Soap-tember Journal!

Greetings gentle readers, firstly I would like to apologize for the low quality of the pun incorporated into this month's journal title - it was all I could really think of, however, and I justify its use on the grounds that perhaps Kaffre's efforts to create an august atmosphere for his last journal resulted in a larger than expected mess thus requiring some extra clean-up and perhaps even a dreaded bath for a certain feline. A thought which helped to inspire this month's topic of discussion.

My real-life was pretty uneventful in August and September apart from overspending slightly during both months and having to dig into my savings a bit (nothing serious). I visited with my brother and his family a lot including celebrating my nephew's 2nd birthday, but haven't really been working on any art or stories - because while I really want to I just can't seem to be able to make myself work on anything artistic. Hopefully I can break this funk soon though, it has been years since I was drawing regularly and I really want to draw more adorable kittens :sad: If I can't squeeze out at least a few pictures before the end of 2017, however, I feel that I may have to take some sort of special effort to jumpstart my output. I'm not quite sure what I'll do yet, but perhaps setting up a designated 'Art Time' would prove effective I'll keep you all alerted to my progress in future journals.

With that out of the way, I'd like to present September's topic of discussion - Fur & Filth: Hygiene in a Furry Universe.

For a species covered head to toe in fur, the prospect of drenching oneself in liquid to get clean would seem a daunting undertaking. The disadvantages are: No matter how warm the water might be, you'd be chilled badly when you got out, you'd be weighed down by waterlogged fluff, you'd smell funny, and you'd take forever to dry completely thus exacerbating the previously mentioned disadvantages. In ancient times, as in our world, bathing was probably an occasional luxury or done expressly to remove particularly messy or hazardous substances from one's fur due to the time and effort required to heat the water and manufacture soap or shampoo. Modern technological innovations can mitigate some of these disadvantages, but I still feel that most furs would shun baths or showers in favour of other methods of keeping themselves clean.

Tongue-baths are somewhat cute with babyfur characters who don't know better, but I feel most modern furs would find the process undignified though it might still persist in a limited form - helping parents bond with their offspring or as a romantic activity. In previous epochs there may well have been a special class of servants who helped groom their clients in this fashion, but in the modern era, I think most furs would prefer the sponge-bath for their day to day grooming regimen as it's probably the most direct analogue to the tongue bath and one that I feel could develop naturally from it.

In a more modern to futuristic setting, furs might use special sonic, steam, or vacuum cleaners to remove daily dirt and grime and resorting to water only when a chemical solvent is specifically required. Alternately, they may utilize special grooming nanobots to clean and style their fur each morning. If magic exists, spells to destroy, repel, or banish dirt would almost certainly be researched at some point (they're good for cleaning up laboratory accidents if nothing else).

Oral hygeine would depend upon the diet one envisions for their furries. If more animal-like, the rigours of chewing and gnawing are likely sufficient to keep their teeth and gums healthy. If they enjoy a more human diet, they'll probably need to practice good dental hygiene by brushing and flossing regularly. In addition, some species such as bunnies and squirrels have teeth that grow continuously and need to keep them worn down by gnawing on hard, but inedible objects. Kaffre mostly enjoys human fare so he needs to brush.

While furs are free from some of the grooming chores that humans face, they also face several unique challenges in that they must deal with the effects of shedding or moulting. In olden times, of course, shed fur would be carefully saved for use as insulation or for manufacturing felt (feathers would be used to fill mattresses and pillows). In the modern day, however, most of it probably gets thrown out though in keeping with Kaffre's world being more environmentally conscious than our own, I like to imagine the bulk of it being bioremediated rather than simply ending up in a landfill.

Claws and hooves will want trimming as well, but the process seems too similar to the human analogue to merit much attention except in two special cases: Firstly, if the furs in question are digigrade they'll be walking on the 'nail' being trimmed and so will have to be more careful with the trimming. Secondly felines who want to keep their claws looking their best will need to sharpen them - ideally using a scratching post, but I haven't decided yet whether Kaffre's parents keep his claws clipped for safety reasons or struggle to get him to use his new post rather than, for example, the furniture...

There are also special cases. Reptiles will need to shed their skins periodically, but I can't really see much use for them, but at least they seem to biodegrade more readily than fur or feathers. Species with horns will need them trimmed or sharpened in a fashion similar to that described for claws and hooves above. Those with antlers will shed them periodically as well, they're probably tricky to get rid of, but have a number of craft uses that cervine families might put them to.

Well, that's about all I have to say on the matter, what do the rest of you think?

Anyway, thanks for reading my journal, I truly hope you all enjoyed it! *hugs*

Now, without further ado, Kaffre talks Candy #34 it's extra-special because it marks my 200th review!

Kaffre talks Candy #34

Name: Coca-Cola Life
Manufacturer: Coca-Cola
Size: 500mL bottle
Where Purchased: No Frills
Description: Coca Cola Life consists of a dark coloured carbonated beverage flavoured to taste like kola and sweetened using cane sugar and stevia extract
Opinion: A product I hadn't seen until recently and decided to review, not realizing that it was a 'diet' product. Unsurprisingly, this product was most reminiscent of the standard Coca-Cola except that the taste is somewhat clearer while also having a curious, but not unpleasant, aftertaste which I presume comes from the stevia. Overall, this was an OK product and while I'm unlikely to purchase it again, I do think it's head and shoulders over any other diet soft drink I've had.

Name: Dairy Milk Bubbly
Manufacturer: Cadbury
Size: 90 gram bar
Where Purchased: Shopper's Drug Mart
Description: Dairy Milk Bubbly consists of a milk chocolate shell filled with aerated chocolate. The shape of the bar is highly irregular with hemispherical 'bubbles' overlapping one another in a seemingly random arrangement as such, it was especially difficult to share..
Opinion: A product I'd seen before, but hadn't been in stock for some time. The bar is very similar to Nestle's Aero but sweeter and with a creamier texture. This disproved my hypothesis about the textures of the aerated chocolate in Wispa being strictly due to the chocolates used as the texture of this product is virtually identical to Aero. Overall, I enjoyed this product, but despite the chocolate being of good quality I'm not sure I'll buy this again as while it's very tasty in its own right, it's just a bit too similar to the more readily available Aero and thus tastes 'wrong' to me though it's possible the effect would fade with greater exposure.

Name: Hello Panda (Chocolate)
Manufacturer: Meiji Seika
Size: 57.5 gram box
Where Purchased: No Frills
Description: Hello Panda cookies consist of small, thick.shortbread cookies filled with chocolate. The cookies come in a variety of shapes and feature illustrations of the company's giant panda mascot engaging in various sporting activities.
Opinion: A Singaporean product I hadn't seen before, but grabbed because they were on sale. The actual cookie portion was somewhat bland (though by no means bad), meaning most of the flavour came from the filling which was, thankfully, quite rich and tasty. Overall, I thought these were cookies were quite good, if somewhat one dimensional, but due to the relatively small portion size, I can't really say whether I'll be purchasing them again...

Name: Jaffa Orange Bar
Manufacturer: Lees of Scotland
Size: 60 gram bar
Where Purchased: British Isles Shoppe
Description: Jaffa Orange consists of a slim bar of orange fondant (in terms of colour and flavour), enrobed in a thin layer of dark chocolate.
Opinion: A British product I'd seen before, but not tried. This product is an interesting one - the filling is extremely sweet, but manages also exhibits a strong, but not overpowering orange flavour. The chocolate appears to be of decent quality, but the structure of the bar makes it difficult to evaluate the taste independently. Overall, I thought this product was quite tasty and found the mellower flavours preferable to, for example, Fry's Orange Cream. At the same time, however, while I do like orange-flavoured chocolate, I think it works best in small doses which, combined with the difficulty of acquiring this item in North America, means this bar is likely to remain an occasional treat.

Name: PUR Gum, Chocolate Mint
Manufacturer: Action Candy Company
Size: 12.6 grams in 9 pieces.
Where Purchased: Bulk Barn
Description: PUR Chocolate Gum consists of white chicle style gum pieces flavoured with chocolate and peppermint
Opinion: A product I'd seen from time to time, but never purchased until now. The flavour begins similar to a chocolate-covered mint such as After Eight and was in fact quite tasty. Unfortunately, both the chocolate and mint flavouring tend to fade rather more quickly than I'd expected which detracted from my enjoyment somewhat. Overall, this gum was an interesting one and I'm glad I tried it, but can't say whether I'll buy it again or not, the whole thing was just a bit too strange to come to terms with yet.