# hand washing? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [November 22, 2001, 2:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hand-washing/94695 "2001-11-22T02:23:54Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 16\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![berdollos](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ed8c4c/32.png) [@berdollos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/berdollos)\ **Post date:** [November 22, 2001, 2:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hand-washing/94695/1 "2001-11-22T02:23:54Z")
Have you noticed about have the people leaving a public bathroom do not wash their hands or do so very perfucntorily. As for me, I don’t feel like shaking hands any more. ---
**Author:** ![bouv](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/bc8723/32.png) [@bouv](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bouv)\ **Post date:** [November 22, 2001, 3:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hand-washing/94695/2 "2001-11-22T03:48:17Z")
Personally, it kinds disgusts me. I seem to remember Cecil takling this issue. It involved someone thiking that since urine contains ammonia, shouldn’t your hands be _cleaner_ after you are done doing your business? Let me go check…Ah, found [it.](http://www.straightdope.com/classics/a4_220.html) I hear from some people that they don’t wash their hands because of this reason (they don’t get urine on them/they say urine is sterile.) Well that AIN’T the problem, bucko! Wash 'em anyways! ---
**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:** [November 22, 2001, 4:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hand-washing/94695/3 "2001-11-22T16:36:39Z")
**berdollos** you make some good points in your recent posts, but you’re not developing a germ phobia a la Howard Hughes, are you? QtM ---
**Author:** ![handy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/b5a626/32.png) [@handy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/handy)\ **Post date:** [November 22, 2001, 5:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hand-washing/94695/4 "2001-11-22T17:41:05Z")
Didn’t Hughes have OCD? s/He has a point about washing after using the bathroom. What’s the point anyway? To get out of the bathroom after washing your hands you have to touch the faucet handle & doorknob which are already probably full of e coli bateria. Of course, I like to use my foot on the door cause I notice people aren’t washing. ---
**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:** [November 22, 2001, 6:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hand-washing/94695/5 "2001-11-22T18:34:47Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by handy \*I like to use my foot on the door cause I notice people aren’t washing. Then I hope you wash your feet after using the restroom! 😃 ---
**Author:** ![ReillyDog](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/f05b48/32.png) [@ReillyDog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ReillyDog)\ **Post date:** [November 22, 2001, 6:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hand-washing/94695/6 "2001-11-22T18:37:49Z")
the trick is to not pee on your hands in the first place. If you’re a guy and your willy is so filthy that you need to wash your hands after holding it (for aim), you’ve got other more important problems. 🆒 ---
**Author:** ![OpalCat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/8edcca/32.png) [@OpalCat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/OpalCat)\ **Post date:** [November 22, 2001, 6:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hand-washing/94695/7 "2001-11-22T18:50:44Z")
Um. No. You see, that whole area is CRAWLING WITH BACTERIA. It has nothing to do with ‘filth’ or with peeing on your hands. ---
**Author:** ![ReillyDog](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/f05b48/32.png) [@ReillyDog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ReillyDog)\ **Post date:** [November 22, 2001, 7:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hand-washing/94695/8 "2001-11-22T19:00:25Z")
Hey OpalCat, What part of your body do you think is NOT crawling with bacteria? I like to think of my “non-handwashing-unless-I-pee-on-them” approach as my little contribution to conserving the environment. Did you know that if we all stopped washing our hands afer every pee, we’d save over 4.362 x 10E8 gallons of water per DAY! Come on folks, let’s all pitch in! 🆒 ---
**Author:** ![handy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/b5a626/32.png) [@handy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/handy)\ **Post date:** [November 22, 2001, 10:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hand-washing/94695/9 "2001-11-22T22:06:59Z")
Pee, except for the first few drops, is fairly sterile unless you got yourself a bladder infection. But then I don’t think you could give yourself a bladder infection twice if you got pee on your hands & didnt wash. ---
**Author:** ![AwSnappity](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/a3d4f5/32.png) [@AwSnappity](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AwSnappity)\ **Post date:** [November 22, 2001, 11:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hand-washing/94695/10 "2001-11-22T23:13:25Z")
I guess I still subscribe to the wash-my-hands-for-60-full-seconds-after-every-bathroom-encouter way of thinking. I heard a 14-year-old girl in a public restroom at a football game say, “Washing your hands is so overrated.” It kinda grossed me out; I didn’t want to touch the door after she had. ---
**Author:** ![OpalCat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/8edcca/32.png) [@OpalCat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/OpalCat)\ **Post date:** [November 22, 2001, 11:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hand-washing/94695/11 "2001-11-22T23:29:28Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by ReillyDog \* > \*\*Hey OpalCat, > > What part of your body do you think is NOT crawling with bacteria? > \*\* Coliform bacteria? Hmm… most of your body except the area around your groin. ---
**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:** [November 23, 2001, 3:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hand-washing/94695/12 "2001-11-23T15:38:53Z")
**ReillyDog** here’s Cecil’s column on the need to wash your hands even if you don’t pee on them. As a physician, I agree with him 100%. As a sycophantic toady, I agree 110%. [wash your hands after you pee!](http://www.straightdope.com/classics/a4_220.html) ---
**Author:** ![handy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/b5a626/32.png) [@handy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/handy)\ **Post date:** [November 23, 2001, 4:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hand-washing/94695/13 "2001-11-23T16:28:05Z")
Qadgop, I’ve seen the sinks docs get to use with their no-touch faucets. Now, I would like one of those :-)…I think you can get one like them for the home they have an infrared sensor in them to turn the water on when you hands are under them. ---
**Author:** ![KneadToKnow](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kneadtoknow/32/3999_2.png) [@KneadToKnow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KneadToKnow)\ **Post date:** [November 23, 2001, 4:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hand-washing/94695/14 "2001-11-23T16:38:48Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Qadgop the Mercotan \* > As a physician, I agree with him 100%. As a sycophantic toady, I agree 110%. A distinction so few of us bother to observe in our everyday lives. ---
**Author:** ![handy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/b5a626/32.png) [@handy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/handy)\ **Post date:** [November 24, 2001, 12:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hand-washing/94695/15 "2001-11-24T00:22:46Z")
Cecil also wrote about toilet plumes. You flush & whatever was in the toilet is microscopically put on everything in the bathroom. gross. ---
**Author:** ![nashiitashii](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/7c8e57/32.png) [@nashiitashii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nashiitashii)\ **Post date:** [November 24, 2001, 12:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hand-washing/94695/16 "2001-11-24T00:32:11Z")
One day I’m PMSing and I see my friend come out of the bathroom stall and rinse her hands off… I made her go back and wash them with soap because I had to open the door. I don’t know what compelled me to do that, but I felt better afterwards.