Wool Care

'Wool care' is a broad term for the personal hygiene routine of ovinex. Wool care is often a solitary affair, though it may also be carried out as a social bonding activity among trusted peers.

Execution

This activity most often includes washing, brushing, and trimming one's wool to present a neat appearance and to help prevent cutaneous diseases like woolstrike or infestation. A simple bath and drying with a cloth can suffice for day-to-day life, but, during special occasions or when one is seeking the approval of others (i.e. potential mates), additional care must be taken. A wool care partner can help one clean and maintain difficult-to-reach places, like the small of one's back, and can provide immediate advice on aspects of wool care that one might not otherwise have considered.

Components and tools

Traditional wool care tools include brushes, combs, and manual shears. Combs and brushes were originally constructed of local hardwoods or bone, but shears required the carving of obsidian, the smelting of copper, or the repurposing of scrap that washed ashore. Plant oils are sometimes rubbed into the wool to enhance lustre, repel insects, and improve scent.
Exposure to the more technologically advanced Rostran cultures has introduced electric shears, shampoo, conditioner, styling products, and dyes to the ovinex. These components are more commonly used among the Civil Ovinex - especially the Baxbr subculture - than the Native Ovinex.

Participants

Wool care can be performed singly, as a pair, or with a group. This activity is more intimate than one would typically engage with as acqauintances, but less intimate than an activity carried out only between lovers; wool care requires some element of social trust, and mistakes or pranks relating to wool can take a long time to recover from. In more modern times, wool care parlours have opened in regions where ovinex are common to provide the benefits of this activity with a professional, more standardized touch.

Observance

Other than ram rex, almost every ovinex participates in wool care on some level. Those who ignore wool care are considered 'dirty' and are regarded by greater ovinex society as doing so as a result of sloth, illness, psychological problems, or overwork. To the ovinex, the 'unkempt man' is a man of action, but also potentially unstable and, moreover, one to be avoided lest whatever chases him in life comes to chase others who get too close.

Important Locations

• The Ovinex Arc

Related Organizations

• Ovinex Island Tribes

Related Ethnicities

• Baxbr
• Civil Ovinex
• Native Ovinex