, but as you can see, the bag is designed for easy use while hanging up, so you never need to take it down if you’re concerned about counter space.

That’s it for the outside of the bag, though. Let’s dive into more detail about how all of that organization packs out.

Inside The Toiletry Bag

The Bellroy Hanging Toiletry Kit Plus opens fully clamshell so you can see everything all at once, whether you lay it on a counter or hang it up.

Most of the depth is on the back side of the bag, which becomes the top when you hang it. That allows you to pack full-size bottles and keep them upright, though they won’t be locked behind water-resistant material like elsewhere. Luckily, smaller products and travel-size bottles also stay put here because of the divider in front.

It has two slip pockets on its face covered with an envelope-like flap. The coated mesh material Bellroy uses doesn’t actually allow air or moisture to pass through, but it does let you see what’s inside. They don’t fasten with magnets, snaps, or hook-and-loop patches, but we had no issue with our gear sliding out along the way. Whether the bag is open or closed, they are always upright and not prone to spilling.

Below the fold are two zippered pockets. The first is shallow and closes with a locking zipper. It’s made with the same non-breathable mesh as the pockets above (and below, for that matter), but the locking zipper is key because the pocket is supposed to hold your toothbrush. The separate pocket allows you to store that tool away from everything else for sanitation purposes, and the locking zipper allows you to open it partway to let your bristles air out without the entire pocket coming undone. We would have been happy to have actual breathable mesh so we could close the compartment instead, but we suppose this is to keep more moisture inside the pocket instead of dampening your other gear.

Below that is a large, water-resistant zippered pocket that extends behind the toothbrush holder. This is where we put nearly every bottle of liquid we packed for the trip, from full-size sunscreen and bug spray (our tester was camping, after all, and didn’t have to abide by 3-1-1 rules), to hand lotion, shampoo and conditioner, soap, and other creams and sprays. While many of those would have fit on the top shelf, we prefer to lock them behind water-resistant material and a zipper just in case. No one wants to open a toiletry bag to find everything coated in shampoo in the worst-case scenario, and we prefer to contain that mess as much as possible, saving any scrunchies, brushes, and makeup we pack elsewhere.

So, if you’re a traveler who needs to bring a lot of toiletries, whether you have a 12-step skincare routine or are packing for a family, the Bellroy Hanging Toiletry Kit Plus can be a great way to have it all without hogging the bathroom counter. You’ll just have to make space for it in your luggage on your way to and from your next trip.