Price Check Please?
So Wednesday (yesterday) was a national holiday in HK. No school!!!! We girls decided that the turn of the weather towards summer and the free day called for bikinis. Thus, the beach.
We went to St. Stephan's Beach, which is rather small and just past Stanley Market. Twas I, Kelly, Anna and Beth. Later we were joined by Jessie, then Amanda and Marjan. It was lovely. Except for the heat. Weather reports put the temperature at 27C (81F) but in the afternoon next to the ocean, it had to have been over 90F. We roasted. Eventually it got a bit overcast and was very lovely beach weather though and the little stand in the hillside had delicious spring rolls. Which helped.
Kelly and I burned. Kelly got it worse than me, but I'm a bit unhappy. We had slathered ourselves in sunscreen, but with all the sweating and jumping into the water to cool off, it just wasn't as effective as one would hope. Anna and Beth scoffed at the idea of wearing anything higher than SPF 15. They clearly don't understand the milky white skin of midwesterners. All we had was 30.
Anyway, this all led to me going to Watsons today to buy stronger sunscreen and some aloe. Here I was shocked, appalled and saddened. First of all, 4oz of Coppertone costs $88HK. That's $11US for a tiny bottle of sunblock. 6oz of aloe was about the same. By my estimates I'm paying double what I'd pay in the states for sunscreen and triple for aloe vera. Offended, I walked next door to Mannings and found the same items at the same prices. Life is so hard.
A cultural comparison
The true cause for the price hike in HK isn't because I'm looking for American brands or because they don't need sunblock here. Its because sunscreen is a cosmetic specialty item like Crest Whitestrips or sunless tanning lotion. Girls here want to stay as white as possible. There are dozens of whitening facial scrubs and after-sun bleaches for girls trying to look like porcelain dolls. No chinese girls go tanning. I'm formulating a theory that the obsession with pale skin is the reason asians age slower that Caucasians. Chinese women have youthful-looking skin in their forties because they have protected their skin from sun damage since adolescence. What a brilliant societal twist. An environment in which beauty standards parallel health measures. The Chinese know what's up my friends. Look out.
We went to St. Stephan's Beach, which is rather small and just past Stanley Market. Twas I, Kelly, Anna and Beth. Later we were joined by Jessie, then Amanda and Marjan. It was lovely. Except for the heat. Weather reports put the temperature at 27C (81F) but in the afternoon next to the ocean, it had to have been over 90F. We roasted. Eventually it got a bit overcast and was very lovely beach weather though and the little stand in the hillside had delicious spring rolls. Which helped.
Kelly and I burned. Kelly got it worse than me, but I'm a bit unhappy. We had slathered ourselves in sunscreen, but with all the sweating and jumping into the water to cool off, it just wasn't as effective as one would hope. Anna and Beth scoffed at the idea of wearing anything higher than SPF 15. They clearly don't understand the milky white skin of midwesterners. All we had was 30.
Anyway, this all led to me going to Watsons today to buy stronger sunscreen and some aloe. Here I was shocked, appalled and saddened. First of all, 4oz of Coppertone costs $88HK. That's $11US for a tiny bottle of sunblock. 6oz of aloe was about the same. By my estimates I'm paying double what I'd pay in the states for sunscreen and triple for aloe vera. Offended, I walked next door to Mannings and found the same items at the same prices. Life is so hard.
A cultural comparison
The true cause for the price hike in HK isn't because I'm looking for American brands or because they don't need sunblock here. Its because sunscreen is a cosmetic specialty item like Crest Whitestrips or sunless tanning lotion. Girls here want to stay as white as possible. There are dozens of whitening facial scrubs and after-sun bleaches for girls trying to look like porcelain dolls. No chinese girls go tanning. I'm formulating a theory that the obsession with pale skin is the reason asians age slower that Caucasians. Chinese women have youthful-looking skin in their forties because they have protected their skin from sun damage since adolescence. What a brilliant societal twist. An environment in which beauty standards parallel health measures. The Chinese know what's up my friends. Look out.
posted by Abby-Wan Kenobi at 12:19 AM
2 Comments:
Cheap discount store aloe is on it's way... I think it will ship better than chocolate easter eggs now that your weather has hit +25C.
what's sunscreen??? i don't think i understand this concept you speak of...
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