curious what containers

I use old dropper bottles which held eye drops and contact lens solution. I brush with baking soda carried in a small plastic vial.

I use small plastic vials. The trick is having just enough for the hike you have planned. DEET needs the best container you can find— if it leaks, it will eat your gear. I use a gel-style toothpaste; it is much easier to get in and out of a vial.

BPL carries some dropper bottles: http://www.backpackinglight.com/cgi-bin/backpackinglight/xdpy/sf/Packing%20Systems/Storage%20Containers

I found small plastic vials with wide tops on eBay and a local shop that sells scented oils.

Try ultralightdesigns.com, they've got an assortment of mini plastic bottles. REI also has some.

Coghlans Contain alls are the cheapest AND the lightest you can go. your welcome. Do a google search, organize by price, lowest to highest, check shipping first.

Sunscreen- black film canister

Toothpaste- Poly Container – 0.25 fl. oz.
http://www.rei.com/product/605887

Deet- don't use, but would try clothing/headnet instead

for sunscreen and body glide, i repackage small amounts into these
http://www.rei.com/product/605887
They have firm snapping lids that have no come undone for me. But just to be sure, I keep these in my hipbelt…easy to reach and won't turn into the apocolypse if one of them happens to explode.

Heres a link to a buch of small containers that rei sells
http://www.rei.com/category/40006333

I dont use deet, but instead I use eucalyptus repellent, which i repacked in a mini pump spray bottle, like the ones used for spray hand sanitizers. This isn't the exact one i use, but similar. Just make sure the spray is refillable and you should be good
http://www.germx.com/data/photos/SprayPen.jpg

For soaps, and other liquids, people use the bpl dropper bottles (expensive) or those lil breath mint drop bottles you can find at gas stations, cvs, etc. Eye drop bottles work well. You cant really tell at first, but most if not all of these lil bottles have a removable nozzle…just pry it off and refill. Personally, i found a tiny tiny cosmetic dropper bottle ( it was like a estee lauder sample of some sort) and reused it for my dr. bronners soap. I'm always on the lookout for reusing sample bottles. Its cheap and its green.

For toothpaste, I managed to horde the lil 1 to 2 use tootpaste samples that you always get when check into a hotel, fly overseas, etc. I bring these for overnight/weekend trips. If its a longer trip, I just bring a typical travel sized tube of toothpaste, and sqeeuze out half of it beforehand

Boy, cutting fractions of grams from the container to carry a heavy, dense paste. Reminds me of the old days of sawing down toothbrushes to put in your 7 lb internal frame pack. Switch to using tooth powder or a mix of baking soda and a bit of salt. Much lighter, and the amount you put into one of these:

http://www.rei.com/product/605887

will last at least a couple of weeks.

We _never_ sawed off our toothbrush handles. We always drilled holes to lighten them.

–B.G.–