Random thoughts in the shower

So I'm showering to get ready for work when I reach for the back scubber and *slam* the Random Thought Monster strikes.

I don't particularily like our back scrubber. I would've preferred to have a bristle brush type, but since I was buying at the grocery store, I didn't have much choice in the matter. I've noticed, however, that I don't see bristle brush back scrubbers anymore, but since I avoid shopping as much as possible, perhaps I'm just missing them.

Instead of a bristle brush, ours has the plastic mesh poofy stuff that's so popular right now. I'm not big on this stuff. They fall apart and tear very quickly, for starters. I've had to reposition the poof on ours a few times because it keeps coming out on one side. I find they lather up too quickly; lather that washes out of the poof quickly, thereby requiring the use of more soap. We go through soap a lot faster because of this.

Which led me to thinking of other items that lather up quickly, but don't rinse out even faster. Sponges. Especially real sponges. They take forever to fully rinse out. Of course, you don't really see real sponges anymore. Usually, it's the man-made, plastic sponges. Using a real sponge, of course, is a Very Bad Thing. That's because a real sponge is a living creature harvested from the ocean floor. Killing a creature so that we can get nice and soapy is bad for the environment, cruel and unhumane. So instead of real sponges, we have plastic, man made sponges. Most plastic is a petroleum product. Which is taken from the earth and is a non-renewable resource. Plasitc, which doesn't decompose and has limited recycling ability (not that plastic sponges are recyclable in the first place). But a man made plastic sponge is A Good Thing, because no creatures died to make them. Using a real sponge that is natural and biodegradable is a Very Bad Thing, because we had to kill the sponge in order to use it's body to get all nice and soapy. Kind of like wearing fur or leather coat is a Very Bad Thing because animals are killed, even though leather and fur is a natural, renewable substance, can be processed using natural products (I don't know what chemicals are used now, but the old way uses the animals own brains, thereby using up more parts of the animal, meaning less is wasted...), and is biodegradable. Unlike the man-made materials used to make coats. Like the man made sponge, they don't last very long, either. I've got a leather coat I've been wearing for over 10 years. I've never had any other coat last as long.

Now, you can buy real sponges for the bath in some places, if you look for them, but there's somewhere else that you can get real sponges and not have to look hard at all. In the crafts and paints department. It seems that, while washing with a real sponge is a Very Bad Thing, using to paint with, whether on canvas or on your wall, is a Very Good Thing because... uhm... it's artistic? It does a better job that fake sponge? It lasts longer and is more durable than fake sponge? The end result is better than when using a fake sponge?

So, it's not ok to kill a sponge to wash with it, but it is ok to kill a sponge to paint with it. Killing a creature for our own use is a Very Bad Thing. Unless it's for artistic purposes. Then it's a good thing.

I'd say it's a good thing I don't take long showers. I might start contemplating the Middle East crisiseseses (what's the plural of crisis?) or something.

Oops. Too late.