(edit title) American girl in Stockholm Needs advice: salons? beauty supply stores? ect... Options

[Nemesis]

I am looking for some loreal foundation and some mac lipstick. Can you please contact me privately?

[Abe L]

Something which hasn't been suggested yet is simply purchasing your product needs in vast quantities when you're flying home. Customs are generally not very educated on the going rates for most of the items you mention. Especially if you travel with multiple people, just spread the items over the bags you check-in and you won't even exceed the legal value of products you can import without filing a declaration.

We've been doing this for years for items that are missing or just absurdly expensive in our country of residence. I'm not sure about the exact rules for this in Sweden, though normally you can import a certain value of goods as a 'gift' without paying additional taxes on the product. If there is a similar construction in Sweden, you could ask some of your family back in the States to send you the products and you paypal them the funds.

[Tennin]

Bagels are Jewish though and can be found in many countries apart from the US.

Yes, we know Bagles are Jewish, and yes you can find them in many countries outside the states. But I found it very difficult to find in Sweden. I have an easier time finding bagles in Japan.

[Streja]

It was just that they were listed as American food.

[Ankinette]

Thanks Tes85 for the Strawberry link, i had a look and all beauty products are cheap (well, UK price ). I even wondered if they well real....!! hehe
Regarding the hair salong, I found a good one, called Salong Södeport in Hornstull. They speak good english and Linn cut my hair exactly how i wanted. The price was 400 SEK for the cup and blow dry so not too bad for Stockholm.
I also know where to find Tampax if anyone is interested....

[Streja]

I still think that feelunique.com is the cheapest out of all the options.

[Ankinette]

Oh i will have a look too then! Tack

[Baned]

1- Amazon.uk! They now offer free shipping to Sweden (if you spend a minimum of £25)

2- It's just downright depressing seeing all the Wal-Mart brands being sold for 4x the price! I resorted to Ebay.uk (you'll pay less in shipping plus the post office won't add fees), Amazon.uk, or I have my Mom ship it for me from back home.

3- I learned to cook. Seriously ... it's the only way!

[Baned]

Yes, we know Bagles are Jewish, and yes you can find them in many countries outside the states. But I found it very difficult to find in Sweden. I have an easier time finding bagles in Japan.

You found bagels in Sweden?!!!!

@Streja, bagels to Americans are kind of like knäckebröd to Swedes. So yeh, they're Jewish but it's an everyday food to all Americans!

[Tennin]

@Baned - You should go to the nearest Lidl and get some while they still have them. I ate one of the bagles I bought there and it was pretty good. You can't compare it to fresh ones from a bagel shop, but it's still a good bagel.

I agree with you that it's like our knäckerbröd. We have them in all sorts of flavors and eat them with all sorts of different things on them, and you can find them almost everywhere you go.

[Shibumi]

To my shock and delight, I had a very good bagel with cream cheese and lox last week right here in the center of Stockholm at Bagel Street Cafe on Kungsgatan http://bagelstreet.se/. I balked a bit at the price, 69 Kr, but it was huge, well filled and tasty.

[foxpur]

I miss fresh (cheap) bagels.

[Tennin]

Cool that there's a Bagel shop in Stockholm. Around where I live there isn't much of anything. Well I guess you got a lot for 69kr, and it is Sweden afterall. I looked at their website and those bagel sandwiches look BIG and mighty tastey. If I ever make it out to Stockholm I'll be sure to visit that Bagel shop.

My swede loves bagels too, the first time he had one was at McDs or was it Burger king, for their breakfast sandwiches. Anyways when he was in the states and Japan he couldn't get enough bagels. When I told him that in the weekly ad for Lidl's there were bagels in it, he was ready to jump in the car

[hmurph1]

Thank you everyone!!! for your great suggestions. I'm definitely having sticker shock!!! I'm going to be a little more conservative with my shopping habits from now on. LOL!!! I found some reasonably priced (still expensive for the US) hair tools on Trette.se. free shipping too!!! I had so much fun laughing at all the stories of everyones first introduction to triple priced cosmetics and essentials. It's good to know I am SO not alone in this.

I ate at a tourist "irish pub" in Gamla Stan today and think I got my fix on some greasy Irish-American style food for a while. I also ate a veggie burger at a place called Retro in SOFO this week, and it was pretty good! I just don't understand the amount of Aioli and "creamy sauces" they put in the food. My stomach has been freaking out for 3 weeks.

If anyone has any other recommendations for good cheap places to shop at I WELCOME them =)

[Tennin]

That was another big shock when I first got here was the amount of mayo and mayo based sauces/dip they put on things. I love räksallad, and potatissallad but they're 10x creamier than the stuff back home. It's no wonder why I've gained weight living here.

I don't know how Swedes stay so skinny with all the potato and creamy/mayo based sauces. They must be blessed with some awesome fat burning genes. Or maybe the fact that even though it's -10 degrees rain/shine/snow/ or storm, they still go out for a walk.