Why is it that females in general use more toiletries than men do? I am (usually) not a very feminine kinda person but when it comes to toiletries, I am TOTALLY feminine, and I am not talking about makeup either (I only use lipstick and I usually stick to my usual colours and brand i.e. Revlon Colour Lipstay and I have four colours, Sienna, Plum, Dusk and Nude). Oh yes, an a neutral lip liner... suitable for every colour (Revlon). However, when compared to males (i.e. my brother, father and male friends (usually of the ex boyfriend variety) I am a total toiletry nut!! Now, let me stress here that I don't think I am the typical female in that I don't own hundreds of pairs of shoes and millions of clothes... I HATE shopping for those type of items but let me loose in a pharmacy... I go absolutely WILD (for some really weird reason, pharmacies in this country have the best variety of toiletries). There is this pharmacy type shop called "Watsons" in this country which sells the cheapest toiletries (although the range could be better *frown*). It is a chain of shops and can be found in most shopping centers. I do most of my toiletry shopping there... they even provide shopping baskets .

When I shop there, I usually spend an average of RM100 and by a lot of people's standards, that is a lot of money. What do I buy you might ask... well here is a summary (for those who are interested in what I use)... lets start with soap. I use three different types of body soap (Lux and Zest) (of the liquid variety), one type of hand soap (Dettol) and one type of cake soap (Zest) (for the private parts and feet ). One kind of body soap (the moisturising variety) is used faithfully for my nightly showers. The tonic variety is used during my morning showers on working days and the other during my morning showers on non-working days. Why you might ask... well, the tonic one has this tingly feeling which I like... the weekend one (Zest), well, the smell is rather strong (lemon) and it tends to clash with the perfume I use for work. I use a shower puff which makes it rather hard to wash the genitalia area and feet properly so that is why I use the cake soap. I like clean hands so I use a disinfectant liquid hand soap for my hands.

Then, of course, there is the shampoo and the conditioner. I only use one conditioner but I have two types of shampoos... one for every day use, and one to combat hair product build up (Neutrogena) which is used every two weeks (is rather expensive). Hair product build up tends to make hair dull and flat. I try to change the brand of my of shampoo and conditioner every time I run out so that my hair doesn't become tolerant / immune to it.

Then of course, there is the hair mousse (Wella), hair gel (L'oreal), hair spray (Wella) and hair glaze (Paul Mitchell). Hair mousse is for volume, bounce, body... whatever you want to call it. I have two different types of hair gel... one for dry hair (in case I wash my hair the night before) and one for wet hair (don't have time to dry my hair in the morning if I wash it ten). The hair spray is to keep everything in place... the hair glaze... well, my mum's hair dresser suckered me into buying it (doesn't really do the job well *frown* but I shall finish the bottle). I still don't know what the hair glaze is for...

I wash my face thoroughly twice a day with a cleanser (L'oreal)(have just switched brands seeing that I can now afford my dream brand (Clinique)) and I use a facial scrub (St. Ives) to clear the dead skin cells twice a week. I am currently in the process of switching over to Clinique... can't wait for my L'oreal stuff to run out!! I can't stand throwing toiletries out so I am trying to be patient here. I tone my face after every wash (L'oreal), then on comes the eye cream (L'oreal) and the moisturiser (L'oreal). I use two different types of moisturiser, a light one for during the day and a heavier one for night. I sometimes use pure carrot oil (Body Shop) in place of my night moisturiser which combats fine lines, flaky skin etc. It is rather oily so I only use it one or twice a month. Then of course, there is the pimple creams (thank gawd I have got fairly good skin and I only tend to break out in one or two pimples once a month). I have a rather strong one for "craters" (Oxy 5) , which I have had for the past few years (hmmmm have to check the expiry date on that one) and a lighter one for the tiny ones (Johnson and Johnson). I also use this blue mud mask (St. Ives) when I remember to use it... it is to help tighten the skin and get rid of impurities.

Then, if I am not too lazy, I slosh on the body lotion (Nivea) at night before I head off to bed. I used to do this religiously when I was in Australia because the air was really dry there... but here, it isn't dry at all but it is a good practice. I would use one during the day but unfortunately, they don't have my particular brand in this country (Body Shop)... turns out that Malaysians aren't too crash hot about body lotions here. They have a my perfume (Oceanus) but not the lotion so I am keeping my precious last bottle for special occasions. I use the Body Shop perfume which smells rather nice and is reasonable in price... can't stand designer perfumes... they cost a BOMB!! I only use one type to perfume... for both night and day... I have the oil variety as well as the spray one (a little layering here ) and I also use the same scent for my oil burners in my room... as you can probably tell, I love that smell .

Then there is the hand lotion (Vaseline) and foot lotion (Body Shop). I also use the foot spray to combat smelly feet (feet tend to sweat a lot in the country *frown* which is rather inconvenient b'cos the usual practice here is to remove shoes before one enters a home). I usually use the foot spray (Body Shop) when I lie on my bed (before I get a chance to take my shower).

Then of course there is my contact lenses maintenance... the saline solution, the daily soaking solution, the protein remover and the eye drops (all Bausche and Lomb). Oh yes, I also use soothing eye drops before bed every night... the air is so dirty in this country that one's eyes does tend to get a little dry.

Now for oral hygiene... I use Colgate Total for daily cleansing... a whitening one for brighter teeth every third day or so or if it is a "special occasion" (I really should stop smoking and drinking coffee). Then there is the mouthwash, Listerine which I use daily (torturous!!).

Then of course, there is the cotton pads for swiping on the toner and cotton buds for correcting and straightening the lip liner.

Now for the usual feminine type toiletries... am talking about pads, tampons and panty shields. Well, I don't use pads... only tampons (Tampax). I have them in regular (for light flow) and super (heavy flow). Thank gawd for the advent of the Pill... it drastically cuts the number of (urgh) "bleeding days" down... so I (urgh again) only bleed for a few days... Panty shields... well, for you males out there who are ignorant, females do have vaginal discharge... they have two orifices, one for urine and the other... well, if you don't know what the other is used for, you are too young to appreciate or understand my stories . I don't usually have vaginal discharge but the shields feel fresh somewhat so I use them on working days.

[A slight deviation from my story here]
Have you noticed how most males and females (if they are not having carnal knowledge with each other) are embarrassed about female toiletries... am talking about pads, tampons and shields here. I mean, men are embarrassed to be seen buying such products. Females, tend to hide the fact that they are in fact buying those products. I remember a story from so long ago... one of my mates just started her period and was forced to buy those products. She bought a few packets (whilst grocery shopping with her father). She handed the packets to her dad and she told me that he was soooooo embarrassed to be seen with them. Then, yesterday, for I went toiletry shopping with one of my male colleagues (during out lunch break)... the poor boy became my shopping basket seeing that there wasn't one in sight and for the life of me, I couldn't bring myself to pick up a pack of shields... I am not usually one who gets embarrassed easily but I couldn't bring myself to do so... weird. Am currently questioning my actions here... It was somewhat like a teenager buying condoms... what is so wrong about buying gender specific toiletries?? Geez... I should have my head examined or something... perhaps I was ashamed of being a female? Maybe I didn't want to embarrass him?? Don't know what happened... certainly is a puzzle.
[end of deviation]

I think that I have bored the majority of you by now... for you males out there... now you know a little more about why females have so much toiletries... a crash course into the mysterious world of the female domain you might say... I have so many toiletries that it isn't funny but I use it logically... am I being extravagant with regards to toiletries or just normal? What do less financially lucky people do? I am pretty sure that I am just being normal or am I *Twilight Zone theme happening here*??

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