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AIBU?

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Original poster

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:
luckylavender · 21/08/2024 15:28

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?

Bar soap is the least germy thing you can use as it gets washed every time. Liquid soap dispensers on the other hand... think about it

RhiWrites · 21/08/2024 15:13

serenavanderwoodsenn · 21/08/2024 12:12

I don’t live in their home?

Show quote history

but you work there and can bring the things you’d like to use in the workplace.

StMarieforme · 21/08/2024 15:13

tennesseewhiskey1 · 21/08/2024 11:02

Ffs 😂 you do know the humble bar of soap came first…..

For hundreds of years too...

How are we not all dead?

Jaxhog · 21/08/2024 15:10

LoobyDoop2 · 21/08/2024 11:01

I’m not a fan of bar soap, but my issue is the slime it creates, regardless of the type of dish you put it in.

Me too. So I rinse the soap under the tap before using it. Crazy, I know!

usernother · 21/08/2024 15:05

Buy those small bottles of shower gel that people take on holiday as use those when you're at work if it bothers you that much.

Goody2ShoesAndTheFilthyBeast · 21/08/2024 14:52

ClaredeBear · 21/08/2024 12:47

We're conditioned by large corps to feel this way. Whilst soap does not kill germs it certainly helps them to slide off the skin. Mechanical washing is the most important part, ie, the handwashing method. I say this as someone who was trained in aseptic handwashing technique to deliver drugs through central lines.

I think a lot of people genuinely don't know how to properly wash their hands.
I didn't as a child. It wasn't until I started working in care that I learned.

Skyrainlight · 21/08/2024 14:49

Catza · 21/08/2024 10:58

Have you ever thought about multiple people touching a pump of a liquid soap with their pissy hands?
Unless you are 18, I am fairly certain that you spent most of your childhood using soap bar and you are still here to tell the tale... so yep, YABU

Agreed, the pump of a liquid soap is far more unhygienic! I wonder if anyone ever cleans the pump.

BirdInDisguise · 21/08/2024 14:49

YABU OP - bacteria and viruses won't survive or multiply on a bar of soap and you are literally in the process of washing your hands when you touch the soap anyway. Surgeons use bar soap to wash before performing an operation. Bar soap is much better for the environment and also cleans the skin better without leaving a slippery residue.

But, if you feel that strongly, just buy yourself a bottle of liquid soap and keep it in the bathroom.

CocoapuffPuff · 21/08/2024 14:44

How on earth do you deal with shitty nappies, OP? Snotty noses? Food rubbed into hair?

Rory17384949 · 21/08/2024 14:19

It's fine, I have bar soap in my bathroom because it's so much better for the planet than all those plastic bottles. Better for your hands too

Hobnobswantshernameback · 21/08/2024 13:27

germaphobe and working with small children
PMSL

Fleurdalys · 21/08/2024 13:22

Just buy your own liquid soap
Job done

MasterBeth · 21/08/2024 13:16

Sallyh87 · 21/08/2024 12:27

Get a tiny empty bottle and decant some liquid soap into it. You can then use this when you’re there.

YABU but we all have weird things and fears.

No, we don't.

Irridescantshimmmer · 21/08/2024 13:15

Bar soap kills more bacteria than its' liquid cousin.

MontagueMoo · 21/08/2024 13:10

If I may quote Chandler "soap is soap, it's self-cleaning".

Bar soap is fine.

Lasts longer, uses less plastic, is cheaper, and just as effective as liquid soap. Why wouldn't you use it is the question.

It will only go slimy if you let it sit in water. Make sure you have a draining soap dish, or alternatively do what I do and just put it on the side of the sink. No slime.

I do have different bars for hand washing vs use in showers, so no danger of washing your hands with a bar that's been used anywhere else.

Twototwo15 · 21/08/2024 13:10

It’s soap! It kills germs.

Catza · 21/08/2024 13:00

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!

I don't think we can attribute it to sensory issues. Sensory issues about touching a bar of soap would also mean you can't use any soap bars (maybe just particular soap bars). But the fact that you are OK with personal bars but not the shared ones would suggest that sensory issues have nothing to do with it.

Poddledoddle · 21/08/2024 12:59

You can buy handmade for a quid. Hardly worth making the post

TheSmallAssassin · 21/08/2024 12:57

You asked whether you are being unreasonable to think bar soap for communal use is grim - yes, you are. You can feel icky if you like, but this is irrational. What did you want out of this thread?

BobbyBiscuits · 21/08/2024 12:56

I prefer liquid soap but not BC the bar is harbouring germs. Though I get the shudders when I see a bar of soap with hair stuck to it?!
Just use sanitiser. I'd think as a nanny carrying that round with you would be a tool of the trade.

duc748 · 21/08/2024 12:52

I'm going to go out on a limb here, and suggest that even in some horror scenario where you touched a door-handle that someone had touched after they'd had a pee and not washed their hands, and 0.1 cc of their pee was transferred to your fingers, the nett result should be... absolutely fuck all! No dead bodies piling up in the streets....

And yeah, I like bar soap. And deplore the limited choice of now available compared to the past.

Shan5474 · 21/08/2024 12:52

PingBeep · 21/08/2024 12:31

Do you take your own hand towel when you visit friends and have to use their toilet?

Show quote history

No but sometimes I’d like to!! If the only option is a soggy bath towel I’d rather use paper (but I don’t because that’s wasteful). And I’m only there for a few hours using the toilet once or twice, not a full work week where I potentially spend more time there than at home

RampantIvy · 21/08/2024 12:49

RIVERDALEHIGH · 21/08/2024 12:43

I wouldn't touch a bar of soap multiple people have used either.

Use your hand sanitiser.

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

ClaredeBear · 21/08/2024 12:47

We're conditioned by large corps to feel this way. Whilst soap does not kill germs it certainly helps them to slide off the skin. Mechanical washing is the most important part, ie, the handwashing method. I say this as someone who was trained in aseptic handwashing technique to deliver drugs through central lines.

Bromptotoo · 21/08/2024 12:43

Old enough to remember when the entire family used the same tablet of Boots soap!!

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