The origins of obsession & favorites of winter skin care

Everyone who knows me super well knows that I am obsessed with cosmetics, especially skin care.  What many people wouldn’t guess, though, is that I used to have a very nasty case of acne that wouldn’t heal without heavy medication.  If you’ve been through the same, you are familiar with the pain and frustration that comes with trying to find a cure. Perhaps, like me, you kept taking antibiotics again and again, just to have the problem return within weeks after the last pill.  Eventually, I was prescribed isotretionin, which cleared my skin completely.  What a joy!  I know the drug is somewhat controversial and I would advise anyone to think carefully before taking it but I also know that it changed things for me in a huge way.

My skin has been quite good since.  Not perfect but good enough.  I have learned a lot about the triggers for fits of zits.  I’ve realized how harmful sugar is and how beneficial eating greens and fruit is.  Furthermore, I’ve found the benefits of natural skin care and really think my skin is much clearer without all the weird synthetic things in ’regular’ products.

The first thing to know about organic products is that not everything that’s labeled ’natural’ is as good as gold.  Without eco certification (signified as ’eco cert’ label on the package), you really cannot be sure unless you’ve educated yourself on the mysterious ingredients on the inc list.  Secondly, there are big differences between different lines, just as in regular products.  Best skin care is not necessarily super pricey.

I’ve found that my skin in my thirties is way dryer than in my twenties.  Winters, in particular, are harsh on my skin.  After some experimenting, I’ve found a few favorites, completely organic, listed below.

1. Coconut oil (Puhdistamo, 200 ml, 5,95€).  This product has been very trendy for a couple years now and for a reason: you can use it from head to toe, to treat you hair, your skin and to relieve itching.  I love natural oils in general and also mix them with creams and lotions when my skin needs an extra boost of moisture.  This brand has a nice, mild scent, so it’s good for cooking as well.
2. Mádara Pihlaja Daily Defence multifunctional cream, 60 ml, 14,80€.  Mádara is one of my favorite skin care lines and I can’t imagine living through a Finnish winter without this cream that protects my face from the cold and other weather hazards.  Moreover, it is not very expensive and can be used elsewhere in body, such as dry hands.
3. Hurraw! Lip Balm in Chai Spice flavor, 4.3 g, 6 €.  This lip balm worked better than it’s doubly priced equivalent from another brand.  It’s creamy, effective and comes in yummy, fun flavors such as that of my favorite winter beverage, chai latte.  My lips this winter were a disaster before this.
4. Urtekram Aloe Vera Renewing Body Lotion, 245 ml, 7,90€.  I think this product was even cheaper than the listed price when I got it from Prisma.  For this price range, I think this lotion does a great job!  Aloe vera is wonderful for dry, itchy skin.  The scent is also pleasant, not disturbingly strong.  I also like the line’s unscented lotion.

Hope these tips help you also through the remaining weeks (hopefully not months) of winter 🙂  Have a great week!

The waiting room blues

I gave my husband six pills of cortison today.  He doesn’t show signs of any weirdness, so I decided to write about our messed-up week.

It all started with a cat scratch.  At least that’s what we think.  His hand swelled up, formed weird spots and itched like hell.  One specialist, two other doctors and three different diagnoses later, and a couple hundred euros poorer, we ended up with the prescription of heavy medication. Here’s a tip: if a cat scratches you, take a bottle of whiskey and pour it over the boo boo.  Don’t.  Let.  It.  Be.

It seems that one of the diagnoses was right, though.  Dear scabies, you’re a bitch.  Sorry for destroying you with chemicals after you made such a comfy home in our bodies.  Here’s another tip for you: don’t shake hands if you hear rumors of a scabies epidemic happening in your city.  Definitely do not hug.  If you do, you might find yourself with strange sensations that keep you up at night and make it necessary to do laundry until eternity, it seems.  So, I had my share of the fun too.  And my weekend plans went down the drain because scabies, my friend, makes you like a leper to other people (no offense taken).  And never mind the reduced itching in his body, my husband’s hand was still a mess in the morning after the treatment.

Sickness, never mind how small, doesn’t agree with the Hakramas.  I like to google a lot and my paranoid husband likes to take extra pills ’just in case’.  I like problem solving and probably should’ve been a doctor.  Except that bodily fluids make me barf and taking responsibility over someone’s life freaks me out.  I am useful for my man, however, since he needs someone to stop him from tripling his dosage of prescription strength drugs to speed things up.  He also needs someone to hold his hand if someone tries to put a needle on him, which, thankfully, didn’t happen this time.

I guess marriage really is for sickness and health.  If a nasty rash can make us fight like little kids, I don’t want to think what something life-threatening would do.  My heart goes out to anyone who ever has to go through that.  The frustration that builds up when nothing seems to be making someone you love feel better is heart-wrenching.  Sitting at waiting rooms can make you feel like you might be losing your mind.  At the same time, you want to be strong when your significant other cannot.  In the end, you realize how much love you have for someone, when the worry makes you sick to your stomach.  I suppose that realization is the best thing to come out of a crappy situation.

Here’s to a better next week and nights of undisturbed sleep!  Here’s to my man’s hand looking less like a battle ground and more like, well, normal tomorrow.

Finland, the promised land of useless bureaucracy

It’s been an emotional couple of weeks.  The arrival of my husband’s residence permit was a huge weight off our shoulders but little did we know that another struggle was ahead of us.

Mr. Hakrama previously lived in Amsterdam, where the residence permit opens doors to pretty much anything you need.  In Finland, it’s another story.  Why?  Because this country seems to love pointless bureaucracy and non-sense rules.  I often say they don’t see the woods from the trees in my country and it’s proven right when it comes to dealing with offices.

Getting my man registered was easy peasy, not to mention fast, but anything that follows that is sloooow.  We are trying to attain social benefits for him, such as public health care and unemployment pay.  I tried to call the office to see how our application is going but I never get through for some reason.  To take care of things online you need codes for online banking, which leads us to the next topic at hand….

Opening a bank account for a foreigner in this country is a PAIN.  We went to three different banks before we were able to set anything in motion.  At the first bank they complained his ID is not Finnish and they cannot verify it to be legal.  Alright.  Our next target was a (seemingly) more international bank but they couldn’t give us an appointment until next week because ’the person who speaks English is available then’.  We were also told (or I was told because, of course, she would only speak Finnish) that mr. Hakrama ’might get a card’ but getting a contract for online banking could be iffy (my words). Cheers.

Finally we visited my bank in hopes of getting advice and they were willing to open an account right away!  The girl was friendly, spoke English and explained everything well.  Under certain conditions we will also be able to get a card and have a contract for online banking in the future -good enough! Goo OP bank!!

It’s not great when your husband tells you he wants to leave your country after just one month.  It’s also not so great when you kind of agree.  I have often complained about my own struggles to him and now he’s experiencing it first-hand.

Whether it’s the unemployment office, social security or banking, I feel like in Finland you have to know all the itty bitty rules and be able to pull the right strings to get what you need.  A lot of times, even the employees of these offices don’t know the rules, which makes the process so fun.  I might not support bribery but I can understand where it starts…

Honesty is a virtue but Finnish people often follow rules ’just because’.  We don’t cross the road when the light is red, even when there’s no cars to be seen.  We bow down to officials even when we think they are wrong and unjust.  We complain at online forums or Facebook instead of opening our mouths where the offense happened.

I used to get annoyed when people would cut the line in Albania.  They might not always follow the rules in the South but they can stand up for themselves!  You don’t mess with them!  They know how to bullshit but they can also call yours.  Thanks to my no-non-sense Southern man, I’m also learning to make demands instead of crying afterwards.  Maybe next time I won’t let other people pee on my turn.