Sample-Sized Stress – Solved! A Solution.

Years ago, I was a finalist for The Amazing Race. Twice! Once I tried out with my brother Chad, and once with my husband Josh, and each time we made it to the interview with the producers. Clearly, we didn’t make it through the final rounds, but I think we were close 🙂

The Saga Of My High-Maintenance Hair

Although I didn’t make it onto The Amazing Race, I have always thought I would be great on Survivor. I am certain that I would win. No one would suspect how crafty and strong I am until it was too late! My only problem is that I would have a very challenging time with my hair. My hair is long and curly and superdry and very easily tangled. It is some serious high-maintenance hair. Why don’t I just cut it off? Because it took me years to grow it out. My hair grows very slowly.

I know they let contestants bring one “luxury item” on Survivor, but I would need an armload of items just for my hair: a comb, a gallon of conditioner, some hair ties, another gallon of moisturizing repair cream, and my special brush…at least. This is the main reason that I have not tried out for the show. My hair. (Okay, maybe I’m not being completely honest here, but it is a reason).

My Fabulous Solution

Anyway. When I travel, it is very difficult to decant all of my various hair products into travel-sized bottles and puzzle those bottles into a quart-sized ziplock bag along with my other essentials. It’s just not fun. It’s tedious and messy and ineffective. But my only other alternative was to check a bag…also not fun…until I discovered BirchBox.

What is Birchbox?

Birchbox is a handpicked mix of luxe beauty samples and other goodies. It’s a subscription box, so you get one in the mail each month. The key here is that the samples are varied, high-quality, and very packable. Over the past few months, I’ve amassed a good-sized stash of samples that I can dip into whenever I need to pack for a short trip. My product packing experience has gone from stressful and annoying, to exciting (I get to try new products!) and easy (takes one minute). I no longer have to rely on whatever a hotel chooses to provide; instead I indulge in top-quality products and they all fit in my carryon. I’ve also found some new favorites by sampling!

This photo shows an assortment of some the samples I’ve received. I really like the fact that they include miniature bottles as well as sample packets.

Cost is reasonable: $10/month.  However, if you spend five minutes each month to give feedback on the products in your Birchbox, you earn points which you can redeem for full-size products.  You can earn 50-70 points a month, which translates into $5-$7.  So essentially the cost of the box is only $3-$5/month.

Listen Up Fellas!

For the guys out there – there is also a version for men! Josh tried it for a few months and enjoyed it as well, but since he shaves his head and can’t remember to wear sunscreen or moisturizer, his stash of products was just piling up and overtaking our bathroom shelves, so I canceled his subscription.

Bottom Line

While there are other beauty sample boxes out there, I am sticking with Birchbox because of its variety and affordability. I find it to be the perfect solution for an annoying problem. And it’s fun. Try it!