Elvira Kadyrova and Liliya Zhirnova
There is a curious way in which progress disappears.
It happens when something that was once difficult to find becomes so ordinary that nobody thinks about it anymore.
Walk into a supermarket or cosmetics shop in Ashgabat today and look at the shelves.
Shampoo.
Conditioner.
Soap.
Toothpaste.
Skin-care products.
Deodorants.
Shaving products.
Perfumes.
Baby-care products.
Hair-care products.
Different brands, different formulations, different sizes and different prices.
Nobody would regard this as remarkable.
But it would have been a very different shopping experience in the early years of independence.
The range of imported personal-care products was much narrower, while domestic production was also considerably less developed. Consumers were accustomed to making do with what was available.
Today, personal care has become a substantial part of everyday consumer life.
And the interesting part is that this transformation has occurred on two fronts simultaneously.
The first is the expansion of imports and consumer choice.
The second is the emergence of domestic production.
Turkmenistan’s chemical and consumer-goods industries now manufacture products ranging from soaps and detergents to shampoos and other household and personal-care products. Domestic manufacturers have entered the market for household chemicals and hygiene products.
At the 2024 exhibition of the country’s trade sector, locally manufactured products included shampoos, wet wipes, diapers and household chemicals—categories that previously depended much more heavily on imported goods.
That is a small but revealing transformation.
A shampoo bottle is not simply a shampoo bottle.
Behind it is a chain involving chemical production, packaging, branding, retail and distribution.
And behind the consumer’s choice of one bottle rather than another lies something still more important:
the expectation that there will be a choice.
This is where personal-care products become a quality-of-life indicator.
The modern consumer does not necessarily want merely “soap.” There may be preferences concerning fragrance, ingredients, skin type, moisturizing properties or brand.
Someone may want a particular shampoo because it suits their hair.
Someone else may want a particular toothpaste.
Parents may choose specialized products for children.
People increasingly regard personal care as an aspect of health, appearance, comfort and self-expression.
That is a relatively modern consumer attitude.
There is also a strong gender and generational dimension.
Young people today encounter an enormous visual culture surrounding hairstyles, cosmetics, skincare, fashion and personal presentation. Social media and the internet have accelerated this process by exposing consumers to products and styles from around the world.
Yet the transformation should not be understood simply as Westernization or imitation.
Turkmenistan has its own traditions of grooming, fragrance, clothing and personal appearance.
Modern consumer products are being incorporated into those traditions rather than simply replacing them.
The result is a much larger personal-care universe.
And it is not necessarily about luxury.
A reliable supply of toothpaste is ordinary.
Affordable shampoo is ordinary.
Baby-care products are ordinary.
Hygiene products are ordinary.
That is precisely why they are useful measures of everyday development.
The history of quality of life is full of things that cease to be noticed once they become normal.
Nobody celebrates the arrival of a new bottle of shampoo.
Nobody writes an article about the fact that there are twenty different kinds of toothpaste on a supermarket shelf.
But perhaps we should occasionally pause and notice what such shelves represent.
Thirty-five years ago, the question was often:
“Can I find it?”
Today it is increasingly:
“Which one suits me?”
The difference is easy to miss.
But it is the difference between availability and choice.
And choice, accumulated across thousands of ordinary decisions, is one of the quietest ways in which everyday life changes. /// nCa, 18 September 2026