Beauty & Health

Beauty and personal care at Metromart:

Personal care is the part of the shopping list that gets forgotten until something runs out mid-week. Metromart stocks the everyday essentials alongside the products people buy deliberately — local brands, regional names and imported lines.

Skin care essential:

Skincare covers cleansing, moisturising and treatment. Micellar water for taking the day off, face masks and scrubs for once or twice a week, and body lotions with active ingredients like niacinamide and vitamin E for anyone building a proper routine rather than just moisturising.

Haircare runs from everyday shampoo and conditioner to repair formulas and hair oils. Combination packs appear regularly, which are usually the cheaper way to buy a shampoo and a treatment together.

How to choose skincare for your routine:

Start with cleansing, then moisturising, then treatment. A micellar water removes the day without stripping the skin, a body lotion handles daily moisture, and targeted products with actives like niacinamide or vitamin E address specific concerns. Build in that order rather than buying treatments first.

Most people over-buy on treatment and under-buy on the basics. A good cleanser and a lotion you'll actually use every day will do more than a shelf of serums used occasionally.

Body care holds body wash, body oil and lotion. Worth noting that body oils and body lotions do different things — oil seals moisture in, lotion adds water content, and in this climate a lot of people use lotion daily and oil after a shower.

How long does skincare last once opened?

Generally less than the printed expiry date suggests, because exposure to air and light starts the clock the moment a product is opened. Most creams and lotions are best used within six to twelve months of opening — sooner in hot, humid conditions.

Oral care essentials:

Oral care covers toothpaste in family and travel sizes:

What is ORS used for?

Oral rehydration saline replaces the fluids and salts lost through dehydration, whether from illness or from heat. It's a standard household item that keeps indefinitely unopened. For a young child, for symptoms that aren't improving, or for anything beyond routine use, consult a doctor or pharmacist.

Fragrance not a luxury but an essential:

Fragrance and deodorant includes men's and women's deodorant sprays from names like Rasasi, which sit at a more premium price point than supermarket deodorant and last considerably longer per bottle.

Traditional and natural products are part of the range too — henna powder for hair colour and mehendi, and neem oil, which has long-standing use in hair and skin care here.

Buying well:

Combination packs are usually genuine value. Shampoo-plus-oil and shampoo-plus-body-wash bundles turn up regularly, and unlike bulk buying on food, personal care products keep for a long time unopened.

Check the size, not just the price. A 300ml body lotion at a higher price is often cheaper per millilitre than a 100ml at a lower one — and unlike food, there's no reason not to buy the larger size, since these last months.

Deodorant sprays vary enormously in concentration. A 200ml bottle from a fragrance house lasts far longer than the same volume of supermarket deodorant, because you use less per application. The per-bottle price is misleading on its own.

Storing personal care products:

Keep products out of direct sunlight and away from heat — a bathroom windowsill in Dhaka is the worst place for anything with active ingredients, which degrade with heat and UV.

Products containing vitamin C, retinol or niacinamide are the most sensitive. Keep those closed, cool and out of the light.

Once opened, most skincare has a shorter life than the printed expiry suggests. If something separates, changes colour or smells different from when you bought it, stop using it.