A recent article on Medscape (free registration required) addressed skin hygiene. Some points from the article:[ul][li]Regular washing with non-antibacterial soap is all people normally need.[/li][li]Frequent or more vigorous washing can increase the numbers of bacteria on the skin due to skin damage which can give the germs more places to hide.[/li][li]In the UK there is already evidence of bacteria resistance to triclosan, a common anti-bacterial.[/li]Products containing alcohol may be indicated if you come into contact with someone susceptible to infection or if you are a health-care professional and have to perform an invasive procedure.[/ul]
Although there is clarification later in the reply, it’s worth reiterating, soap generally does not “kill” germs; rather it helps to wash them away. Anti-bacterial soap may be an exception, but as another respondent noted, bacteria are becoming resistant to the most common anti-bacterial used in so-called deodorant soaps and elsewhere. It’s also noteworthy that an earlier ingredient used in many deodorant soaps, hexachlorophene, was withdrawn after it was found to be potentially hazardous for everyday use.
I’m willing to try most of the “wash before and after” suggestions, but I think it’s going to be a real challenge washing my hands before sneezing and coughing!
I’ve always wondered: since the anti-bacterial chemicals are in the soap, aren’t people mostly killing the bacteria in their drains, since they’ll rinse of most of the anti-bacterial stuff with the rest of the soap?
Dave W. http://members.aol.com/psorsite/
“My dream is of a day where every SDMB poster will have a quote of mine in their sig.” - Arnold Winkelried
There are two great universities, among others, in the Commonwealth of Virginia: the University of Virginia in Charlottesville (“The University,” “Mr. Jefferson’s University”), where the students are known as "Hoos," and Virginia Technical Institute in Blacksburg, the "Hokies." Once upon a time these two great universities were met to settle a football contest, and one particular Hoo and one particular Hokie, both freshmen, were met in the gentlemen’s lavatory.
The `Hoo uses the facilities and steps over to the sink to wash up. The Hokie uses the facilities and starts for the door.
Quoth the `Hoo, “Just what do they teach you in Blacksburg? At The University one of the first things they teach us is that a gentleman always washes his hands after using the lavatory facilities.”
Replied the Hokie, “Well as you know our school is a technical school so I guess we get more practical instruction. In fact, one the the first things they teach us is how to piss without getting any on our hands.”
So, let’s say I go to the urinal, grab my tinkleberry and take a wee-wee.
Why do I need to wash my hands?
I mean it’s my tinkleberry, and my hands. It’s not like they’re unacquainted.
Is there really any bad stuff on my tinkleberry that will hurt me if it gets on my hands even if I wipe my eyes or eat a burger with that hand.
I suspect this whole “wash the hands” thing really isn’t about protecting me from my own cooties. It’s about protecting everybody else, right?
In order to do this though, don’t I have to touch the spicket that everybody else touches after they go wee wee? Right when I’m done, I have to touch it again and recontaminate myself with everybody else’s cooties.
I wonder why they don’t have those sinks with a foot pedal like Doctors have.
But, just looking at the basic bathroom at work, that only gets cleaned twice a week makes me shudder. I don’t want to touch that water tap.
I don’t want to grab that nasty bottle of soap that’s been sitting there for weeks and weeks.
Finally, I recall reading that diseases like asthma and allergies are relatively new, and an effect of the sanitary conditions we normally live in, and underexposure to nature and such, or is this just new age bullshit?
When I work out I get stronger. Isn’t it better for my immune system if it gets a little practice?
Please, David, how dare you be judgemental! It’s a lifestyle choice! I sentence you to a sensitivity class so you can learn to appreciate that diversity properly includes the dead-chicken-loving community.
Just think of how many dead-chicken-loving teenagers are committing suicide because of narrow attitudes like yours!
Gentlemen
While I am amused at the various beliefs that are being posted here, isn’t the question going unanswered? The question was not the importance of hot vs cold water for washing hands ot the importance of soap there-in. Instead, it was posing the question for universal application. In other words: Does hot or cold water get anything cleaner? Also the use of soap in said water for said object. These are the questions that must be answered. Not whether David has anger towrds those that cook the chickens before sex with them, as he obviously does not.
In answers to these questions, I must ask for the location of the potential washers. For in Europe there are different “soaps” than in the good ol’ USA. Something like the metric system but a little different. There is not much real difference except that the European soap is more effective in cold water than the US stuff. Vice versa also holds true. Also, there must be some quantification as to the use of soap. If there is not enough then the soap will do little. If there is too much then there is a waste of soap. Indeed if you do not beleive me read the ingredients of a laundry detergent. Most have less than 0.5 gram detergent. Most of the volume of the detergent is inert fillers.
That gets to the real question. How stupid is the US population that when the detergent manufacturers decided to sell “concentrated” detergent, everyone went and bought it without thinking of what it really was. They get to reduce manufacturing costs by reducing inert ingredients and raise prices because it is “concentrated”. Ah, PT Barnum was correct.
Uncle Cecil says nothing of the kind. If you read carefully, he says in the first answer that you wash your hands to remove oil to which bacteria can stick. In the revisting answer, he simply says that you (and your sexual partner) can achieve homeostasis. You will note, however, that in the second paragraph, Cecil notes that women can get infected with their own bacteria causing urinary tract infections. This would hardly be “homeostasis”.
First, the link to Cecil’s article on washing after urination. Seems some missed in in David’s staff report.
Tom Arctus, I think perhaps this especially applies to you.
Scylla said:
Okay, first you can splash water and soap on the handles and faucet yourself, while you’re washing. Second, you touch the bottle, but then scrub away, so anything you happen to pick up there is immediately removed with the soap and water. The only risk in the bathroom is the handle on the door that you have to touch anyway whether you wash or not. The really nervous use a clean paper towel to open the door on exiting (it’s a pull door to exit).
Crap, I’d swear I’ve seen this discussed somewhere, but can’t find a column on it.
Recent studies showed that laving of the hands performs most of the work in dislodging or discouraging bacterial agents. Hot water is also very useful and soap can be nice, but they have also found full-blown staph infections living on a bar of soap!
I believe in a solid regimen of regular exposure to minor immunological challenges combined with routine rinsing of my hands after handling raw meat (including my own). You’ll find a link to my post about cutting board safety in the food safety thread. Here is a link to another thread about antibacterial soaps where I crossposted the same information.
