The 5 best shower caddies for toting toiletries from your dorm to the bathroom — starting at $6

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Portable shower caddies hold everything you need for your morning and nightly routines and are essential in shared spaces like college dorms. They keep all your toiletries together, so you're not constantly going back and forth between your room and the bathroom when you realize you forgot your toothbrush, soap, or moisturizer. Whether made of fabric, metal, or plastic, the best dorm shower caddy should be durable, spacious, easy to clean, and quick-drying. 

We tested 11 options to find the best dorm shower caddy for various size preferences and budgets. The Pottery Barn Teen Recycled Classic Shower Caddy is our top pick because it is roomy enough to fit all the essentials and can easily be hung. At just $6, the Room Essentials Mesh Caddy is our budget pick; it has a similar shape, is spacious, and dries quickly.

Find out more about how Business Insider Reviews tests and reviews home products.

Our top picks for shower caddies

Best overall: Pottery Barn Teen Recycled Classic Shower Caddy - See at Pottery Barn Teen

Best budget: Room Essentials Mesh Caddy - See at Target

Best large: Room Essentials 2-in-1 Caddy - See at Target

Best compact: Bags in Bag Portable Shower Caddy - See at Amazon

Best fabric: L.L.Bean Personal Organizer Toiletry Bag (Medium) - See at L.L.Bean 

Best overall

If you don't have a cabinet or cupboard to stash it, your shower caddy might always be on display in your dorm. The Pottery Barn Teen Recycled Classic Shower Caddy looks nice enough that you may not mind, especially because it comes in various colors, and you can personalize it with your name or monogram.

Our best dorm shower caddy had the roomiest main compartment of all the similarly shaped mesh caddies we tested. After adding our 14 products to the bag, we still had room in the side pockets for more items. We also appreciated the structure the recycled polyester lent to the bag, helping it stay open instead of collapsing in on itself when it was empty. 

The side and pocket material is sturdy and dries quickly. The mesh bottom did stay damp for eight hours, so you might want to leave it hanging to help with airflow. In our draining test, the water passed easily through the mesh but could pool a bit on the polyester strips at the bottom of the bag. A slight shake dislodged the water. 

The exterior pockets are a little shallower than those of the Room Essentials mesh caddy below, so you might want to keep your taller bottles in the main compartment.

Best budget

Lightweight and crammed with pockets, the Room Essentials mesh caddy will help keep all your toiletries together and organized. The six side compartments are of various sizes, but the smallest one held a 22-ounce shampoo bottle with no problem. 

We easily fit all our testing items in the main compartment and some side pockets. However, quite a few pockets were left empty, so we could've added even more. This mesh bag was one of the fastest-drying caddies we tested. After six hours, it was nearly completely dry, with only the handles feeling slightly damp.

Its two long handles are great for hanging on hooks or door handles. In our draining test, the water got hung up slightly compared to other mesh options but only by the tiniest fraction. 

There's not much to complain about with our best budget dorm shower caddy. Our biggest concern is that it's not very distinctive-looking, and there aren't many color options to help you distinguish yours from everyone else's.

Best large

If you have a lot of toiletries, the Room Essentials 2-in-1 Caddy should be able to fit them all in. Our best large dorm shower caddy has three compartments, one of which has a removable handled container. This is convenient for toting just personal care products when you don't need to bring along the shower supplies, either. 

We fit all 14 items into the caddy and had leftover space. Removing the container insert gave us even more room. This extra bucket is large enough to hold shampoo, conditioner (22 and 21 ounces, respectively), and a slim tube of shaving cream. Trying to get a 22-ounce bottle of body wash was too tight of a squeeze. 

Every compartment, except the removable bucket, has plenty of holes to help the water drain quickly. Water can pool slightly in the edges, but gently tipping it is enough to dislodge the droplets. Target's plastic caddy was undamaged in our drop test after tumbling down seven concrete steps. 

Because of its size and the placement of the handle, this isn't a great option if you want to hang up your caddy. Also, while the 2-in-1 is spacious, the lack of smaller compartments makes it difficult to keep products organized.

Best compact

If you want the best compact dorm shower caddy, the Bags in Bag pouch is an extremely portable option. It's one of the few options we tested that has a zipper and collapses very well.  

Technically, we fit everything except a package of cotton rounds in this bag, though it wouldn't zip closed. We don't recommend packing it as tightly as we did. Still, it comfortably holds (and zips closed) 22-ounce shampoo and body wash bottles and a 21-ounce bottle of conditioner. Considering its compact dimensions, that's pretty impressive. Just don't expect it to hold a dozen grooming products without spilling.

The pouch's mesh portions dry very quickly. After six hours, the only damp parts were the handles and fabric strips along the top of the bag. This bag also did very well in our drainage test, with water easily passing through the mesh bottom. 

Because this bag is only a single compartment, it doesn't offer as much organization as the other products on this list. However, it might be a good addition to a gym bag. Remember that while the zipper will help contain the bottles inside, the mesh won't protect against leaks.

Best fabric

This toiletry bag from L.L.Bean is a great shower caddy alternative. We think it's the best fabric dorm shower caddy because it has a large capacity and a surplus of pockets and pouches for organization. 

We could fit almost everything in our 14-product list inside, except for a jar of face cream. The main compartment zips closed, even with shampoo, conditioner, and body wash inside. Mesh pouches separate smaller bottles or grooming tools. 

Two more zippered pockets are on the sides of the bag, and the outside flap has one as well. The flap's interior has two zippered pockets, one of which has a mirror attached. There's also a small, removable partition with some mesh pouches for travel-sized bottles. It has a hook, so you can hang it.

You can hang the entire bag from a hook meant to hold up to 25 pounds. For reference, our bundle of products weighed less than 10 pounds. 

Though it's made of water-resistant polyester or nylon (depending on the pattern), you probably don't want to bring this into the shower with you. It doesn't dry nearly as quickly as the mesh options on this list. 

We tested the medium-size toiletry bag, but depending on your needs, there are also small, large, and family-size options. 

Read our full L.L.Bean Toiletry Bag review. 

What else we tested

What else we recommend and why

Handy Laundry Dorm Shower Caddy: A collapsible caddy from Handy Laundry, this mesh container was the quickest drying option we tested. Its single compartment can hold a lot of products, but its tall design means you'll have to pull out many items to reach anything on the bottom. We still like it as a compact option, though it lacks a zipper like the Bags in Bags pouch. 

Handy Laundry 7-Pocket Tote: Handy Laundry's mesh caddy has seven deep pockets that are great for organization. We liked that even tall bottles fit snugly in the side compartments with no fear of them tipping out. It lost out compared to the Room Essentials mesh back because it's a little pricier, took longer to dry, and had a little smaller main compartment. 

UUJOLY Organizer Storage Basket: Cute and roomy, this basket fit everything we put into it. It drains well and is lightweight. The main drawback is its lack of compartments. If you don't fill it well, the bottles inside tend to jostle together, and smaller items can get lost. But if you have a lot of products, it should have space for all of them. 

What we don't recommend and why

Attmu Oxford Mesh Shower Caddy: Though it comes highly rated on Amazon and is available in many colors, this caddy arrived with an extremely strong chemical odor that took days to dissipate. A few other caddies had faint smells but nothing as strong or unpleasant as this.

What to look for in a dorm shower caddy

Size: When space is limited, you want a compact caddy that still fits all your toiletries. To get an idea of how big of a caddy you need, gather your shower essentials and eyeball the rough dimensions they take up. You might even use a tape measure if you have one available. Then, look for a caddy that's that size.

Compartments: You probably don't want your toothbrush touching your loofah. This is where compartments come in handy to keep things organize. If you have several items you need to keep separate, choose a caddy with enough compartments to accommodate them.

Easy to hang: Your shower may not have a convenient spot to set down your caddy, so an easily hangable caddy is essential. This will also help it dry off when you're done showering.

Quick-drying: When water sticks around, it attracts mold and mildew, which can get stinky and gross. Look for a caddy that doesn't hold onto water, whether it drains or dries quickly.

How we tested dorm shower caddies

We tried to fit the following 14 items into every caddy: 22-ounce bottle of shampoo, 21-ounce bottle of conditioner, 3.8-ounce tube of toothpaste, razor, 80-count package of cotton rounds, electric toothbrush, 2.7-ounce deodorant, 22-ounce bottle of body wash, 13.52-ounce bottle of lotion, small floss dispenser, 6-ounce canister of face cream, 6-ounce tube of shaving cream, 2.5-ounce tube of post-shave lotion, and one tube of lip balm. We noted if there were compartments for organization and how well they fit certain items like a 6- or 8-ounce tube of shaving cream or body wash.

We poured a cup of water into the bottom of each caddy to see how well they drained. We noted if water pooled anywhere and how we had to tip or shake the caddy to get it to drain. 

For the mesh and fabric bags, we got them wet and weighed them after four, six, and eight hours to see how long they took to dry. We also felt them to see which parts were still damp. 

To test the durability of the plastic and metal caddies, we pushed them down seven concrete stairs, dropped each one twice on the concrete, and examined them for dents or cracks. 

Dorm shower caddy FAQs

What size shower caddy do I need? 

The right shower caddy for you depends on how many products you use. You might think your toiletries are pretty minimal. But by the time you're toting shampoo, conditioner, lotion, toothpaste, shaving cream, and so on back and forth a couple of times a day, you'll realize you have a lot to carry. We recommend tallying up the products in your routine to get a feel for whether or not you can get away with a compact-size caddy. 

Is it better to have a mesh or plastic shower caddy? 

Plastic shower caddies dry quickly and are easy to clean, while mesh ones take up less space and are often easier to hang up. 

Which type you opt for will depend on your priorities. Plastic is less likely to get moldy and it can be quicker to reach some products, but many options take up more space. If you decide to get a mesh bag, you'll want to make sure you let it dry thoroughly after each use.