# Why don't we wash our hands before going to the bathroom. **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [March 23, 2010, 12:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-dont-we-wash-our-hands-before-going-to-the-bathroom/533412 "2010-03-23T00:12:32Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 18\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Annie-Xmas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ecc23a/32.png) [@Annie-Xmas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Annie-Xmas)\ **Post date:** [March 23, 2010, 3:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-dont-we-wash-our-hands-before-going-to-the-bathroom/533412/21 "2010-03-23T15:41:41Z")
[The Master Speaks](http://www.straightdope.com/columns/read/1043/why-are-men-supposed-to-wash-their-hands-after-urination) ---
**Author:** ![flickster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/7bcc69/32.png) [@flickster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/flickster)\ **Post date:** [March 23, 2010, 5:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-dont-we-wash-our-hands-before-going-to-the-bathroom/533412/22 "2010-03-23T17:15:27Z")
Spend a little time chopping jalapenos, or other chilis, and you’ll quickly learn the benefit of thoroughly washing hands **PRIOR** to making contact with anything in your nether region ---
**Author:** ![EmAnJ](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/d2c977/32.png) [@EmAnJ](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EmAnJ)\ **Post date:** [March 23, 2010, 5:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-dont-we-wash-our-hands-before-going-to-the-bathroom/533412/23 "2010-03-23T17:23:21Z")
> [@Annie-Xmas](#): > > [The Master Speaks](http://www.straightdope.com/columns/read/1043/why-are-men-supposed-to-wash-their-hands-after-urination) Already posted in this thread, and also doesn’t address washing BEFORE (unless my reading skill suck). ---
**Author:** ![x-ray\_vision](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/x-ray_vision/32/351_2.png) [@x-ray\_vision](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/x-ray_vision)\ **Post date:** [March 23, 2010, 5:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-dont-we-wash-our-hands-before-going-to-the-bathroom/533412/24 "2010-03-23T17:35:08Z")
> [@EmAnJ](#): > > Why don’t we wash our hands before going to the bathroom. I don’t wash my hands after I pee (unless I’m in a public bathroom; I don’t want to be the guy that was seen peeing and not washing). I don’t pee on my hands and I don’t touch my penis. I do the shake by jiggling my pants up and down. I wash after crapping and not before. ---
**Author:** ![BrotherCadfael](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/977dab/32.png) [@BrotherCadfael](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrotherCadfael)\ **Post date:** [March 23, 2010, 6:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-dont-we-wash-our-hands-before-going-to-the-bathroom/533412/25 "2010-03-23T18:05:07Z")
> [@kjbrasda](#): > > I gave my auto technician husband hell for leaving dirty greasy fingerprints on his member! > Seriously, he came home from work and had a clear handprint right around his penis. > (actually, I laughed so hard I think I shamed him into washing his hands before he pees after that) I do hope it was his own handprint… ---
**Author:** ![control-z](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/eada6e/32.png) [@control-z](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/control-z)\ **Post date:** [March 23, 2010, 7:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-dont-we-wash-our-hands-before-going-to-the-bathroom/533412/26 "2010-03-23T19:00:49Z")
I often wash my hands before urinating. And usually after. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![tdn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/94ad74/32.png) [@tdn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tdn)\ **Post date:** [March 23, 2010, 7:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-dont-we-wash-our-hands-before-going-to-the-bathroom/533412/27 "2010-03-23T19:08:26Z")
If I’ve been eating something like, oh, ribs or fried chicken, there is no way I’d touch my dick without washing first. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Devil\_s\_Grandmother](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/74df32/32.png) [@The\_Devil\_s\_Grandmother](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Devil_s_Grandmother)\ **Post date:** [March 23, 2010, 7:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-dont-we-wash-our-hands-before-going-to-the-bathroom/533412/28 "2010-03-23T19:11:38Z")
> [@EmAnJ](#): > > Already posted in this thread, and also doesn’t address washing BEFORE (unless my reading skill suck). You wash your hands before peeing to protect yourself. You wash your hands after peeing to protect other people. You wash after peeing because while a woman can probably urinate and defecate without getting anything unpleasant on her hands, she still has to touch other places in the bathroom (doorknobs and toilet handle, at least, probably also countertops and whatnot) and if you do that you should wash. If a woman scratches her skin, fusses with her make-up, or runs her hands through her hair, there’s going to be a certain amount of bacteria transferred to her hands. Again, if you do that you should wash. Men should wash after peeing because they’ve had to take out and put back their penis. Perhaps there’s a way to do this with minimal contact, I don’t know. The penis is going to have some amount of bacteria on it, as all skin does, and you wash so not to spread it onto the door knobs, copier buttons, and other stuff in your workplace. ---
**Author:** ![salinqmind](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/3ec8ea/32.png) [@salinqmind](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/salinqmind)\ **Post date:** [March 23, 2010, 8:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-dont-we-wash-our-hands-before-going-to-the-bathroom/533412/29 "2010-03-23T20:03:51Z")
When I “take a seat” in a public restroom, I’m not afraid of sitting on a germy seat, but I will pull off a foot or two of t.p. on the roll and dispose of it first. just in case someone’s germs are on the paper from the prior use. But now I think I’ll wash my hands before using the toilet. (But then my now-clean hands would get contaminated by grasping the handle of the stall door, and the lock. Then what?? Thinking too much about this is leading towards madness.) ---
**Author:** ![Hi\_Medlo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/a183cd/32.png) [@Hi\_Medlo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hi_Medlo)\ **Post date:** [March 23, 2010, 8:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-dont-we-wash-our-hands-before-going-to-the-bathroom/533412/30 "2010-03-23T20:09:59Z")
There was a joke at the machine shop where I used to work that said mechanics washed before, machinists washed after. It was a matter of which tools you thought were more important! ---
**Author:** ![Mona\_Lisa\_Simpson](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ce7236/32.png) [@Mona\_Lisa\_Simpson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mona_Lisa_Simpson)\ **Post date:** [March 23, 2010, 10:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-dont-we-wash-our-hands-before-going-to-the-bathroom/533412/31 "2010-03-23T22:01:05Z")
> [@salinqmind](#): > > When I “take a seat” in a public restroom, I’m not afraid of sitting on a germy seat, but I will pull off a foot or two of t.p. on the roll and dispose of it first. just in case someone’s germs are on the paper from the prior use. But now I think I’ll wash my hands before using the toilet. (But then my now-clean hands would get contaminated by grasping the handle of the stall door, and the lock. Then what?? Thinking too much about this is leading towards madness.) Go to nursing school. The first month is indoctrination in handwashing and we are taught to use paper towel to open the doors after we leave the washroom. It gets a bit weird, but you get used to it. I usually have facial tissue in my pocket for such a purpose. In a [thread](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?p=11988290#post11988290)about face washing (which got a wee bit hijacked) I commented in post #16 about my handwashing and some thought it was excessive. Hey, it would be great if everyone washed before, but well if you want random bacteria touching your moist mucous membranes its not my problem. Not washing after, spreading e. coli and whathaveyou … that could be my problem. Therefore I wash my hands regularly. ---
**Author:** ![Ruken](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/f475e1/32.png) [@Ruken](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ruken)\ **Post date:** [March 23, 2010, 11:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-dont-we-wash-our-hands-before-going-to-the-bathroom/533412/32 "2010-03-23T23:04:11Z")
I’m a chemist. Sometimes it takes a while for the burning to start after getting something nasty on my skin. I wash my hands before. ---
**Author:** ![Dancer\_Flight](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dancer_flight/32/7601_2.png) [@Dancer\_Flight](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dancer_Flight)\ **Post date:** [March 23, 2010, 11:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-dont-we-wash-our-hands-before-going-to-the-bathroom/533412/33 "2010-03-23T23:54:18Z")
> [@Ruken](#): > > I’m a chemist. Sometimes it takes a while for the burning to start after getting something nasty on my skin. I wash my hands before. Yeah, when I was taking my Chem Undergrad, it was suggested that we wash before, and turned into a joke: “How do you tell a chemist in the washroom? They’re the one washing BEFORE going” -DF ---
**Author:** ![elfkin477](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/a9a28c/32.png) [@elfkin477](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elfkin477)\ **Post date:** [March 24, 2010, 12:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-dont-we-wash-our-hands-before-going-to-the-bathroom/533412/34 "2010-03-24T00:54:12Z")
> [@EmAnJ](#): > > If you use so much TP that germs can’t get from your hands to your bits, you could reason that germs couldn’t get from your bits to your hands. So why wash afterwards then? Frankly, I wash my hands after I use the bathroom more out of concern with having touched the door knob and other stuff you all touched, not because I got pee on myself. After you’ve taken a crap you needed to unlock the stall door, and so do I, and I don’t know for sure you wipe and open doors with the opposite hands. Not to mention all the people who bring their germs to work… ---
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [March 24, 2010, 2:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-dont-we-wash-our-hands-before-going-to-the-bathroom/533412/35 "2010-03-24T02:05:05Z")
In general, for a male, there’s nothing especially dirty about urinating. Your penis is almost certainly cleaner than your hands. However, we should wash our hands after urinating because we’re there and the sink is handy. I do sometimes wash before. ---
**Author:** ![Leaper](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/4bbf92/32.png) [@Leaper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leaper)\ **Post date:** [March 24, 2010, 2:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-dont-we-wash-our-hands-before-going-to-the-bathroom/533412/36 "2010-03-24T02:29:06Z")
1. Is there a case of anyone getting a cold or the flu or e coli or whatever from touching… nether regions? 2. Is there a difference in this question between men and women? After all, one gender has their equipment on the outside, the other on the inside. ---
**Author:** ![CutterJohn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/91b2a8/32.png) [@CutterJohn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CutterJohn)\ **Post date:** [March 24, 2010, 6:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-dont-we-wash-our-hands-before-going-to-the-bathroom/533412/37 "2010-03-24T06:23:58Z")
I wash before on occasion, when my hands are filthy. I rarely wash after. I’ve put my mouth directly on enough strangers genitals without a worry in the world, and I’m quite sure I’m not alone in this. Not by a long shot. Seems silly to worry about a few germs on the hands of my own, or others, in the grand scheme of things. Really… Why would I care about that hot girl washing her hands if I’d happily go down on her later on that night? ---
**Author:** ![gaffa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e68b1a/32.png) [@gaffa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gaffa)\ **Post date:** [March 24, 2010, 7:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-dont-we-wash-our-hands-before-going-to-the-bathroom/533412/38 "2010-03-24T07:00:12Z")
As in so many other areas, the Firesign Theater was there first. From _Don’t Crush That Dwarf, Hand Me The Pliers_: We’ll kill all the bees And spiders and flies And we wont play in iceboxes lying on their sides We’ll wash our hands after wee-wee. And if we’re a girl, before! And we’ll march,march,march, et cetera! 'Til we never do march no more! [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-dont-we-wash-our-hands-before-going-to-the-bathroom/533412.md?page=1)