Restroom Sanitizing Survival Kit Review

I had never heard of a Restroom Sanitizing Survival Kit. Have you? No, and I don’t blame you. But when I was first approached on my Twitter account ProbearoundGlob by the people behind yourRSSK, I thought: what a brilliant idea!

They sent me two packs of the Restroom Sanitizing Survival Kit to test and try and here is my review. I was not paid or endorsed for this review, all opinions are my own.

What is a Restroom Sanitizing Survival Kit?

Basically, it’s a small packet of supplies that come in handy when you have to go to a public toilet, or any toilet for that matter, which isn’t of the same hygienic standards as you are used to. In other words: when nature calls and you’re not at home.

From their introduction:

Everything you need to go pee-pee in new and interesting places. The RSSK was designed to be a compact bathroom sanitation solution for all travelers. I’m sure in your travels you have encountered public restrooms, airport or airplane bathrooms, or porta-potties that were missing supplies, unclean or just downright nasty!

The Restroom Sanitizing Survival Kit contains items to make your bathroom visit a little bit more hygienic. It is a solution to solve unsanitary environments with a portable package.

Contents of the Restroom Sanitizing Survival Kit

The RSSK contains 8 items that are all biodegradable. Half the contents can be flushed once you’re done.

• 2 gloves (biodegradable/flushable)
• 1 sanitation wipe (for the toilet seat- biodegradable/flushable)
• 1 toilet seat cover (biodegradable/flushable)
• Toilet paper (biodegradable/flushable)
• 1 hygiene wipe (the “after wipe”- biodegradable/flushable)
• 1 pack of liquid soap (natural, vegan, biodegradable)
• also 1 pack hand sanitizer (natural, vegan, biodegradable)
• 1 pack hand lotion (natural, vegan, biodegradable, touch screen friendly)

As you can see from the list above, it has everything to sanitize the area, do your business and clean up afterward. All items are biodegradable which is of course good for waist issues. You can flush the items once you’re done and the products for your hands are natural and vegan. The lotions should not pose any problems or reactions on your skin.

The Testing of the RSSK

When I first received the package at home, I was surprised by how small the kit is. They measure 16 cm in length and 8 in width (6.2 x 3.15 inches). I took both of them with me on my recent trip to Barcelona and boy did I need them.

The kit came to the rescue on the first morning of our stay in Barcelona. With my Crohn’s disease, I always need to find a toilet super urgent and I cannot be picky. It is my biggest travel fear to not find a toilet in time. So when nature called, I searched for the first available restroom in sight.

The location

It was a public restroom. And it was dirty. I took some pictures to visualize, but don’t worry, I only snatched them right before I went. Not during or after.

Maybe from the looks of it, it wasn’t that nasty, but the smell. Ugh. It was small, cramped, wet, and had a dirty floor. It smelled awful and I felt like the germs were jumping on me by just looking around.

Sanitizing of the surface area

I quickly snatched a few pictures (what I won’t do for you people. I hope you’ll appreciate it). And opened up the Restroom Sanitizing Survival Kit. I checked the contents and put on the gloves. I didn’t want to touch anything.

Maybe that was not the right order, because the other items cannot be opened with those gloves on, so I took them off again. I used the sanitation wipe to clean some of the area, but it didn’t seem to help that much. I also used the hygiene wipe or the “after wipe” because it still didn’t feel clean.

The toilet paper came in really really handy, but it was no way near enough. Luckily I had some paper tissues with me as I forgot to bring my own toilet paper.

Doh! My #1 rule for road tripping and I forget it myself. Stupid stupid.

After I’ve done my business, I gratefully used the after products.

Washing up

I used soap first. Luckily there was water in the restroom; otherwise, I’m not sure if the soap could have been used without water. There was a lot of soap in the pack and I don’t think anybody would use it all. After this, I used the hand sanitizer which was a delight.

The lavender smell was wonderful and made me forget the situation I was in, for a short minute.

After this, came the tricky part. I wanted to use the lotion, but on wet hands, it doesn’t work that well. But there was no way I could dry my hands. I did use the lotion but found the quantity also too much. I have big hands, but no way big enough to use all the lotion on.

The lotion did feel good on my hands. Not sticky or anything. I didn’t test the touch screen friendliness of the lotion, but I do believe it is possible.

All done. I’ve done my business and the rest of the day, my hands smelled like lavender fields from the Provence.

Environment friendly?

All products are biodegradable and most can be flushed. This is of course a good thing. I didn’t test it though. There was a small bin at the restroom and I left the wipes, gloves and packaging in there. I was brought up to never flush any foreign object down the toilet, so it didn’t feel right to me.

The structure of the wipes, papers, and gloves seem to be biodegradable to me. But what about the packaging material?

Made of sturdy plastic material, there are no recycling symbols or any other indicators on the packaging what to do with it. The plastic gloves also come inside a plastic sleeve. Are they biodegradable?

Overall opinion

I did like the Restroom Sanitizing Survival Kit. It was small and it served its purpose while traveling around and when I needed to use an unsanitary bathroom.

I liked the compactness of the kit. I loved the smell of the lavender products and the use of the different items inside the kit.

I’m not 100% sold on all the items inside the kit. I can see why the plastic gloves are included but I don’t think they are easy to handle.

I’m not sure about the proper use of a sanitation wipe and the hygiene wipe. I did not smell or feel any difference between them. They might as well be called 2 sanitation wipes, one before, one after. But that might just be marketing.

I didn’t use the toilet seat cover as I squatted above the seat because I was too grossed out to sit down.

I loved the smell of the washing-up products and the fact that they were there. It was great to wash your hands with some real soap, sanitize again and have a nice lotion to leave the restroom refreshed. But I’m not convinced how they can be used without water, especially because of the huge quantities they came in.

And then there is the point of biodegradable and flushable. I believe the products are biodegradable and can be flushed. But what about the packaging? Once you’re done, you’ll have 7 plastic packagings. What to do with those?

Will I use it again?

Although I do have some question marks about the Restroom Sanitizing Survival Kit, it did save my life (drama queen!). And I know it will save me again when I travel more and to more remote areas, like South America. I think this is an excellent product for everyone who travels around either in a foreign country or to the park at home.

Any given time you need to use unsanitary restrooms, the contents of this kit will make your stay at the throne a little bit more royal. They won’t transfer the restroom into a ballroom, but the Restroom Sanitizing Survival Kit will be able to get you through the experience without fainting in disgust.

Have you ever considered using a Restroom Sanitizing Survival Kit? Do you bring supplies to lighten the experience? Please share your experiences below.