Culture Shock Part One: Decisions, Decisions, Decisions

Something I've learned after spending three weeks in a foreign country is how different our American culture truly is. Sure, in London they speak English, eat McDonald's, and listen to Lady Gaga, but there are some striking dissimilarities that you sometimes have to look a little deeper to fully see. As a professional fatass, I have been eating ALOT since I got here, and that of course takes me to many grocery stores and corner stores (known here as Food & Wine stores). At the grocery stores, I've also had to purchase basic things like face wash, shampoo, and toothpaste. And here's what blows my mind - they have about three brands of everything. For face wash, they have maybe two brands (Neutrogena and Clearasil) and maybe three different types of each brand. That's it. At Walgreen's or Duane Reade, back home, there are a double digit number of brands of face wash and countless varieties of each, catering to specific skin types (sensitive, oily) and with scrubs, or microbeads, or non-drying, or extra-moisturizing. They don't have that here. The same thing with toothpaste: they have Colgate and one other local brand, but no Crest, and there's no tartar-protecting, or extra-whitening, or any of that. And forget about mouthwash - it's Listerine, or it's nothing. Also, they don't have teeth whitening strips. At all. Basically, back in the States, we have entire AISLES of products that don't even exist here.

This was at first disconcerting - I like to switch things up, try a new toothpaste, a new body wash, whatever. But then I realized - how many times have I stared at a product on a shelf, trying to figure out if it matched my exact skin type or hair type or tooth need (and since WHEN do teeth have needs?) when probably any product on that shelf would have gotten the job done.

I think American culture allows us to indulge in any need we may think we have, and that makes us extremely self-conscious. Yes, I have this shampoo, but is it keeping my hair soft while still protecting the color and keeping my scalp from drying out? Is this pimple on my forehead stress-related (because they've got a face wash for that) or is it because my skin is too oily, or not oily enough? We have each placed ourselves in a tiny little box - we are our own niche market, with our specific brands that cater to each tiny flaw that we have perceived in ourselves. At a certain point, nobody will be able to share people's shampoo or toothpaste for a night because it won't do what we think we need it to.

I realize that not everyone is like this - I know that, as college students, we sometimes have to make ends meet and share shampoo, and nobody dies, and the world keeps on spinning. But the fact that American drugstores and pharmacies present us with this cavalcade of options says alot about our culture. We have become inundated with choices, and have thus held a more critical mirror to ourselves to say, what else needs fixing? Next time you go to Duane Reade, or wherever you buy things that keep you clean and pretty, don't think. Grab the first bottle of shampoo, or toothpaste, or mouthwash you see.

I bet you won't even notice a difference.