Cleaning Sand?

[Anarchy]

Ok, so i was watching Tank Girl last night, and i guess an idea poped into my head, with Arm full of sand, im sure there would be some soft, easy to get sand, that could be used to scrub over a person's body to, well, clean them as best they can. Since there is not much water - there isn't much mud, nor anything that can stick to flesh other then blood, etc. So, wouldn't some sand scrubbed over skin clean it, somewhat?  (by removing dead skin-cells and heavy bits of gunk)

[elvenchipmunk]

I just thought I'd point out what a great poem this is from Anarchy earlier in this post:

there is not much water, there isn't much mud, nor anything that can stick to flesh other then blood

lol

And to respond to your post, I agree. I can never find soap or salts when I need it to clean.

[Larrath]

Most Zalanthans use sand to clean themselves, assuming they bother at all.

I personally think Zalanthan sand is, for the most part, very clean.  I'm not talking about the sand half a foot away from Allanak's wall and (especially) gates, but go one or two leagues away from the immediate surroundings and that's clean sand already.  Sandstorms help.

One could always use some cloth to similar effect.  The cheaper sandcloth, cotton and linens are probably all very rough...not to mention that probably any tailor around the corner would not mind selling a pile of otherwise useless left-overs for a couple of coins.  I'm talking about the tatters that aren't even worth the twine to stitch them into patchwork.

Or you could just hire a 'rinthi whore to lick you clean.


Salts are very readily available from the Saltflats in the south, and soap is also easy to come by in both cities.  It is not particularly cheap to clean oneself with soap (and nowhere near as effective without water), but it is possible.

EDIT: added salt and soap.

[Anarchy]

I just thought I'd point out what a great poem this is from Anarchy earlier in this post:

there is not much water, there isn't much mud, nor anything that can stick to flesh other then blood

Oh god. My 7th grade teacher was right. There is a poet in us all just dying to come out.

[elvenchipmunk]

So you're saying that if I have some cloth, and type: use cloth gloves (say they're stained) it will work?

[Larrath]

Depends on the cloth and depends on the stains.  Realistically, it also depends on the gloves and the location where they are stained, how old and deep the stains are, etc..

You can always try "clean gloves <whatever>" and emote using some cloth, or just play it out and wish up.

[Ralin]

Correct me if I'm wrong, but I don't think cloth is coded that way, I believe he was referring to just emoting cleaning yourself with a cloth.

Edit: What he said, I hate those 'post at the same time' moments.  

[Anarchy]

Yeah, sorry. I often just assume people are on the same line of throught i am when i speak. Im talking about cleaning your body, not items of clothing with sand.

[elvenchipmunk]

Anarchy wrote:

Oh god. My 7th grade teacher was right. There is a poet in us all just dying to come out.

Ya, your poem was really moving. lol I'll show you a few corrections that need to be made though:

There isn't much water, there isn't much mud, nor anything  else that sticks better than blood.

It just flows better that way.

Now for my real post. (Man I need to stop putting two things in one post. Annoying isn't it?)
Ralin wrote:

Correct me if I'm wrong, but I don't think cloth is coded that way, I believe he was referring to just emoting cleaning yourself with a cloth.

No, Larrath had it right, I just wanted to know if you could code clean things with cloth. I guess not though

[sjanimal]

Anarch,

I've felt the same way as you do after seeing tank girl.

I think that if we have a doctor on the Discussion Board, I'd be interested to hear their opinion, but as I understand, if people don't bathe a couple of times a month, they will come down with pretty rotten illnessness (example: mange).

One way to bathe with less than a pint of water, is to take a clean rag, and douse it with water.  Strip naked, and use the wrag to clean yourself off.  It's suprprisingly effective.  

In Real LIfe, it's called a "Whore's Bath," because prostitutes sometimes do this if they don't feel like taking a shower in between every customer.  

Although I try to shower twice a day, a whore's bath is  actually a useful trick if you are running late and just need to get cleaned up a little.  Try it once.

Beer can be used to do this as well.

[Delirium]

I can easily see mixing a damp rag with a little greasy soap and stripping naked to wipe yourself off, or using sand to do the same - or any combination of the two. You don't need a lot of water to get clean - you just won't get all squeaky fresh and you'll still have sand on you - but you'll still get rid of a lot of the sweat and dried blood and such.

So, you'll still smell like dust and sweat, but it won't be as bad, and you'll have less of a chance of getting some disgusting skin condition or disease. And I bet a lot of Zalanthans take care of the smell by slathering themselves in oils, perfumes, or by imbibing certain substances.

Cleaning clothes with soap: from the descriptions and ingredients I think the soap is already super greasy as is - so the way I see it, all you'd need is a few drops of water or even just spit.

As far as actually being able to use sand to clean stuff ingame, I suggest asking around a bit ICly.

[X-D]

I know I've posted on this subject before, So, all I'm going to say on the subject of using sand to clean your body, is, Try it once IRL..Just once. And I don't mean dash some sand over yourself and say look, I took a sandbath. No, go for a week or more without a bath of any sort, make sure that you work during this time, so that you actually, get dirty. Then try scrubbing yourself clean with dry sand...Heh, or even just cleaner. Then post on this subject again.

[Delirium]

This is Zalanthas. A little stretching of reality can't hurt too much, right? ;)

[Agent_137]

liquid is necessary for cleaning. Even dry cleaning uses liquid chemicals. How much varies, but it's still needed. You can't just rub dry sand on you and expect other forms of dirt to come off. Especially if you are -sweaty-. Haven't you tried this at the beach before? At least accidentally?

[Teleri]

I believe it was said before that sand is a ridiculous way to clean oneself, as using it will only scrape away some surface dirt and will possibly lodge in your skin.  Good for getting rid of dirt caked on your skin and belongings, but generally bad for everything else.  Instead, what was said was that special tools for cleaning would be far better and possible more effective.  An example given was a bone or wooden scraper that one would use to scrape away the dirt on one's body, without further damaging the flesh.

It is in my opinion that the sandstorms would scour away the dirt on one's person, and only the very foolish or rugged would purposefully use sand to clean oneself further.  Otherwise, Zalanthans would wash themselves with rough, dry cloth or a somewhat smooth scraper if they had the time for it.  Using water to clean oneself would be a ludicrous idea to most Zalanthans, and possible only for the very wealthy and nobles.  Unless, of course, one was cleaning out a wound.  Then, the precious water would be used to prevent some infection, but only sparingly.  In the city-states, that water is expensive for the more common denizens, and they would rather drink it to stay alive.

Anyways, cleaning oneself is only useful for merchants, nobles, and others who are wealthy or otherwise not struggling for survival.  Get dirty!

[Forest Junkie]

This is Zalanthas. A little stretching of reality can't hurt too much, right?

Hell yes it can hurt. Sandpaper burns!

Seriously, rubbing hot sand over your flesh does not feel exactly great, but...I suppose it would be an interesting addition.

[Anonymous]

This is not a new idea.  Look around IG.

[Forest Junkie]

This is not a new idea.  Look around IG.

Yeah. The desert.

[jstorrie]

Sand, oil and some sort of scraper can make you clean(er).

Some types of oils may be easier to come by, or at least less in demand, than water, given the location.

[Anarchy]

I know I've posted on this subject before, So, all I'm going to say on the subject of using sand to clean your body, is, Try it once IRL..Just once. And I don't mean dash some sand over yourself and say look, I took a sandbath. No, go for a week or more without a bath of any sort, make sure that you work during this time, so that you actually, get dirty. Then try scrubbing yourself clean with dry sand...Heh, or even just cleaner. Then post on this subject again.

You make it a point not to read the orginal post word for word dont you?

People -have- to be cleaning themselves, somehow because all the commoners of the known world arn't suffering from leprosy.

As i stated, with the lack of water and moisture, you wont get much grime on you. There are no mud swamps to go crawling through to come out looking like some real world prehistoic man. There is grime and such in the 'rinth, yes - only because the wind bearly blows there and because there is alot of mosture, in the way of blood, decaying wood and rubbish.
However, for folk not in the 'rinth, what exactly is going to get you dirty? Sand and blood, perhaps sweat to help you stink. Thats really pretty much it. The streets would be wonderfully clean due to the wind, oh and sand blowing every second day into a sandstorm. I mean, hell, there is even a sewer system.

You cant honestly assume that the known world is full of savages. If they build cities, and then a sewer system -there has to be- a way for commoners to clean themselves, or the sewers are kinda pointless. If you dont agree with the sand, please, post your opinion on what commoners use to clean themselves with.

I didn't say beach sand. I said soft sand, im pretty sure there is white sand somewhere in Arm, that has the texture of Talcom powder, or somthing made like that that is cheap. Cover yourself in that, and then rub a cloth, dry or damp  over yourself - you get rid of the major blood, grime and sweat patches, evade leprosy and be somewhat clean. Sure, your dusty and smell of BO, but your still somewhat cleaner then the savages seen in most hollywood movies, reason being is because there isn't much water on the ground, or hell, even in the air, so nothing is going to get attached to your skin that cant be removed fairly easy.

[Anonymous]

Personally, I don't see why you couldn't use such a thing... For one thing, chinchillas bathe in dust, at the very least.

I think that if we have a doctor on the Discussion Board, I'd be interested to hear their opinion, but as I understand, if people don't bathe a couple of times a month, they will come down with pretty rotten illnessness (example: mange).

As to that, as someone who lives in poverty myself, I would unfortunately like to say that that's not true.  Unless you have like, open cuts or something already, you can be just fine without cleaning yourself regularly...just...well, dirty.

[X-D]

Anarchy, do some research into our own pasts, many great things were built by people who lived with plenty of water yet NEVER bathed.

And Zalanthas IS populated by savages.

People do have to be cleaning themselves, and there are many ways to do so without water, I'm stating that "sand" is a very poor choice and would not be used to clean living people, it would work poorly at best...almost anything else you could think of would work better AND be less harmful and less painful.

Chinchilla's do dust bath, but nobody said anything about dust, they said sand, big diff.

Now, A mix of dust and grease actually would be useful to scrub with and has been used in our own past, if not currently.

And the funny part is, Anarchy, I take it you have not paid much attention to the NPC's in the cities, there is leprosy(or something like it) And many other diseases in the population of very dirty people in nearly every quarter, not just the rinth.

Hhhmm, "soft sand" No such thing IMO, dust, sure, silt, alright. If the particles are small enough, it becomes something else in name and action, even if the material itself is the same.

As to posting on what they would clean themselves with, I have, on other threads, hell, one is not even a month old, also, some people on this thread have posted the very same things, SO, I felt I did not have to repost, Yet again, the same things.

[Delirium]

To clarify, I think certain types of sand would be better for cleaning clothing and such.

To clean bodies, soap, a rag, oils, stuff like that would probably be much more appropriate.. and would require little water.