Sunni Dawson

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Snail repellent and white vaginas…

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I thought I’d write a blog post on some of the quirky products available in Thailand. I’m most happy to send you some of them if you’re interested. Read below. 
Mosquito and SNAIL repellent!

 

A personal favourite is this insect repellent I found here. I was most relieved that at last someone is making snail repellent. Those pesky snails, chasing me with their lightening speed and depositing their gooey juices all over me!

Now anyone who knows me, knows that I have a hippy soul. My soul lives in a world of sunshine, flowers, peace, where everyone loves and accepts each other unconditionally…. its just like the song ‘Imagine’: half of me is permanently living in this song, the other half of me living in this body then tries to embody these traits in human form. So I try to be as conscious as I can, and this includes buying herbal toothpaste. Random, I know. 

It does have a kinda ‘bitey’ aftertaste…

The herbal toothpaste I am used to in Australia has generally been white-ish and fresh tasting. I smack my lips together and let the sweet smell of mint or other nice refreshing scent slides gently down my throat.

The herbal toothpaste here is, lets just say, different. It literally looks like its been eaten by a caterpillar, thrown up, subsequently found and snuffled up by a dog eventually coming out its other end. And it tastes like mud. Yummy!
Then there are all sorts of ‘home remedies’ like this one. It says:

‘Liquid fragrant herbs
Treatmementof
Malanq hites.Pain
Put a fresh wound
Maintain fire.’
 
Malanq hites. A critical condition indeed. That condition that sucks the life out of you. The only solution: herbal fire. I was told a different story however, its for treatment of mosquito bites. You choose.
The pharmacies are filled with interesting concoctions, unfortunately all written in Thai. If I could understand Thai, I’m sure I’d have a whole book to fill with ‘Sunni’s experiments with strange Thai drugs’.
Bulgarian Yogurt Whitening Lotion, no less!

Whitening lotion. One fascinating cultural trait. White skin is one of the most prized possessions in SE Asia, and certainly in Thailand. Walk into any 7/11 store and nearly all the products will contain bleaches and a myriad of other chemicals. Such as the following beauties…

The myriad of whitening products in my 7/11
Whitening sunscreen lotion! Really?



Even sunscreen is ‘whitening’ here!

But let me ask a question: why on earth would anyone want white skin? Its pasty, extremely boring, devoid of colour, more prone to skin cancer. I mean, seriously?
But of course there are reasons for the hail of whiteness. Firstly whiteness is considered more attractive,  khaaw suay ‘white-pretty‘ and is associated with success, opportunity and status. This has ties with not wanting to be seen as a labourer. Labourers work in the fields and subsequently have darker skin. Educated or professional people are whiter as they do not have as much contact with that firey ball in the sky.

Another reason could be that many conquerors of Thailand, Moguls from Central Asia and colonisers from Europe where whiter and set the standards for attractiveness. The continual imagery of advertising and TV stars being whiter adds to these images and perceptions. Currently, Japanese or Korean ‘pretty-ness‘ (big eyes, white skin) is the Thai beauty mission.

I’ve also found out that there are products to make your vaginas white. White vaginas. I need to repeat that. White vaginas. Add to this is the obvious health benefits of blindness and skin cancer in the case of prolonged use of these bleaching products. Some women suffer from pigment disorders after using whitening products, and have even lost their employment because of it.

So there you have it. A wrap on some of the quirky products found here. If you find any others, please let me know!
White and baby faced is obviously the way to go! 🙁

 

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