When you leave your comfy Western nation for a long stint in China, there are certain things you might want to take with you because you can’t buy them over there. I’m talking dental floss. Deodorant. Size 13+ shoes.
Chinese toothbrushes
“Toothbrushes” used to be on my list. This is not because you can’t buy toothbrushes in China; you can buy one at any supermarket or convenience store, and you can even find brands you recognize, like Crest. The reason is that I find Chinese toothbrushes to have ridiculously stiff bristles. I guess I have wussy gums, but Chinese toothbrush bristles tend to fall in two categories for me: hard and gum-shredding. (Seriously, if I wanted that kind of scrubbing power in my toothbrush, I would use steel wool.)
So, I had been importing my soft bristle toothbrushes from the States in order to keep my brushing sessions pleasant. But now I know a better way.
Take a typical Chinese toothbrush. Pour a little bit of extremely hot water over the bristles. Apply toothpaste, and brush. The hot water softens the bristles just long enough for you to brush your teeth comfortably. Toothbrushes and big thermoses of boiling water are fairly ubiquitous in China, so the trick works basically anywhere.
Enjoy this technique, my tender-gummed friends, and may you not lose a single tooth in China.
Thats funny - I always find Chinese toothbrushes to be ridiculously soft, so soft in fact, that when I scrub my dirty yellow British pegs (have to keep to the stereotype) the bristles fall out.
I always buy brands I recognize now, like Crest, just to stop from me pulling bristles out of my teeth all day.
February 12th, 2007 at 7:00 pmYour still using a toothbrush? How 20th century. Get an Oral-B rotating plaque removal machine. It’s the future.
February 12th, 2007 at 8:43 pmYou use hot water to make the bristles soft? Oh no! It brings on some chemical change and produces poisoners.
February 12th, 2007 at 9:10 pmEvery dentist in America just twitched when you made this post. From what I know soft bristles are preferred over stiff ones. Still bristle brushes can damage your teeth. i.e. Wear them down.
February 12th, 2007 at 9:24 pmI’ve got only a few basis of physics but I know that when you soften a plastic at high temperature you also release some components of the plastic. The dangerousity of the components depends of the type of plastic and the temperature. Just place an empty plastic PCV bottle (Polyvinyl Chloride) under very high water temperature and smell it … it’s not parfum !
February 12th, 2007 at 11:01 pmThose rotating oral b battery-powered toothbrushes are the #1 best. Before I leave China I want to buy like a dozen.
February 12th, 2007 at 11:22 pmDental floss and deodorant are easy to get in China. not sure about size +13 shoes.
February 13th, 2007 at 3:11 amDeodorant has gotten easier to get nowadays. Some years ago it just didn’t exist.
February 13th, 2007 at 8:22 amHey John: for those of us with huge feet, here’s another trick:
Take size 12 shoes, and fill them with boiling hot water, then put your feet in and you’ll notice they are just like size 14s. Trust me: it works!
The only problem is that you have to take them off before the water cools, or you have to cut the shoes off of your feet.
February 13th, 2007 at 8:58 amBen,
Some years ago if you went through Beijing airport with the spray on deodorants in your luggage the guards would swarm your suitcase after it had been through the Xray and make you open it as though you had grenades in there. Then they would take out the cans and spray them, giggling and sniffing the air as if they’d never seen such a wondrous invention.
February 13th, 2007 at 9:00 amI saw something interesting last week here near downtown Taipei– an old shop where they make pig hair toothbrushes by hand. I assuming that was aproduct that was more popular a couple of generations ago. Anyway, it’s 100 natural.
Ask around, you might find a similar shop in Shanghai.
February 13th, 2007 at 9:43 amMarco,
I have never seen real deodorant for sale in China (at least not something I could accept). I don’t use spray deodorant.
February 13th, 2007 at 1:53 pmSteve,
Ha ha, I’ll have to try that trick…
February 13th, 2007 at 1:54 pmThere is plenty of deodorant in most Carrfours - both in Shanghai and elsewhere. Its roll-on as opposed to gel, and several of the scents are rather “floral” but they definately have deodorant and have for 5 or 6 years at least.
Once I aksed for the dictionary defintion of deodorant in a regular supermarket, and the fu-wu-yuan brought me to the aisle with scented candles ;)
February 14th, 2007 at 3:27 amDon’t you guys have problem with the door height in China? I think it is similar to that some asian women have to pick some children shoes in Europe or USA.
February 14th, 2007 at 5:08 amI imagine that the Europeans are use to it.
February 14th, 2007 at 12:10 pmSeems to be a male-dominated comment page, so I thought I’d add one more essential item that’s surprisingly difficult to find here: tampons. Almost non-existent. Why? Not sure, but lots of theories…
February 14th, 2007 at 10:06 pmHey Rachel, both of the supermarkets I shopped at had “ob” brand tampons packaged just like in the US except in Chinese. They were always available, but that was the only brand.
I bought a toothbrush that said oral-b on it, it looked authentic. Seemed to have decent bristles but I can tolerate non-soft bristles.
I never found deodorant or razors, but then again I didn’t make an effort to go to Carrefour or Walmart so perhaps they were available there.
I asked a Chinese friend where I could buy dental floss, and a few days later she gave me some, not sure where she got it.
February 15th, 2007 at 8:16 amWatson’s has dental floss :P
February 15th, 2007 at 3:33 pmHi Rachel,
Here’s a whole Cpod podcast on the topic of ‘finding what you need.’ http://www.chinesepod.com/podcast/2006/10/06/%e8%8f%9c%e9%b8%9f121-feminine-products/
Hi John,
I thought I was the only one that realized there was no dental floss in China. At least besides OralB at exorbitant prices. (The equivalent of 4-7 US$ each, Y35-60) You think we could fill up a few suitcases and become floss-n-aires in China?
I also thought it was just my wussy gums that couldn’t take it. A whole aisle full of toothbrushes and I am trying the Mickey Mouse kid’s brush. It’s a real tragedy that I can’t take full advantage of the Y1 brushes!
February 17th, 2007 at 9:25 am