I always wash my hands after using a public restroom, first because I think it’s polite to others, and second because as a girl, I have to touch the door lock to get out of the stall, and I know other women have touched that door lock after wiping poo off their asses or changing tampons (maybe even an O.B.!).
At home it’s hard for me to get so uptight about it when I just pee - everyone who lives here either came out of that general area, or is otherwise intimate with it. But I do wash my hands to be a good example to my kid.
It’s really not a big deal if you’re just peeing is it? Pooping is another matter. This question reminds me of that great SNL commercial for fecal glasses, that let you see fecal matter like white in a blacklight. And sure enough, pop on the glasses and the waiters hands, the table, the girlfriends face, etc light up like a christmas tree. Some things are better not to know!
I feel like I need to chime in again and say that I am by no means a germaphobe. I’ve been known to eat food that fell off the floor and I am not weirded out by communal dining or anything like that. But I do think I owe it to everyone I am in contact with everyday to keep my hands clean. I also often work with young children, and I don’t want to give them any icky germs.
All I’ve touched is my trousers, the side of my panties and the wad of paper. If it’s one of the restrooms at work, any bugs in the stall’s door will also be in the handle outside (they aren’t exactly large, those bathrooms). I’ll wash if I feel I need washing, if I have a cold (hey, look, a handy faucet!)… but like Silver Tyger Girl said, since 99% of the time there’s no soap, 99% of the time there’s very little point to it unless my hands have touched something they usually don’t. I don’t not-wash every time, but I don’t wash every time either.
I don’t wash my hands every time I sneeze, either. With the cold I’ve had these last few days, I wouldn’t get any work done… and there’s no soap in either of the three nearest bathrooms. Mind you, normally I don’t touch people at work, and if I have a cold I make a point of not touching people and they make a point of not touching me.
Oh, and I’m European: I also don’t shower every day! The horror!
I’m USAmerican and while I certainly strive to shower daily, I understand that the world doesn’t end if I don’t. During the hottest parts of summer, though, when I am more likely to sweat like something that sweats a whole lot, I will shower in the morning just because I feel sticky and gross after wallowing in my sweat at night.
Most of the time, I wash my hands in public bathrooms. However, there are times where the public bathroom is so nasty that I am eager to get out of there as quickly as possible and I will wait until I get home to wash up. Often I will end up feeling grosser by touching the faucet, the soap pump, and the paper towel dispenser than if I just touch nothing. It’s especially bad when there is no soap, hot water, or paper towels (I hate hand dryers!)… I would rather just wait until I got home.
At home, I usually just wash after going #2. When I pee, I don’t touch any of my naughty bits, and I pee like 12 times a day (I drink a lot) so my hands would get too dried out. Again I don’t see the need when you’re just urinating and aren’t touching the urine or yourself.
However, when it’s cold/flu season, and I’m around a lot of people, I will wash every time.
I think some people are way too uptight about washing every single time they pee, even at home.
To the OP and other every-time-they-pee hand washers…
Do you wash because (1) you think you got germs on your hands just from the process of urinating? Or (2) not from urinating, but from a dirty bathroom? Or (2) because you feel your hands were just generally dirty already?
If (1), can you describe how the germs get from wherever they’re from (your naughty bits? Or the toilet? Or the doorknob?) onto your hands? Do they somehow travel through the air if you aren’t touching anything?
I think it would be so easy to test this scientifically…
Take a group of people. Have them wash their hands in antibacterial soap and swab their hands. Then have them use a sanitized restroom to urinate. Then swab their hands again. Compare the swabs.
If there are no germs/few germs in the first test and significant germs (e-coli, etc.) present in the second test then that means that yes, you can get dirty hands just from urinating.
Secondly, repeat the experiment, instead using a normal public restroom setting (not sanitized). Compare the amount and types of bacteria present from the swabs… this will tell you whether you’re getting the germs from the public restroom or the urination process or both.
Then repeat the first experiment, but instead with the people defecating.
You get the idea…
Basically what we’re trying to learn is, can you get germs on your hands solely from urinating? Even if you aren’t actually touching yourself? Are germs floating/migrating somehow onto your hands? And where are they from - your crotchal region or the bathroom? Or is the danger solely from defecating? Or using dirty restrooms?
So what do you think? Is this experiment doable? What would it find?
As mentioned above in the thread, Cecil has written about this. If you don’t trust Cecil’s word, you can read about it from USA Today. If you don’t trust their word (can’t say that I blame you), the Mayo Clinic has this to say. Even if these sources were wrong and one didn’t get bacteria on their hands from using the toilet, washing after using the toilet is an easy way to get yourself on a regiment of regular hand washing, which is a good way to not only prevent infecting yourself with GI bugs, but also spreading infections to others.
I use hand-san gel after public restrooms and usually just don’t bother at home. My kids do the same thing. I don’t like washing my hands in public restrooms because usually the sinks and soap dispensers are just so nasty. At home I wash my hands at other times during the day.
I often dig out the hand-san while still in the bathroom so that people (usually utter strangers; I dunno why I care) know that I fully intend to clean my hands - just not at the sink.
Oh and I sit on the toilet too, with no paper barrier. So there.
I know that it’s a total double standard…don’t hate! BUT, It skeevs me out a lot more if a guy doesn’t wash his hands than if a girl doesn’t, simply because he is actually touching his penis. Sure it’s not necessarily “germier,” it’s just the idea of it. I wouldn’t want to shake the hand of anyone (man OR woman) if they had just touched their genitalia and didn’t wash their hands. Does that make sense?
Meh, there’s nothing “germy” about my dick. So long as I don’t get any piss on my hands, I won’t always bother washing.
I’ll always wash after a number 2 though, simply because I don’t trust the permeability of the toilet paper, or the sanitization of all the things I’m touching in there, i.e., flush handle, door latch, seat lid, etc etc.
NONE of your cites present scientific evidence answering the questions my proposed experiment was designed to answer… My question is whether the mere process of urinating is enough to contaminate your hands. My question is NOT whether you may already have germs on your hands that got there before you set foot in the restroom, or germs you got on your hands from the bathroom door, faucet, or after defecating.
Cecil said: “It now dawns on you: jeez, if merely touching my privates is enough to transmit bacteria, it doesn’t matter if I pee or not!” Now, I don’t know about you, but I never touch myself during the process of urinating. I am a woman by the way. So “touching my privates” is not an issue. Please note that in my proposed experiment, I asked how the germs supposedly got onto one’s hands if they are not touching themselves… do they float through the air? This is a serious question.
My proposed test would show clearly whether the act of peeing in and of itself contaminates one’s hands. Your cites said nothing about this. Your first cite basically said two things: bathrooms are dirtier than you think, and you might as well use the opportunity to wash off germs you have collected during the day. These points are irrelevant to my experiment. They say nothing about direct contamination from urinating (again, look at my experiment - we control for outside sources - we start with sanitized hands and bathroom).
And the second cite just says more of the same: you should wash your hands to rid them of germs that accumulated during the day, and that you can spread germs and sickness* through hand-to-hand contact. Again this does not answer my specific questions. It focuses on germs picked up from outside the bathroom or from other people. But it doesn’t address contaminating yourself with germs during urination, if you’re not touching yourself.
*I think that most of the sickness that spreads due to unwashed hands is respiratory illness, such as cold and flu. Last I checked, flu viruses are not generated from urinating. So saying that you should wash your hands regularly to protect from cold & flu germs, I would say great idea!! But to suggest that you’re dirtying your hands solely from the act of urinating is questionable. That is why I proposed the experiment.
Now yes, absolutely, E. coli comes from your nether regions and causes gastrointestinal illness. This is why I fully support washing after you defecate. But after just peeing? I need more evidence…
