# Why don't you wash your hands after using the bathroom?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-dont-you-wash-your-hands-after-using-the-bathroom/477655>\
**Category:** In My Humble Opinion\
**Created:** [December 17, 2008, 11:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-dont-you-wash-your-hands-after-using-the-bathroom/477655 "2008-12-17T23:59:38Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 4\
**Page:** 5

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**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\
**Post date:** [December 19, 2008, 9:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-dont-you-wash-your-hands-after-using-the-bathroom/477655/81 "2008-12-19T21:02:36Z")

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> [@Diz](#):
>
> Because my penis is cleaner than the sinks in a public washroom 😃
> 
> Actually I do wash my hands most of the time, but primarily because it is a convenient time to do so. I’m sure I pick up far more germs in the course of my day to day activities outside the bathroom than I do inside.
> 
> I find the fear of bathroom germs to be overblown. There are many other things to find disgusting.

Right, exactly. I wash because I am there, not becuase my “private parts are a no-no”.

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**Author:** ![Hazle\_Weatherfield](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/e9bcb4/32.png) [@Hazle\_Weatherfield](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hazle_Weatherfield)\
**Post date:** [December 19, 2008, 11:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-dont-you-wash-your-hands-after-using-the-bathroom/477655/82 "2008-12-19T23:16:10Z")

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Seriously, there are way more germs and nastiness at the bottom of your kitchen sink than in most bathrooms (um, I’m pretty sure…please don’t ask me for a cite.) My husband will put unwrapped chicken breasts in the sink to thaw and thinks I’m being an anal ass when I come along and put a plate under them. I guess that is kind of stupid, because they’re already touched the sink. Oh, well…I do what I can. Plus, I’m not eating the chicken breasts, anyway!

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**Author:** ![Jesse\_Leigh](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/7ea924/32.png) [@Jesse\_Leigh](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jesse_Leigh)\
**Post date:** [December 20, 2008, 2:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-dont-you-wash-your-hands-after-using-the-bathroom/477655/83 "2008-12-20T02:31:38Z")

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Good evening disgusting people! :eek:

Just kidding!

I always clean my hands because I’m a clean freak and had eight kids and I’ve never gotten out of the habit. I don’t recall being as fastidious when I was a child but certainly since I was fifteen!

We have a plastic Huggies container on the back of the toilet tank and we make a 33% grain alcohol solution (for the uninitiated, that’s 1/3rd vodka and 2/3rd’s distilled water), and we pour it over about 100 Huggie wipes. We use TP mostly for blowing our noses and use the sanitized Huggies for cleaning our particulars. AFTER that, we wash our hands with soap and water - usually. Sometimes, if we didn’t defecate, then we’ll just use another Huggie to clean up.

When we travel, we’re generally in the mountains for 8-10 hours before we reach civilization, so we fertilize the forest and clean up with biodegradable, sanitized Huggies, which we bring from home. I’ve gotten so I don’t feel clean enough using TP anymore and so haven’t used it for years.

If we have to use a gas station’s facilities, we wipe the toilet seat with, you guessed it, sanitized Huggies, and then clean ourselves with Huggies afterward. If the washroom is clean, and most are near our neck of the woods, then we’ll wash our hands normally when we’re finished, but before we eat on the road, or after pumping gas, or handling anything else toxic, we always make use of our sanitized Huggies.

They’re reasonably inexpensive to make as they last for a while - it’s only DH and I at home now, and we know our hands and other important parts are always clean. Y’can’t beat them in the summertime when it’s 90 degrees out for wiping the dust of your face after a three-hour jaunt along mountain roads.

So, do we clean our hands after going to the washroom? You betcha! 😃

Shabbat Shalom - Jesse.

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**Author:** ![Magiver](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/4491bb/32.png) [@Magiver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Magiver)\
**Post date:** [December 20, 2008, 2:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-dont-you-wash-your-hands-after-using-the-bathroom/477655/84 "2008-12-20T02:33:47Z")

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I would wash my hands just for touching the door knob of a bathroom.

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