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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Bathroom as guest AIBU

164 replies

serenavanderwoodsenn · 21/08/2024 10:42

Technically I’m not a guest as I work in the home as a nanny but the family I work for only has bar soap in the bathroom for handwashing?? All of their guests (they have people every weekend) plus 2 kids and the parents use this soap. It makes me feel icky. I don’t feel clean at all as it feels like everyone else’s germs are festering on it. I always end up grabbing the Sanex off the side of the bath or trying not to touch anything and washing my hands with fairy liquid when I get downstairs.

AIBU to think bar soap is ok for personal use but as a communal soap it’s a bit grim?

OP posts:
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Tessabelle74 · 24/08/2024 16:33

Erm wash the soap, then use it. Why would you not have a problem with using a communal towel but stress about the soap?

Icanttakethisanymore · 23/08/2024 20:35

YABU.

RampantIvy · 23/08/2024 20:30

I never use hand gel. a bar of soap and water is much better.

AgnesX · 23/08/2024 18:02

Hot water, soap of any kind a good wash and there's no problem. I'd be more concerned about the state of the towels tbh. Presumably you're in a position to make sure they're fresh and clean.

Jeannie88 · 23/08/2024 17:58

Guess we've all got used to hand soap now! When we ran out during g covid and used bar soap instead my DC didn't know how to use it!

Sure it's fine to use but I always have some hand gel with me anyway, habit from working in schools, kids and germs! Xx

Sennelier1 · 23/08/2024 08:57

This is a non-issue, just bring your own soap to the house 🤷🏼‍♀️ I prefer bar soap because it's less plastic but I still have liquid soap for those who want it. I understand people throwing out all the plastic bottles. F.y.i. I also use bar shampoo & conditioner, anyone staying over here can use mine ór bring their own.

muggletops · 23/08/2024 08:07

I'd find it grim too, and the residue/excess water it leaves on the sink or soap holder 😖

RampantIvy · 23/08/2024 07:26

Shoutinglagerlagerlager · 23/08/2024 06:44

Tissue

How do you get through life with your germ phobia?

sangriaandsunshineplease · 23/08/2024 06:49

Have you sake the family you nanny for if they'd mind if you kept some liquid soap in the bathroom?
We used to have our nanny's coat, wellies, slippers, bag with spare set of clothes in our house as well as various food items and that sort of thing. A particular type of soap wouldn't have bothered me.

Shoutinglagerlagerlager · 23/08/2024 06:44

RampantIvy · 21/08/2024 12:49

Don't be ridiculous. What do you do about door handles, the flush and the taps?

Tissue

llamajohn · 23/08/2024 06:33

All you " ewwwww, but geerrrmmmmms" ...you do realise surgeons work wide use bar soaps, right? They clean your hands better than the liquid soaps.

llamajohn · 23/08/2024 06:31

sunseaandsoundingoff · 23/08/2024 00:12

Bar soap is nasty, if you have it in your house I will be using my keyring hand wash instead.

It's all slippery and horrible and always looks dirty and 1980s. Dries your hands out if you use it properly, which most people don't.

Well, aren't you a marketer's dream?

Believing that SOAP isn't able to clean your hands but watered down SOAP in a bottle is somehow able to clean your hands.

Medstudent12 · 23/08/2024 00:31

You’re putting toilet germs on the fairy liquid! Bringing bathroom germs into the kitchen. Genuine health hazard. Grim.

sunseaandsoundingoff · 23/08/2024 00:12

Bar soap is nasty, if you have it in your house I will be using my keyring hand wash instead.

It's all slippery and horrible and always looks dirty and 1980s. Dries your hands out if you use it properly, which most people don't.

Nevernottrying · 23/08/2024 00:00

What on earth do you think people used before liquid soap was invented? If it’s such a big issue why don’t you buy your own soap to use?

Fazackerly · 22/08/2024 23:52

This reply has been deleted

This has been deleted by MNHQ for breaking our Talk Guidelines - previously banned poster.

pollymere · 22/08/2024 23:39

I switched to bar soap when I realised how icky my pump soap was getting.

LadyGAgain · 22/08/2024 22:55

It's a non issue.
But you could also buy your own soap/bottle of gel.
Very odd post!!

PorridgeEater · 22/08/2024 22:53

This is not about the bathroom, it's about the soap.
Take your own liquid soap if it bothers you.

RampantIvy · 22/08/2024 22:39

but it’s so messy and icky

No it isn't. Buy triple milled soap and a decent soap dish. You won't have messy and icky soap. Avoid glycerine soap which does go slimy.

Horses7 · 22/08/2024 22:25

I haven’t used bar soap for 35 years - not because of germs but it’s so messy and icky 🙈

RampantIvy · 22/08/2024 22:06

I guess it's the fact that liquid soap has a dispenser, so nobody is touching the actual liquid, whilst the bar soap is touched by everyone.

@unhappywskid people touch the pump dispenser with dirty hands all the time. Unlike a bar of soap the dispenser doesn't get cleaned with every use. So yours is a flawed arrgument to use liquid soap. Bar soap is more hygienic and better for the planet.

How on earth do some people manage to get through life if they think a bar of soap is unclean? Hmm

changeme4this · 22/08/2024 21:54

I suspect there’s more terms on the taps people touch prior to handwashing and then again after handwashing to turn them off.

I guess that makes sense when you see surgeons scrubbing up and using the lever taps with their elbows. Maybe that’s just for tv too!

slightly OT, I really feel unclean with liquid soaps esp in showers and don’t see how they are economical as I feel I use a fair bit when needs must. If I’m visiting I take my own bar soap which is kept in a zip lock plastic bag in my bathroom travel bag…

moanymoan · 22/08/2024 21:49

serenavanderwoodsenn · 21/08/2024 11:40

I know germs don’t actually live on it hence my choice in language of saying ‘I feel like’ and not saying it as fact.

but I have a lot of sensory issues and ASD so perhaps it’s just my autism showing here judging off the replies.

Mini hand san may be the way to go as some replies have suggested!

Just be aware that hand sanitiser does not kill norovirus.

IvyIvyIvy · 22/08/2024 21:44

Far more unhygienic for everyone to be touching the same pump on a hand soap bottle if you think about it. At least the soap bar has a rinse every use.

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