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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

To think hygiene is important during intimate moments?

160 replies

BluntLilacGuide · 07/04/2025 00:57

Is it unreasonable to ask your partner to wash their hands before being intimate, especially if it involves touching sensitive areas? I feel like this is just basic hygiene but I’ve heard others say it kills the mood or is unnecessary. What are your thoughts on this? Is it something you bring up or do you just assume it’s handled without mentioning it?

OP posts:
TerrifiedPassenger · 07/04/2025 01:59

Maitri108 · 07/04/2025 01:24

I keep a box of latex gloves by the bed for exactly this issue.

Amateur.

I have leather welding gauntlets and mask just in case of any unmentionables.

Lavenderandbrown · 07/04/2025 01:56

It’s recommended for women who have reoccurrence with yeast infections/bacterial vaginosis/ other irritation to have partners always wash hands first. The vagina is not sterile but is susceptible to cross contamination

everythingeverything1981 · 07/04/2025 01:30

Unless he's been treating people with herpes or the plague or something I'm pretty sure you will be fine. You wouldn't be in that situation if he was generally stanky, surely.

Maitri108 · 07/04/2025 01:24

I keep a box of latex gloves by the bed for exactly this issue.

MsNevermore · 07/04/2025 01:21

I mean….majority of the time it’s happening when we’re going to bed, so we’ve both been to the loo, washed our hands and brushed our teeth anyway 🤷🏻‍♀️

Saphire123 · 07/04/2025 01:15

Depends what he had been doing with his hands prior....

MaMaMaMaBaker · 07/04/2025 01:12

I can't say this is something that is on my mind at the time.

Boredofbeinganadult · 07/04/2025 01:11

I would expect a shower before anything like that happened but that’s just me

MercuryRisingBeware · 07/04/2025 01:08

I've got no qualms about asking my DH to wash or brush teeth, if I think it's required. Poor hygiene is a mood killer. So yes! Ask away

HelloCheekyCat · 07/04/2025 01:04

Doesn’t even cross my mind! Although we’d both usually brush our teeth & go to the loo beforehand so would have washed our hands.
if it was more spontaneous (rare these days though!) I wouldn’t have asked DH to wash his hands first