Irken Dust baths
I got this idea in my head that won't go away.
How does Zim bathe if he has never encountered water before?
The biggest clue is that in the Rise of Zit Boy Zim demands "cleansing chalk". He even refers to it as soap.
Only one thing comes to mind whenever I hear/watch that part: chinchillas. I remembered hearing that they couldn't be bathed regularly in soap and water because it would put their little bodies in shock and perish. So, I did a little more research.
Chinchillas come from an area in the world that even in the high mountains their rain fall is roughly non-existent. What little water they have must be reserved for drinking only. But the place has a lot of volcanic ash. Buy rolling around in the very fine soil they excess oils are absorbed and debris are rubbed off.
From what little we have seen of Irk it is highly industrialized leading to an arid environment. Zim also in the Wettening had never encountered rain before lending more to the fact that his home world is very similar to a chinchilla's natural environment.
It would make sense that Irkens would adapt to something very different when it came to bathing.
Now let's not confuse dirt, what all Irkens seem to hate, with volcanic ash. Ash isn't actually dirty. The process of burning would eliminate germs. The chemical composition is also incredibly different having raised the acidic and carbon levels significantly.
So, that's it... I guess I just wanna see Zim rolling around in a bowl of dust or something... I don't know.











