---
title: Pack This $3 Item With You Every Time You Fly, According to Travel Experts
description: The dry air inside airplanes can wreck your skin. A travel blogger and dermatologist both recommend putting this product in your carry-on.
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published: '2018-09-08T10:00:38.000Z'
modified: '2024-03-18T14:50:34.000Z'
section: Lifestyle
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![180907-product-carry-on-bag-travel](https://img.money.com/2018/09/180907-product-carry-on-bag-travel.jpg)

Besides your passport and boarding pass, there's one more item that travel bloggers (and doctors, for that matter) highly recommend you always have with you on a flight.

It's not a sanitizer, despite recent stories of germ-laden airport and airplane fixtures: Rather, it's a moisturizer called Cetaphil, available at drugstores for about $3.

Many people have their own preferred moisturizers packed in their luggage, but experts say you should also buy a good, travel-sized moisturizer to apply (and keep reapplying) on board.

The reason: Flights will dry out your skin faster than a desert, according to Los Angeles dermatologist Aegean H. Chan. While she advises drinking water before and during a flight, she cautions that's not enough to save your skin from an airplane's ultra-dry atmosphere.

Consequences of the low humidity — often just 10% or 20%, Chan says — can include discomfort, inflammation, cracking or flaking.

Some travel bloggers even advise taking your moisturizing ritual one step further. [Nicole Andersson](http://nicoleanderssonblog.com/) [suggests applying](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EzlWepsMiio&t=1s) Vaseline, serums (packed in TSA-approved sizes) and Korean face masks in flight.

But the simplest (and most affordable) option is to keep a small bottle (less than 3 ounces) of Cetaphil moisturizing cream in your carry-on luggage.

"I try to be as prepared as I can be," says frequent traveler Andersson.

A travel-size, 2-ounce Cetaphil moisturizer bottle costs $2.99 at [Target](https://www.target.com/p/cetaphil-body-face-moisturizing-lotion-2-oz/-/A-16649917).

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