Guests using your shower gel?

[MrsB76]

This is really just a minor niggle but I'm curious - is it really silly of me to begrudge visiting family members the use of my shower gel? I just had my MIL and SIL stay for a few days overnight and I bought them travel size toiletries (they came on a plane) and DH thinks I should be more hospitable and just let them use my shower gel (well mine and his) and toothpaste. Really?

Folk get value bog roll in our house because that's what we use. You wipe your bum with it and flush it away. Posh loo roll is just money down the drain IMO.

I hang out small squares of Daily Mail on a nail for the guests' bums.

It wouldn't occur to me to sterilise and reuse a toothbrush I'd given a guest though.I do think that is a bit odd .They get what is indisputably a brand new toothbrush in its wrapping

I have some old (but unused and in wrapper) kiddie toothbrushes outgrown by the kids. Great for emergencies and guests get to pick between Spiderman and The Incredible Hulk.

Loving "Mail on a nail".

I take my own stuff as I'm a bit picky. I've been known to use stuff at people's houses too. I sometimes buy a bottle to take and leave if it's a friend I visit regularly (sort of like taking excess booze).
I also try and make sure there is more than enough of all the shampoo and stuff so guest feel they can use it.

Oh and we keep fresh spare tooth brushes too

I like my guests to have nice things to use but when they take the piss I get very very angry!! DS uses kitchen towels for drying her hands 20 times a day!! I have a bloody hand towel why cant she just use that??

I've just had a good long think about this. I always take my own toiletries with me wherever I go (I follow CG method and have sensitive skin) and I would feel weird using other people's toiletries. However, I have absolutely no qualms with people using my things if staying at my house. Strange!

I don't think you should host guests if you feel like that!

Agreed! I'm often surprised Mumsnetters have any friends

Maybe - if all your bathroom stuff is hand-blended to a secret recipe of rare ingredients, by an obscure tribe of craftswomen working in a gold-plated cave under the Altai mountains, and shipped only to you via private courier - you should buy some decent mainstream products for guests, and hide the powdered diamonds in holy water during their stay.

Otherwise, just be a good host and share.

I usually take my own shampoo shower gel etc as I have eczema and use a specific type. I wouldn't be against using whatever was out though and have done on occasion if I've been caught short.

We regularly have guests as we live abroad. I stock my downstairs bathroom with various toiletries for their use. Many left over from previous guests anyway or hotel minis. New toothbrushes and razors as I just bought a bag of them from pound land. Anyone sharing our bathroom with us is welcome to use our toiletries, although I'd be surprised if anyone wanted to use my prescription shampoo and I think I'd draw the line at my actual toothbrush!

I wouldn't share toothbrush with anyone! However we always have spares in case a house guest doesn't have theirs.
As for shower gel/ shampoo etc I would leave nice stuff in the bathroom for them to use.

If I m going anywhere I bring my own but if caught short would check with hosts OK to use first. I would be a bit surprised if they had an issue but I would still check if it was ok to use !

As a guest I wouldn't dream of using someone else's. I would provide separate gel and toothpaste for guests.

I don't mind if I am warned and they don't take the p* but when we were on holiday and I'd only taken enough to last me the 2 weeks MIL came and stayed a few days and DH unbeknownst to me said to her to help herself to my shampoo and conditioner. One of the days I then came to wash my hair and there was zero left, ended up buying a full size bottle of each for only a couple of days then had to leave behind due to weight. So I don't mind if they ask and it's not whole bottles and they tell me when it's running out.

coconutpie I wouldn't let anyone use my razor, where have I said that?! I posted a list upthread of things I have in my bathroom, for my personal use, not anticipating that people would help themselves. If they mentioned to me that they needed anything I'd obviously either tell them to help themselves to mine (the bottles of stuff) or poke around and find a new one for them (razor, toothbrush, bar of soap). From this thread I have now discovered that some guests will just just take what they need regardless, so I think I'm going to have to hide a few things.

that anyone would share toothbrushes/use somone else's. There's an at least theoretical risk of transmitting hepatitis B that way, just for instance. I do also get the squeamishness at toothpaste-sharing, tbh, though it prob wouldn't bother me much.

Some people put on the toothpaste by touching the tooth brush so I'd be a bit reluctant to do that but see no problem with shower gels or shampoos. It's not like they are going to dip their body parts into them.

A friend came to stay and I was offended that she brought her own toiletries especially toothpaste. As if she thought I wouldn't have any . See that she might not actually think I'm a filthy bugger now.

Seriously though, it is only soap. Put extra nice stuff away if it bothers you so much. And as for fanny wash? I wouldn't have that in view if I did happen to use it.

Glitter. I can't believe you would be offended by your friend bringing her own toiletries, I would have just assumed she preferred using particular brands.

Well maybe it's because I generally buy what's on offer. Shampoo is a personal thing as mines gets greasy quickly so wouldn't expect others with different hair types to use my 'frequent wash'. Although they are welcome too. Soap and toothpaste are all really the same in my eyes, my teeth won't fall out if I don't use my preferred brand for a few days!

I caught my dad using my tweezers to pick the hair out of the bath plughole . He'd been doing it for ages and replacing them in my room - they might have had a cursory rinse under the tap.

He was unrepentant: 'It's your hair,' he said.

We don't have personal tweezers and scissors in our house. We just have 'house' tweezers and scissors etc and they can be used for anything the person using them wants them for. I am always so shocked at how uptight people are about their nearest and dearest, i mean who cares if someone trimmed their pubes with the scissors, unless you are licking them clean afterwards what difference does it make?

Why on earth would you begrudge them a bit of shower gel? And how would you know they had used your toothpaste??

Travel size toiletries can be a pain, fiddly to use and difficult to squeeze the contents out. Why not just get a basket for the bathroom, load it with (full size) toiletries, a couple of cheap toothbrushes etc and then it's ready for any guests to help themselves and use. That way, they don't have to use your shower gel!!

They were my personal tweezers but I wouldn't have minded if he'd have used them to pluck his eyebrows. It was delving into the scumminess of the plughole that was a bit shocking.

I can't imagine my dad plucking his eyebrows, much less his pubic hair.

My mum used to give his chest hair a trim with the all-purpose scissors when it poked through his string vest though.

Sorry Limited that wasn't directed at you. There were a few post upthread about people trimming pubes and stuff. I also use our tweezers to poke things out of the sink too. I try to pluck dads nose hair too, but he isn't keen.