6 Top Tips for Women New to Dubai

 

Here are six things that any new woman moving to and living in Dubai must know:

No-one told me to do this and it’s still something I kick myself over regularly. Even if you have the best seals on your doors and windows in the universe, there’s something about the Dubai dust and sand that can sometimes get into your house, slowly covering your things in a fine layer of dust.

Our whole family started to suffer from small coughs and harmless viral infections shortly after arriving. And they just never seem to go away or get completely better. Someone told me about air purifiers the other day and we’ve never looked back – we’ve also only had the odd little cough since we got one. Could be coincidence, but I think maybe not.

I don’t know if it’s the dry air, the hot weather or living in air-conditioning... All I know is that when you first move here, you feel unwell more than usual!

Do whatever you can to focus on immunity building, just before you leave and as soon as you arrive – magnesium oil, Echinacea, vitamin c, lymphatic drainage massage and fresh fruit and veg as much as you can. Don’t forget to also keep up a regular exercise routine. There are so many gyms, yoga and Pilates studios and just about any other type of exercise option you would have had at home so find somewhere close by and do it. All this will help.

If you are not working, it’s bad enough having to deal with constant illness, trips to the chemist and doctor. But when you are working, it can be really problematic. Because the other thing about Dubai, which was foreign to us as Australians, is that there’s no such thing as 'carer’s leave' at work.

If your kids are sick, your company may only allow you to take annual leave to care for them. Often you might find that you can’t use your own sick leave unless you are the one who is actually sick. So if your kid’s immunity is a little bit compromised and especially if they start school and/or nursery straight away, you will be taking a lot of time off.

The way most people get around this is to have full-time home help like a nanny, or maid, who stays home with the kids. In fact, we found when we spoke to our respective bosses and said the kids were sick and we had to stay home, they looked at us as if we were strange – now I know they were wondering why on earth we would stay home as our home help should be able to look after them! That’s how strong the assumption is that if you are an expat, you will have home help.

SEE ALSO: 16 tips on how to settle your maid in

If you are anything like us though, we struggled with this concept for quite a while and didn’t want to have a stranger living with us. As it turned out, all this resulted in was us having to use babysitting agencies when we couldn’t take anymore leave and that is far worse, as it’s a different stranger everyday coming to look after your kids.

So I guess my advice is to reconcile yourself with having home help as soon as you arrive and tap into that expat network to find someone good and reliable recommended by another family from the same or a similar country to you. And secondly, plan to give yourself and your kids some time to adjust before you start working to allow for some adjustment and immunity building if you can. This will be a huge help for both your sanity and your bank balance.

The further away from tourist areas you go, the more clothes you should wear

It’s true that Dubai is way more liberal than other places in the Middle East. When you walk around in some of the really touristy areas, you will see all manner of outfits from shorts, all the way to women wearing the full burka. While living in Dubai, there is a dress code visitors and residents are expected to follow. 

What I have found is that the further out of tourist areas I am, the more clothing I tend to wear. It’s a respect thing, as the culture is quite strong around modest dressing (for both men and women I might add). Also, it helps with the staring. Because my skin is very pale, if I go to a non-tourist area, I am already very visible in a crowd. Wearing long sleeves and long pants is really more to help me feel comfortable and not to stand out, especially as most other people in these areas are also in long sleeves and long pants.

This is why you should also stock up on natural fibre clothes before you come. Linen pants, cotton shirts and silk scarves to cover up in the overly air-conditioned malls and restaurants! Most of the clothes to buy here are polyester or poly-blend which is not nice in the heat!

Women’s business

There are lots of contrasts in Dubai. As everyone knows, it’s highly officious and there are many laws that are not always easy to understand for a foreigner. One thing that’s not controlled however is the contraceptive pill. You can buy it over the counter with no prescription.

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Beware though that it will not be the brands you are used to and sometimes it’s hard to find the right equivalent due to regulations. So if you are particularly attached to a brand or type of pill, make sure you get a year supply filled before you come and that you bring your prescriptions with you.

Likewise, tampons are very different here and sometimes hard to find or expensive. Bring a big supply with you of the brands you like in the sizes you are used to– a small thing but important at the time you need them!

The water is harsh – bring your best hair and skin moisturisers!

Most of the water in Dubai (including the drinking water that’s sourced locally) is de-salinated water. This means that for showering and washing your hair, it’s extremely hard. I’m one of the lucky few who had very oily hair prior to coming here so at first, the hard water was okay as it dried my hair out a bit and made it more manageable.

After a while though, you start to notice your hair thinning and really drying on the ends. A friend of mine has a hairdresser here who recommended weekly mask treatments (at a minimum) and rinsing your hair in bottled water after a shower to try and protect it a bit.

My main recommendation would be to bring any of the hair products you know and trust in a large supply. Whilst most brands are available here, they are usually very expensive and harder to find so if you have something you love, get lots and bring it with you.

So there you have it – not big things but useful things that I wish someone had told me either just before we moved or just after we’d arrived to make my life a bit easier. We consider ourselves fully adjusted now and our immune systems are getting stronger everyday.

Good luck with the transition. You’ll love Dubai – it’s a great place to be!