Just realizing::eek: that of most of the people I know intimately enough to know their bathroom habits, don’t wash their hands after using the toilet at home (yes sigh this includes myself) but whenever we are out at a public restroom the hand-washing becomes compulsary.
Is it entirely so that the other people in the bathroom don’t think you’re gross?
Do you all wash your hands at home? in public?
And what’s the big deal about handwashing anyway? I can understand if you are going ‘#2’, because at least then there are potentially dangerous microorginisms involved, but urine is sterile folks. And I’m not a messy toilet-user anyhoo. I don’t get anything on my hands.
Just curious.
Oh, and who uses those annoying paper toilet seat covers? I never do unless the place looks really iffy. I remember reading somewhere years ago that those flimsy things don’t protect you against anything anhhow and it is just wasteful to use so many of them.
In short, wash your hands, or you’ll spread E. coli to others, who could get sick from it. If you just peed on your hands, they’d be cleaner than they are from touching any part of the pubic area.
ah, okay. BUT, being a girl, I don’t touch my “pubic area” when I pee. Maybe I over-use toilet paper but I usually have a big enough wad in my hand that there is no skin-to-skin contact.
True, us girls can’t pee gracefully standing up, but we also don’t have to come into physical contact with that nasty ‘pubic area’ as you call it.
I think in public restrooms, often we’re there under circumstances that make it wiser to wash. Usually, 9 times out of 10, if I’m at a public restroom it’s because I’m out for dinner. Certainly, if you took a restroom break during or just before dinner, you’d wash your hands then?
As for Qadgop’s remark there about touching the pubic area…well, sure us guys touch the pubic area, but I suppose ladies could #1 without touching it.
Peer pressure? ummm, nope. Bathrooms are dirty places - even the cleanest ones are dirty. It’s inevitable. I always wash my hands after doing dirty work, whether it’s gardening, petting my dogs, cutting raw chicken, or using the toilet.
The thought of eating food prepared by someone who didn’t have this basic grasp of hygiene disgusts me beyond words. It’s the main reason I refuse to participate in pot-luck events. ugh.
ah, okay. BUT, being a girl, I don’t touch my “pubic area” when I pee. Maybe I over-use toilet paper but I usually have a big enough wad in my hand that there is no skin-to-skin contact.
True, us girls can’t pee gracefully standing up, but we also don’t have to come into physical contact with that nasty ‘pubic area’ as you call it.
Sorry for the double post, my screen said that it couldn’t contact the server and so I assumed it hadn’t been posted. My mistake.
FairyChatMom… I am confused now. how DO you come in direct contact with your “pubic area” when wiping with TP after urinating?
Again, maybe I use too much TP but there is always a large 'buffer zone" between my hands and anything I’m wiping.
hmmmm.
Okay, yes I wash when preparing food, etc. But I ALWAYS wash my hands before I begin food preparation, having gone to the bathroom or not.
Having just awaken when I wrote the original post (yes I’m on the west coast but that is still no excuse for sleeping past noon–is it? ) I guess I was thinking mostly about all my middle-of-the night trips to the bathoom (being 12wks pregnant makes them way more frequent) and I’ll still admit I don’t wash my hands after I tinkle, heck, I barely open my eyes, and I don’t turn on the light either.
Ringo—ah the bane of doing homework and posting at the same time. I wrote the 1st post and it was taking forever to go through so I started working on my paper. When I finally checked back it said it ‘coudlnt’ contact server’ so I made the error of just posting it again. Curious, though, what does Qtm mean?
KneadtoKnow. Good points. Okay, so I guess all that peer-pressure handwashing I thought I did really is worthwhile. Although I usually flush with my foot Like I said, I do wash in public restrooms, I just don’t wash when I pee at home.
Now that everyone thinks I’m the germiest girl on the planet, I guess I’ll go finish my paper.
I used to be a selective hand-washer, too. But now, there’s a resounding YES from Ruby’s household. Absolutely positively we all wash our hands after using the facilities, no matter where they are. In public restrooms, I also use the paper towel that I dried my hands on to open the door. I can’t tell you how gross it is to watch someone just use the bathroom and leave, touching the door handle, without washing their hands.
Evo, once you or anyone you know have ever been through a bout of hepatitis from some “asswipe” (no pun intended) with poor hygiene habits preparing your food in a restaurant, you will never see germs the same way again!
Just a warning… you may want to start washing after every trip to the bathroom. There are some nasty critters that you can have on your skin that you can transmit to your genitals. At least one of these bacteria can be fatal to a newborn baby. I don’t mean to be an alarmist, but I lost my firstborn child to an infection that was likely spread by skin-to-genital contact.
Yes, I know urine is sterile, but handwashing does keep germs to a minimum on your skin and helps stop their spread to other areas of your body, and to your baby once you deliver.
Robin, whose handwashing probably kept her baby from getting VERY sick with RSV.
I’m going to comment on the other half of your question:
Do people wash their hands out in public so that others don’t think they’re gross?
No. I find that peer pressure, social pressure, and a sense of good hygeine have very little effect on public restroom users. I am amazed that there’s a very high and consistent rate of non-handwashing after using urinals or stalls.
Good and consistant handwashing is your number one defense against infection. You may not think you are contaminating your hand when you wipe with paper even when the paper is dry but you are.
And so is everyone else who is using the bathroom, picking their nose, sneezing, coughing, touching wounds, picking up dog poo or touching surfaces that have been touched by other people who have been wiping, picking, coughing,etc.
Now go wash you hands right now and let’s not have this discussion again.
Like I said, I do wash in public restrooms, I just don’t wash when I pee at home.