Honestly the biggest thing that’s been on my mind since reading these chapters is the viability of the soap lol. I did a quick search to find stuff like that irl, but literally everything similiar would just have “soap” as one of the ingredients for the shampoo, which kind of feels like cheating lmao
3 Likes
Yeah, what she creates is at best a conditioner and you can use conditioner for washing (oil is very good at removing dirt and other oils), BUT you really need a lot of water to rinse everything out. Just brusing it through your hair gives you a yeast infection aka dandruff at best. 
4 Likes
Well, to be fair, she said that she diluted it to the point that it’s fine is some remains and she tries to take as much out as possible (with a towel? I forgot).
2 Likes
true, but leaving any in (i.e. leave-in conditioner) is literal fodder for whatever bacteria and fungus finds a home in her hair. Usually you’d wash away everything and then put in a conditioner to re-nourish the hair and scalp that you had stripped off everything. And you repeat that every other day. She puts additional oil on already dirty and oily hair/scalp… and repeats that every week or so… while her scalp is likely producing less oil than modern scalps (more washing = more oil), she still never properly cleans it. But with fantasy, there is usually some amount of suspension of disbelief necessary. I mean, we are basically in the middle ages - sanitation was non-existing. Flies, lice, mice, rats, creepy crawlies… it would be filthy and the smell would be breath-taking… 
4 Likes
I pictured it as soapy water, which I thought would be okay-ish… if it’s just a conditioner, I do agree with you, though 
That’s pretty much how she described it 
4 Likes
Finished the reading! Must say, I felt this one was a bit harder than the last ones as there’s a lot of description. I’m now fully prepared for the Myne ShineTM shampoo product launch 
Is that what it is? It does definitely feels translated, but wasn’t sure why. I’ve also caught some straight up mistakes / typos which my korean teacher confirmed. It’s also just a little funny hearing the perspective of this new world as a Japanese person written in Korean 
6 Likes
The best part is that you, too can make this amazing scalp care product at home. First you’ll need a hammer and an avocado…
12 Likes
Listening to the audiobook I was so certain that simply hitting an avocado with a hammer wouldn’t work that I fully fabricated the presence of an entire oil pressing contraption (which one hits with a hammer ) into the text with no actual evidence. Now that I’m doing my read-along round I realized, no, they’re actually just hitting an avocado with a hammer.
P.S. your comment made me lol.
9 Likes
Finished and caught back up!
Man oh man, did we talk a lot about “soap” this week.
And we finally found a book!
I’m actually nervous for Myne, probably because I’m a language nerd and know too much about the history of writing. Germanic languages were relative latecomers to the written word, and a lot of early runic writing were dedications or tombstones and not stories. iirc, a lot of the Romance languages didn’t use written word for a long time either since most scrolls/books would have been in Latin, with the precursors to languages that we know today just considered regional dialects. I’m quite sure that this medieval town isn’t a pseudo-Rome, so watch this book end up being something like someone keeping tax records. Or a religious text.
8 Likes
I was curious about this too. It’s very interesting to me that the shopkeeper seemed disturbed/offended but not necessarily taken aback. My first thought was that maybe it has to do with class or some kind of caste system? Maybe books are exclusive to the aristocracy and so a commoner’s touch would be “polluting” or threatening or something.
Anyway, I finally finished this week’s reading after taking a bit of a manga break this past week. I think I needed some easier reading after the 木洩れ日 book club ended.
I’m curious if we’ll see more of Myne’s book knowledge come out as she continues to learn how to make do in the new world.
5 Likes
Yeah, I agree that it seems to be a more exaggerated response than you’d expect. I also wonder if it may relate to gender?
I wasn’t sure if it was a play on words in the last line, where she said that now that her かみ (髪) was sorted, she wanted to source かみ (紙).
5 Likes
Is the reaction really so unusual?
A toddler is asking to touch a very valuable and kinda fragile object with - what one can only assume are - dirty hands. I felt it’s a bit like a toddler walking into a gallery and asking to touch a picasso painting.
6 Likes
I guess my biggest thing with that section is that while it’s reasonable thing to not want a toddler to touch a valuable book, it’s weird to describe that prohibition as “dangerous”.
4 Likes
I was thinking more along the lines of “risky” rather than dangerous. i.e. “There is a risk of damage.” 
6 Likes
Ah, that’s a good perspective! Didn’t consider that before; that’s a reasonable interpretation of 危険, right?
4 Likes
I also agree that this was more the risk meaning than the danger one.
6 Likes
Finally finished this section! I’m a little late.
The highlights for me:
- Myne finally spots a book in this new world and her reaction is “let me rub it on my face and sniff it” - what a book perv!
- Tuuli’s メリル-spattered face, frozen in a dangerous smile: “Myne, what are you doing?”
Can’t say I particularly enjoyed the bits about cleaning, but maybe Myne going on and on about having a nice home hit a nerve. Lemme just dust a little to relieve my guilt…
7 Likes
How can you? poor dust bunnies. Fred and Lily are looking at you disapprovingly from under the bookcase.
3 Likes
I finished week 3’s reading! I really enjoyed the shopping and shampoo making. It was very entertaining to watch Myne irritate her sister more and more (I know how her sister feels, haha). But the end product was worth it, and Myne can definitely get away with a lot at her age.
5 Likes
