# Cleanliness **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [January 2, 2024, 5:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cleanliness/995505 "2024-01-02T17:39:22Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![kayaker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kayaker/32/441_2.png) [@kayaker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kayaker)\ **Post date:** [January 3, 2024, 3:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cleanliness/995505/41 "2024-01-03T15:38:12Z")
My gf and I both consume raw eggs on a fairly regular basis. We’ve never (yet) suffered any ill effects. ---
**Author:** ![doreen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/858c86/32.png) [@doreen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/doreen)\ **Post date:** [January 3, 2024, 4:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cleanliness/995505/42 "2024-01-03T16:01:01Z")
> [@Ulfreida](#): > > Most of the articles I read imply only that the list of protocols they advise are just “what should be done, because experts” and hardly ever describe the ailment you are putting yourself at risk for if you fail to follow their guidelines. Maybe I’m confused - if they never describe the ailment that you are putting yourself at risk for , and the protocols are just “what should be done, because experts” why would you assume that any of it has to do with illness? When I read articles that say you should mop your floor every two weeks or wash towels after three uses because they accumulate dead skin cells I don’t assume it’s because I will get sick otherwise. I assume it’s because a floor that isn’t mopped or towel that is used too many times without being washed is kind of gross. ---
**Author:** ![LSLGuy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lslguy/32/5813_2.png) [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)\ **Post date:** [January 3, 2024, 4:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cleanliness/995505/43 "2024-01-03T16:12:47Z")
> [@doreen](#): > > I assume it’s because a floor that isn’t mopped or towel that is used too many times without being washed is kind of gross. I agree that’s the intent. To amplify consumers’ concerns about “grossness” so they can sell more soap or whatever. IMO a _lotta_ folks now have insanely overexcited “gross detectors”. e.g. If I get cleaned up and dressed in the morning, later change to swimwear and go to the beach, then come home, shower & get dressed again, I’ll put on all the clothes I’d worn the first half of the day. Both undies and outerwear. After all, they’re cleaner as I’m putting them on again than they would have been at that moment had I never taken them off for the last 3 hours. My new wife is beyond aghast at that idea. Ewww! So gross!! If it touched your skin and is taken off, it _MUST_ be washed. IMO that’s utterly unnecessary health-and-hygiene wise, an actively mentally unhealthy paranoia, and is the direct result of decades of exposure to modern marketing messages. Procter and Gamble _et al_ have sown a lot of fear and loathing in our society. Color me unimpressed. ---
**Author:** ![CoolHandCox](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/coolhandcox/32/16233_2.png) [@CoolHandCox](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CoolHandCox)\ **Post date:** [January 3, 2024, 4:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cleanliness/995505/44 "2024-01-03T16:30:43Z")
re: public toilets. I’ve read the thread but did not see this addressed which has been on my mind lately. Public commercial toilets do not have lids. So, when I flush, _I imagine_ millions of very tiny particles (water, poop, whatever was in the toilet) shooting up into the air. And me, being right next to it, breathing them in. Is that a real thing that is happening, and if so, real enough to be concerned about? At home, I put the lid down, then flush. Is that what the lid is for? ---
**Author:** ![Pardel-Lux](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pardel-lux/32/20182_2.png) [@Pardel-Lux](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pardel-Lux)\ **Post date:** [January 3, 2024, 4:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cleanliness/995505/45 "2024-01-03T16:50:31Z")
No, the lid is there so that cats and toddlers do not fall head first into it and drown. In a cat and toddler free home you can leave the lid open. Flushing works downwards, if flushing splashes over it means the water pressure is too high. Public commercial toilets do not have a lid to prevent people from snorting cocaine on them. ---
**Author:** ![snowthx](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/snowthx/32/10660_2.png) [@snowthx](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/snowthx)\ **Post date:** [January 3, 2024, 5:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cleanliness/995505/46 "2024-01-03T17:02:57Z")
Here is Cecil’s take on the whole “[Toilet Plume](https://www.straightdope.com/21342463/does-flushing-the-toilet-cause-dirty-water-to-be-spewed-around-the-bathroom)” thing (albeit a bit dated - hey Cec, maybe an idea for a column refresh?), along with some commentary relevant to this thread. ---
**Author:** ![kayaker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kayaker/32/441_2.png) [@kayaker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kayaker)\ **Post date:** [January 3, 2024, 5:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cleanliness/995505/47 "2024-01-03T17:11:58Z")
> [@Pardel-Lux](#): > > In a cat and toddler free home you can leave the lid open Our home is cat and toddler free, but the lids stay down for aesthetics. ---
**Author:** ![Pardel-Lux](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pardel-lux/32/20182_2.png) [@Pardel-Lux](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pardel-Lux)\ **Post date:** [January 3, 2024, 5:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cleanliness/995505/48 "2024-01-03T17:13:45Z")
I close the toilet door, not the lid. My wife closes both. ---
**Author:** ![puzzlegal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/puzzlegal/32/3827_2.png) [@puzzlegal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/puzzlegal)\ **Post date:** [January 3, 2024, 5:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cleanliness/995505/49 "2024-01-03T17:16:27Z")
Yes, this get an aerosol plume when you flush. But it’s your own bacteria. Which are already established in your gut. So… It’s not really very dangerous. Our bodies are full of bacteria. I don’t think we’d survive without them. People with nasty bowel conditions are treated by getting a [fecal transplant](https://www.hopkinsmedicine.org/health/treatment-tests-and-therapies/fecal-transplant#:~:text=Fecal%20transplantation%20is%20a%20procedure,bacteria%20into%20the%20recipient's%20intestines.) from someone with healthier gut biota. No shit. Or rather, yes, shit. That is one reason why people are advised not to share a bathroom with someone who has a communicable disease if they can help it. Hepatitis A and covid are two bugs you are more likely to catch from your housemate if you use the same bathroom. But you don’t catch either of those from yourself. Or much else, really. The reason home toilets have a lid is because outhouse seats had lids. And outhouses really need those lids, the smell is much stronger if the prior user doesn’t close the lid. Also, it’s kinda catastrophic if your small child falls into the outhouse without your noticing. It’s just a nicety to retain the lid on an indoor privy, keeping out pets and small children, and maybe serving as a bit of extra space in rare situations. ---
**Author:** ![Ulfreida](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ulfreida/32/8014_2.png) [@Ulfreida](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ulfreida)\ **Post date:** [January 3, 2024, 6:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cleanliness/995505/50 "2024-01-03T18:15:03Z")
I thought toilet lids were so you can sit on them to brush your teeth. Ours is always up because the dogs prefer toilet water to their own water bowl right next to it. I don’t want people to imagine that I never wash or anything. I do, daily, with soap! And I change my socks every day, too. ---
**Author:** ![Dewey\_Finn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dewey_finn/32/4222_2.png) [@Dewey\_Finn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dewey_Finn)\ **Post date:** [January 3, 2024, 6:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cleanliness/995505/51 "2024-01-03T18:18:03Z")
There’s a commercial for bleach in which a mom looks proudly on her young son mopping the bathroom floor, until she sees him using the toilet for a mop bucket. ---
**Author:** ![md-2000](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/9d8465/32.png) [@md-2000](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/md-2000)\ **Post date:** [January 3, 2024, 6:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cleanliness/995505/52 "2024-01-03T18:24:16Z")
There’s the Dilbert cartoon where Wally says “I don’t understand washing towels. The only thing they ever touch is my body after a shower, and that’s the cleanest thing in my house.” In fact, as the “plume” discussion mentions, there’s plenty of stuff just floating around in the air. Towels are espcially problematic (like sponges and washcloths) because they get wet, hold plenty of water, so stay wet and are a breeding ground for bacteria for longer than, say, clothes or sheets. (We _hope_ your sheets are fairly dry…) You can tell this effect because towels will smell over a few days if not changed regularly. By contrast, your inner clothing is likely changed daily. (I mean, I’ve heard of people who figure towels are used once and done, or replaced daily, but to me that;s a little extreme. 3 to 5 days seems appropriate, weekly laundery…) Another item I read was to not use those anti-static nice smell dryer sheets when you launder towels. They apparently work by depositing a small residue of waxy substance on the cloth. OK for clothing etc., but not great as it’s just extra food for bacteria in a frequently very wet environment for several days, and limits evaporation. But the problem, generally, is that whatever you encounter - pulling up your pants after using the toilet, using faucet handles or door handles, itching your backside, etc. etc. - goes on your hands and so can eventually make its way to mouth, nose and eyes and into your innards. Hence, handwashing regularly is recommended always. As for toilet cleanliness, I don’t know what’s worse - leaving skid marks in the toilet bowl, or scrubbing them away with a brush that then sits by the toilet with whatever didn’t rinse off… (Usually a second flush a few minutes later solves the problem…). ---
**Author:** ![DavidNRockies](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/davidnrockies/32/6279_2.png) [@DavidNRockies](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DavidNRockies)\ **Post date:** [January 3, 2024, 6:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cleanliness/995505/53 "2024-01-03T18:27:18Z")
> [@Pardel-Lux](#): > > Public commercial toilets do not have a lid to prevent people from snorting cocaine on them. Nitpick: preventing _lazy and uncreative people_ from snorting cocaine on them. ---
**Author:** ![Pardel-Lux](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pardel-lux/32/20182_2.png) [@Pardel-Lux](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pardel-Lux)\ **Post date:** [January 3, 2024, 6:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cleanliness/995505/54 "2024-01-03T18:35:58Z")
In Germany, it seems, it’s politicians who do it. Oh, wait… anyway, [from the article](https://www.mmnews.de/vermischtes/19009-kokain-im-bundestag-22-toiletten-positv), translated from German: > Drugs in the Bundestag (German parliament) are apparently commonplace. As early as 2000, a test by SAT1 [a TV broadcaster] revealed that traces of cocaine could be detected in 22 of the 28 toilets tested. Peak cocaine levels were found in the toilets of the Left/Greens parliamentary group. ---
**Author:** ![Beckdawrek](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/beckdawrek/32/3647_2.png) [@Beckdawrek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Beckdawrek)\ **Post date:** [January 3, 2024, 6:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cleanliness/995505/55 "2024-01-03T18:36:21Z")
I call that multitasking. And who lets kids use bleach? ---
**Author:** ![DavidNRockies](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/davidnrockies/32/6279_2.png) [@DavidNRockies](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DavidNRockies)\ **Post date:** [January 3, 2024, 6:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cleanliness/995505/56 "2024-01-03T18:37:11Z")
At least your elected officials are actually _working_ for _their_ constituents! /s [end hijack 😉] ---
**Author:** ![Beckdawrek](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/beckdawrek/32/3647_2.png) [@Beckdawrek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Beckdawrek)\ **Post date:** [January 3, 2024, 6:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cleanliness/995505/57 "2024-01-03T18:42:11Z")
Are you _Insane_? 5 days of a towel hanging in a bathroom? Damp. Toilet plume floating around? Visitor _borrowing_ it to dry their infected hands? And you dry your genitals that night, with grotty disgusting towel? Nope. “Go wash those towels, now! Use bleach!” signed: your Mom 😊 ---
**Author:** ![puzzlegal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/puzzlegal/32/3827_2.png) [@puzzlegal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/puzzlegal)\ **Post date:** [January 3, 2024, 6:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cleanliness/995505/58 "2024-01-03T18:44:50Z")
> [@md-2000](#): > > You can tell this effect because towels will smell over a few days if not changed regularly. By contrast, your inner clothing is likely changed daily. Naw. I do laundry every other week. I rarely change towels more than that often. If they smell, i do change them. That happens less than once a year. That is, i can remember doing it a couple of times… In contrast, my clothing often smells after a single use. ---
**Author:** ![peccavi](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/peccavi/32/388_2.png) [@peccavi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/peccavi)\ **Post date:** [January 3, 2024, 6:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cleanliness/995505/59 "2024-01-03T18:50:32Z")
> [@md-2000](#): > > Towels are espcially problematic (like sponges and washcloths) because they get wet, hold plenty of water, so stay wet and are a breeding ground for bacteria for longer than, say, clothes or sheets. Believe it or not, there are regions where within 1-2 hours of being used after showering, the towel is bone dry. I know that those from the Southeast often can’t wrap their heads around this, but it is true (especially if there’s a Santa Ana wind). > “There was a desert wind blowing that night. It was one of those hot dry Santa Anas that come down through the mountain passes and curl your hair and make your nerves jump and your skin itch. On nights like that every booze party ends in a fight. Meek little wives feel the edge of the carving knife and study their husbands’ necks. Anything can happen." ---
**Author:** ![Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/qadgop_the_mercotan/32/83_2.png) [@Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Qadgop_the_Mercotan)\ **Post date:** [January 3, 2024, 6:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cleanliness/995505/60 "2024-01-03T18:53:25Z")
> [@LSLGuy](#): > > IMO that’s utterly unnecessary health-and-hygiene wise, an actively mentally unhealthy paranoia, and is the direct result of decades of exposure to modern marketing messages. > > Procter and Gamble _et al_ have sown a lot of fear and loathing in our society. Having cared for some of the filthiest patients on the planet (maximum security inmates on the segregation unit) I must agree. The guys there who were diligently taking their twice a week 2 minute showers and using the sinks for washups every other day or so didn’t even smell bad. Even the poo flingers didn’t seem to suffer from infectious disease repercussions. Humans evolved in a sea of bacterial muck. Obsessive cleanliness is more likely to be a detriment to health rather than a means of preserving health. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cleanliness/995505.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cleanliness/995505.md?page=4)