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Travel Savvy: Shopping the World -- Stuff you just cannot buy at home

Written by: Anne Garber

Article Overview: It it really that wrong to shop overseas, when the products are ones you cannot find at home? In these days of weight restrictions on most flights, one must choose carefully the goods carted home.

Travel Savvy: Shopping the World -- Stuff you just cannot buy at home

I consider myself fairly well-travelled; after all, my husband and I are full-time, professional food-and-travel writers, so we are relatively open-minded and interested in new experiences.

But one of the things that irks me more and more about well-meaning folks from this part of the world is the increasing feedback I get that I should only shop locally and regionally, and stop promoting items that are hard-to-find near home.

There's a very simple reason why I buy certain things far from home; that's because they aren't available in this market! I know that for a certainty, because I get so many notes from readers looking for products no longer manufactured, foods they remember from their childhood in another country, or cakes from Fauchon (for just one example) that have not -- to date -- been exported to the U.S. or Canada from their French origin.

And guess what, my friends? If one writes about excellent products that are hard-to-get in North America, eventually one creates enough of a demand for them to be available here. So please indulge me, while I daydream about all the impossible-to-resist (and even harder to find) goodies to which my wide-ranging travels expose me. . .

Hair styling products

L'Or�al "Freehold" styling mousse

In desperation I have even written to the head office (no reply -- ah, those snooty French) without success to try to find anywhere Stateside (or in Canuckland) where I can buy this particular product. It is still sold in Hong Kong, Holland, France and Germany (as far as I can determine). I often wonder if they notice the gigantic upward blip in their sales in those countries after I have visited ("Stellen Sie sich das vor, Gunter! Ve are selling zo much of der schaumfestiger. Auf was geht?"). ("Schaumfestiger" is German for "mousse," in case you were wondering.)

And don't give me that L'Or�al "Studio" mousse, either, it is nowhere near as good as the original. What I like about the original L'Oreal "Freehold" mousse is that it controls my otherwise-frizzy (fris�e -- the French do say it nicer) mop of hair without weighing it down, or making it turn greasy the next day. And yes, I've tried virtually every kind of mousse on the market, always hopeful that something more readily available will perform the same way, but no go.

So, yes, I buy this stuff by the crate-full, whenever and wherever I find it.

Face & skin creams

Mary Chess High Colour Corrective Cream

The English understand skin problems almost as well as the French do -- especially when it comes to problems that commonly plague British Isles-type complexions, such as "High Colour." Yet even knowing that -- and searching relentlessly on subsequent visits to London and environs -- I have been hard-pressed to ever find another tube of "High Colour Control" from the Mary Chess company in Hampton, Middlesex. This "colour corrective cream" proved to be a boon to me when I was in a fit of suffering from Rosacea, and I would love to find some more, as I'm down to rationing the last bit left in the 50ml tube (cost about 3 pound, 50, as I recall).

Bach Rescue Cream

This Bach Rescue Cream is also produced in the U.K., but I've found it much easier to lay my hands on, locally. It is often carried in health stores, especially those that specialize in herbal treatments, botanicals and homeopathy. Bach Rescue Cream is good for chapped skin, sensitive skin, and rough, flaking skin, and is made almost entirely (as are many Bach remedies) from wild plants, bushes and tree, and flower extracts -- all tested, homeopathic and non-poisonous (read the label if you have plant allergies).

Scents, Soaks and Soaps

Leader-Price Cr�me lavante � la lavande

Another little treasure that originates in France is Leader-Price Lavender liquid soap, which has an enduring (but not overpowering or sickly sweet) fragrance, germicidal properties, and is cheap-like-borscht -- at least when purchased from its source in France. Now here's an example of how warm and responsive the French can be (having slammed them earlier, I must make amends here): I wrote to the company, and not only did I get a reply, but the public relations person who wrote the note even sent me several full-size bottles of the magic potion. Now if only I can convince them to export it to some big chain, over here. Given the type of stores it appears in, in Paris, one could readily imagine it available in say, Costco�or Wal-Mart, or even in Superstore. Comment d'il, Jean-Claude?

Dresdner Essenz Kr�uter-bad and Duschgel

Two scents in bath products from the same German company have won my loyalty: Lavendel (lavender) Kr�uter-bad (herbal bath gel) and lavendel-bergamotte (lavender-bergamot) Duschgel (shower gel), each at about 5 to 7 Euros from Dresdner Essenz, a company near Dresden. Sizes shown here are 100 ml and 200 ml, respectively. Again, if someone ever thought of importing these little temptations, they could make a killing from sales to me, alone!

Hair Colour

Schwarzkopf's Live SoftToner

Every hairdresser knows that Schwarzkopf makes a truly superior hair colouring, and that if -- as a consumer -- you are going to insist on colouring your hair yourself, you might as well use a top-of-the-line product. L'Or�al produces a truly wonderful line of hair colour products, it's true, but they're also top-dollar. Withstanding the "I'm worth it" very persuasive advertising, I still prefer the colour choices offered by those German fashionistas.

Schwarzkopf also offers a wide range of choices and price points -- most at under 5 Euros. Their "Live" SoftToner (British version is on the left in my photo) is their so-called "temporary" colouring, yet I've found it lasts on my hair until the hair itself actually grows out. Plus, it leaves my hair much shinier and less straw-like than any of the commercially available hair colour preparations available in our market, so I'm sticking with it.

Schwarzkopf's Poly Palette

Schwarzkopf also sells a low-dough version called Poly Palette (which I have yet to try), and you'd be hard-pressed to even see their name on it (it's in teeny mouse-print on the side). My only problem with it so far is that I had to translate the directions word-by-word (click here for our handy free-translation service), and then ask a German friend to make sure I had understood the instructions properly. And I still haven't been brave enough to try it. Ditto for the translation of the temporary version, but at least the directions were shorter!

Muscle creams and salves

Boiron's Arnica Ointment

Some old folk wisdom -- like the fact that borage is a cure for mastitis -- has somehow devolved into old wives' tales, even though the remedies themselves have proven efficacious over the years.

A perfect case in point is the use of arnica Montana (also known as "leopard's bane"), a mountain plant found in the U.S. Northwest and Canadian Southwest (ie The Lower Mainland and Interior of BC), as well as in central Europe. There, it has long been known to generations of athletes, trainers and savvy moms for the relief it provides to strained and overworked muscles. The centre version, I did, indeed, find in the U.S., from a company called Boiron (1-800-BOIRON-1; Boiron information center, 6 Campus Blvd., Newtown Square, PA 19073). A 30g tube costs about $6 USD.

Bruise Cream

We prefer the benefits, however, of something known as "Bruise Cream," manufactured by Medipharma in Hong Kong, which contains organoheparinoid MP -- an organic source chemical that mimics the action of heparin (without the side-affects). A 25g tube of Bruise Cream sells for about $20 HKD, or about $3.50 USD. We bought our last stock-up supply at Watson's in Central. And by the way, Bruise Cream also works to soften "hard scars" in much the same way as another skin treatment -- the very costly "Mederma" (which we found for a third of the U.S. price in Malaysia, I might add).

Swedish Bitters Capsaicin Cream

Lastly, we have had good luck using NatureWorks (a New York company) Swedish Bitters Capsaicin cream for muscle pains, sprains, bruises and backache. What are Swedish Bitters? They are apparently extracted from a mixture of aloe, manna, senna, rhubarb root, zedoary root, theriac Venetian, angelica root, carline thistle root, myrrh, camphor and saffron. And, fo course, the capsaicin, which you may know as an anti-inflamatory. Cost is $15 to $18 USD (depending where you find it) for a 114g tube.

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Article Tags: blip, cakes, canada, desperation, excellent products, fauchon, french origin, germany, goodies, hair styling products, holland, hong kong, mousse, new experiences, north america, professional food, reply, travel writers, travels



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