I can't live without my ______!

So, let's say you're stuck in your average desert island scenario. Cut off from civilization, there's one hygiene or vanity-related thing that you decide you just can't live without. Oh no!

What, if it washed up on the shore, would make your day worth trudging through? A toothbrush and endless tube of paste? A nail clipper? A comb and some scissors for your hair?

I think for me it would probably be a razor (or scissors). My facial hair never really achieves "stubble" quality, because it grows thin and long. It would irritate me day in and day out to be sweating into my own beard and mustache.

RESPOND.

Jam it back in, in the dark.

This one is easy: A Towel.

Because the book sums it up best,
To quote from The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy.

Quote:

A towel, it says, is about the most massively useful thing an interstellar hitch hiker can have. Partly it has great practical value - you can wrap it around you for warmth as you bound across the cold moons of Jaglan Beta; you can lie on it on the brilliant marble-sanded beaches of Santraginus V, inhaling the heady sea vapours; you can sleep under it beneath the stars which shine so redly on the desert world of Kakrafoon; use it to sail a mini raft down the slow heavy river Moth; wet it for use in hand-to-hand-combat; wrap it round your head to ward off noxious fumes or to avoid the gaze of the Ravenous Bugblatter Beast of Traal (a mindboggingly stupid animal, it assumes that if you can't see it, it can't see you - daft as a bush, but very, very ravenous); you can wave your towel in emergencies as a distress signal, and of course dry yourself off with it if it still seems to be clean enough.

More importantly, a towel has immense psychological value. For some reason, if a strag (strag: non-hitch hiker) discovers that a hitch hiker has his towel with him, he will automatically assume that he is also in possession of a toothbrush, face flannel, soap, tin of biscuits, flask, compass, map, ball of string, gnat spray, wet weather gear, space suit etc., etc. Furthermore, the strag will then happily lend the hitch hiker any of these or a dozen other items that the hitch hiker might accidentally have "lost". What the strag will think is that any man who can hitch the length and breadth of the galaxy, rough it, slum it, struggle against terrible odds, win through, and still knows where his towel is is clearly a man to be reckoned with.

There's nowhere I can't reach.

I CAN'T LIVE WITHOUT MY RADIO!

This thing is sticky, and I don't like it. I don't appreciate it.

Take that back to off topic thread, son, 'fore I belt ya. -_o

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Hygiene or vanity related?!
Since I can't bring two bottles relating to contact lens care, I would have to say glasses.
I like how I look in them better, so it sort of relates to fashion while being practical.

Really, I don't know. I don't really care much for any product relating to those categories.

I was speaking idiomatically.

Damn Dark Nation for taking my idea.

Seriously, though, I'll go with a large knife that can be used to shave, cut hair, or cut other objects.

What kind of toxic man-thing is happening now?

Since DN already said towel (schmuck! ), I'm going to go with my cell phone--equipped with the same batteries used in the radio from Gilligan's Island! (It lasted for 15 years!) Then I'd call the IRS and say, "I haven't paid taxes for 10 years, find me!"

And...

They would.

How ya doing, buddy?

There are quite a few hoopy guys about I see.

I'd have to go for toothbrush and never-ending toothpaste. I couldn't stand having a fuzzy mouth for the rest of my life.

What, you don't want my bikini-clad body?

pillow, or anything big and soft I can hold onto and sleep with

Jam it back in, in the dark.

I would have to go with that never ending bottle of liquid soap. It wouldn't be as difficult to fashion yourself some sort of cutting tool for cutting hair/beard as it would be to you know, make soap from scratch. To be unable to clean myself up a little bit, well that wouldn't be cool. I assume that there is some source of fresh water here; or I guess I could catch rain water. Since I'm on a tropical island, I can just sun dry, so that lessens the need for a towel. I would be the best smelling stranded-on-a-deserted-island guy ever.

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I guess I'd have to pick an ice cold up of water. It's always refreshing, especially when you get up in the mornings. *_* After that maybe air conditioning? I'm totally sure I'd find one washed up on shore and then I'd rig it up ala Gilligan's Island!

This thing is sticky, and I don't like it. I don't appreciate it.

The President Of The United States.

They'd have to send out the military to find him, so I'd get picked-up too.

Otherwise, several huge cartons of morphine, so I can OD and die peacefully.

I am a dolphin, do you want me on your body?

I swear I thought of it before I read the second post, but I also call for a towel.

You can clean pretty much anything with it. And it doesn't need any supernatural infinity powers, assuming there's some fresh water around somewhere that I can use to clean the towel.

I was speaking idiomatically.

Even more useful than a towel is the large survival knife that Arainach mentioned. It can be used to hunt and gut prey; it'll cut reeds and saplings for shelter; the backside can be used for starting fires; it's a sundial; it can reflect the sun's rays to signal ships and planes.

The single best survival aspect of a towel is that it can absorb rainwater, which can then be squeezed out and drank. But the knife outclasses the towel in almost every category.

As far as vanity objects go, I'd say my eyeglasses are rather important. After that, an economy-sized bottle of SPF 45 sunblock. Sun poisoning is one of the deadliest threats when no suitable shade exists.

What kind of toxic man-thing is happening now?

Well, um...the point of the thread is that it's something not really necessary for survival.

A replenishable source of drinking water is not a vanity item.
A hot shower is!

How ya doing, buddy?

Well, if it's sheer luxury you want, then I wouldn't mind an easel and a healthy supply of watercolors, brushes and canvas papers.

Though my baseball cap is probably more in synch with what you're looking for here.

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I want my MTV.

Jam it back in, in the dark.

Quote:

A toothbrush and endless tube of paste? A nail clipper? A comb and some scissors for your hair?

None of these would make life worth trudging through, at least for me. If I am out on a desert island, with NO FUCKING PEOPLE, it seems kind of besides the point to do my nails, cut my hair and shave regularly just so the wandering sea turtles can admire it. Presentation isn't a biggie.

On the other hand, in the event that I'd become stranded on an island...this is actually a paradise. A real hermit can get away with not using bathroom utilities and do just fine. But he might need a light...

He cares nothing for his presentation; his long hair doesn't get in his eyes, his long fingernails he uses to crack open coconut shells and dismember crabs for eating. I am sure he would find life much more comfortable in this situation, without conventional toiletries. (minus the toilet paper) Seashells sound rather barbaric.

Moreso had he the ability to make fire, he would really be on his feet, so to speak. He would be able to roll cigarettes from the palm fronds above, and lazily watch as the oceanic sky turned from dusk to night...he could light fires for food, eating things that most people would pay 20 to 30 dollars to dine at Red Lobster. Sushi every night. Oh yea. Now I just realized what I NEED. Chopsticks.

(What am I even talking about?)

How ya doing, buddy?

I would hope for pert plus. I hate the feeling of greasy hair.

This thing is sticky, and I don't like it. I don't appreciate it.

A knife, of course! To cut anything and everything, every time. Very useful.

I am a dolphin, do you want me on your body?

All I would need is a lighter. I can make most other things I would need. But I would need fire for my amusement purposes.

I was speaking idiomatically.

I can't live without my iPod(or some other form of music playing device.). Seriously, I freak out when I don't have it on me, or when I have it on me and it's dead. So, I guess I want a SOLAR POWERED iPod.

What kind of toxic man-thing is happening now?

I would propose that the ultimate vanity item would be anything that could get me off the island, as it'd really difficult to fancy yourself "vain" when you're stranded and cut off from human contact. Otherwise I guess a hand mirror, as no matter what other tools I could eke out of such an affair it's no use if there's no one to admire my efforts.

So yeah, a mirror, so I can at least continue to tell myself I look good. Might also be useful for company when I begin to lose it (better than a damned Soccer Ball :P)

FELIPE NO

My friends at school.

I mean, who wants to be bored on a deserted island????

How ya doing, buddy?

A gun so I could kill myself and not worry about living such a miserable, lonely life. You'll die of starvation, exposure, or something else sooner or later anyway.

How ya doing, buddy?