Question
Isn’t it smarter to wash your hands before you pee? Especially if you have girl parts?
urine being sterile, but you hand having lots of bladder infecting germs?
:eek: Gross! Remind me never to eat anything YOU’VE prepared!
[/QUOTE]
Whoosh.
Why am I supposed to pick two options in the poll?
I don’t generally touch anything in the bathroom except my zipper, not even Mr. Winky if I can help it. (Note: this is not a good plan when you’ve been drinking! :)) I flush with my forearm or the back of my hand. I’d wager I get more germs from the front entrance to my office than in the bathroom.
However, I too never understood the wet your fingertips only method of washing your hands. I wash my hands 95% of the time I go to the bathroom, and when I do I use soap and scrub my entire hands front and back, paying special attention to the finger tips. The other 5%, Either I’m on my way to the break room to wash my coffee cup, in which case I’m going to be getting my hands soapy anyway; OR, I just made a recent trip to the bathroom, and I don’t want my skin to get drier. Besides, I have hand sanitizer at my desk.
One to answer how often you wash, the other to answer WHY.
I generally wash with soap, since, y’know, health. If I have purell or the like handy, though, I’ll just rinse my hands for appearance sake and use sanitizer. I do this because I generally hate the smell of industrial soap, but rather enjoy the smell of lime purell.
No. Really. I’ve never done that. I am starting now, however. I’m not opposed to the idea, but do you guys really start out preparing every meal by washing your hands? (I guess you do). For me, it starts with opening the fridge, seeing what’s there, taking out, for example, a couple of eggs, maybe some bread for toast, some milk or cheese, a little meat, mushroom, or onion perhaps, and getting busy.
I’m going to use this thread as motivation to reform and become a better, and cleaner, person.
Paraphrased from a George Carlin routine:
I don’t wash my hands after I use the bathroom. My dick is clean. If you feel the need to wash up after peeing, maybe you should be washing your dick.
mmm
I’m female and always wash my hands after #1 or #2 when at work or other public places. I do the whole rigamrole with soap and at least 15 seconds of washing, plus using paper towels on the taps if I can help it. It’s because the bathroom is coated in fecal matter that can’t be seen, but could certainly be swabbed and cultured. Yes, I still touch my bag and clothes and whatever else between the stall and the sink, but it makes me feel better, so I’m gonna keep doing it.
At home, with me, myself and I, not so much. I do wash my hands before prepping food (at least once a day) and I wash dishes twice a day, plus I wash after scooping the cat boxes, so I wash at home at least 4 times a day and that’s plenty.
Sure, there’s plenty of bacteria in that bathroom. But as Mythbusters showed, more in your kitchen. In fact the old kitchen sponge is likely the nastiest thing in the house. Worse than a public toilet seat.
Yes, I absolutely start prepping every meal by washing my hands. I can’t imagine a person not doing so.
Do people actually do this? I mean, honestly, I don’t pay attention to what other dudes do in the bathroom, and I certainly wouldn’t point out if I found their habits disagreeable. It’s just basic dude etiquette.
My option is not there! It is: I wash my hands after using the bathroom because I wash my hands at every opportunity because it feels good. Exceptions: In a place that seems so dirty that it appears my hands will be dirtier after touching the faucets than before. Sometimes I will go into a bathroom just to wash my hands, without using the toilet facility at all.
I challenge the people who don’t like to wash their hands (for whatever reason) to pay attention to your fellow humans for the next couple of days - watch what they do with their hands. They scratch every part of their body, they pick their noses, they pick their teeth, they sneeze and cough in their hands, they fish goobers out of their eyes, they change diapers and cat litter and pick up dog poop, then they touch everything that your hands touch. I can’t control how much they wash their hands, but I can control when I wash mine.
In a public RR washing my hands. The guy at the urinal right next to my sink says: “I don’t wash my hands after I pee because I only touch my own.”
What was so amusing about this was he said it in a real snoby tone. As if he was special in the fact that he only touches his own penis when he takes a pee.
You may watch other people, but you apparently can’t read other peoples posts. Like I said- YES, do wash you hands in the bathroom, as often as you can. But it’s because it’s good to wash your hands, NOT because you need to wash your hands after you urinate.
Ditto. I can’t imagine handling food in the kitchen (or clean plates, flatware, glasses, etc.) without washing my hands first. And if I go do something else and then come back, I wash my hands when I return to food prep.
But I’ve got a question about this:
Assuming I’m not carrying a STD, what types of bacteria are on my penis that aren’t on my hands? It’s not like fecal bacteria are jumping from my anal region to my penis inside my underwear. And any bacteria I pick up from being in a public restroom are more likely to be on my hands than on my penis.
Oh, sorry, I wasn’t clear - I quoted your post because I was agreeing with you.
I shower daily so I’m not much worried about any germs that may be evolving into a higher lifeform between my legs. In fact, if I’ve been working where my hands get dirty, I’ll wash BEFORE peeing. Seriously! I don’t want that nasty crap festering between my legs all day before I can shower again.
But then, am I comfortable shaking hands with someone who MAY not wash after peeing? Well, how would I ever know? And handling his own “equipment” may not be the worst thing I have to encounter. Ever watch how many people pick their nose without washing? How about people who cough into their hands? And I’ve seen people who scratch their asscrack when they think no one is looking. So I do wash my hands on a periodic basis throughout the day, just on general principles. After all, there’s airborne dirt and particles, body grease just from shaking hands with others, who knows what all that’s picked up from inanimate objects used by others (or myself). So just what makes peeing a Special Handwashing Project for me? What, do I have Creeping Crotch Rot and don’t know it?
Now, when handling food OR food prep utensils, of course I wash my hands just prior to doing so. Regardless whether I just peed or not. Again, there’s all kinds of nasty stuff picked up by my hands throughout the day, worse stuff than my junk, that I’d sure appreciate anyone else washing their hands before handling my food. Including just handling the cash register. After all, when somebody hands you money, you don’t know where THEIR hands have been and what might be all over that cash.
I almost always do according to the Golden Rule (PUN). If you’re in a public place like a store and touching things, do you like thinking about how many other people have touched the same things after ‘doing their business’ and not washing? Or in a social setting where you’re shaking people’s hands? It annoys me to see someone walk right out without washing. Not that we’re all filthy people but you may have also picked up germs before going into the restroom; why take a chance on getting sick because you were too lazy to wash hands? That said, there are times when I’m just in a hurry and don’t.