Taiwanese sales clerks are frequently aggressively helpful, which is distressing. What they don’t realize is they drive me right out of the store; I wonder how many other people are this way? I wonder how much revenue Taiwanese shops lose driving the introverted out of their stores due to intense sales clerk scrutiny. Shopping for me can be a fun, almost meditative experience where I gaze upon products and ruminate about a future reality in which they are a part of my life. But because I rarely have much more money than I need, I don’t part with it that easily, and sales clerks make me feel embarrassingly cheap. I went into a store called Sasa to look at girly foo-foo water and I did get a chance to buy a sample size of a conditioner I was curious about that I saw at Carrefour for half the price. But Jimmy, my dedicated assistant, ruined my perfume browsing by insisting on spraying the little cards with any scent I expressed interest in. I wanted to be left alone for 40 minutes to smell each one, but instead I declared the tuberose lovely but did not buy any because it’s $60 a bottle and I don’t make $60 impulse buys very often.
Shin Kong Mitsukoshi in Tainan
What I want to tell the overly zealous shop clerks is to clear out. I did tell Jimmy I just wanted to look, but that didn’t scrape him off my ass for more than about 45 seconds. I don’t know how to communicate “please go away; you’re giving me a panic attack” politely. I went to Uniqlo, a Japanese clothing store I’d never encountered and was blissfully ignored. I went on to spend the princely sum of $30 US on an accordian pleat grey chiffon skirt and sea foam green top that will undoubtedly make my life more meaningful and love-filled.
Me in my new grey pleated skirt.
Coconut oil update. If your hair is dry and damaged, get some right now. Leave it in as long as you can. But know this– it will leave grease stains on fabric (including what you slept in and your pillow case if you leave it in overnight) so cover your head or just have a designated coconut oil t-shirt. I’ve been reading about hair because I’m shallow and I like to do research, and if you use silicone products or argan oil, they will coat your hair and prevent the acids and fats of the coconut oil from penetrating. I do use silicone products, so I washed my hair with one of the shampoos with lauryl sufate that everyone tells you not to use. But it does get out the silicone. Then I drenched my hair in coconut oil for about 36 hours (I just put it up in a bun when I went out) and washed it out this morning. This stuff is amazing. I will definitely be using it as a deep conditioner a couple of times a month.
Don’t, however, put it on your face in any large quantity. After an oily, pimply teenhood, I am now blessed with clear, not too dry skin. But after putting coconut oil on my face, I got like 3 zits. It will clog your pores. I’d dab it on to places that get dry to the point of flakiness, but it’s just too heavy for your face. Even for your body, I would go more lightly next time than I did this. I took 10 hours to sink into my skin fully and I felt like I was leaving a (admittedly lovely smelling) snail trail behind me. Now that it has soaked in, my skin is soft and smooth. I think what I’ll do in the future is have a designated set of coconut oil pjs and just do my coconut oil routine as an over night thing.
I got 2 Chic by Giovanni conditioner with keratin and argan oil and Giovanni’s leave-in conditioner, which promises to be weightless and Giovanni Root 66 volume shampoo. I will let you know how those work out for me.
Yet another expat's blog about Taiwan 