AIBU to ask why you don't wash your hands?

[sadiekate]

People who don't wash their hands after they go to the toilet.
People who don't wash their hands before preparing/eating food.
People who don't wash their hands after changing nappies.
People who don't wash their hands after putting the bins out.
People who don't wash their hands after handling raw meat.
We all know we are supposed to do these things. And yet lots of people don't. If you don't, why? I promise I'm not intending to criticise anyone, I am just genuinely curious to know, given the risks not washing hands entails, why it isn't a habit for so many.

[WalkingOnAFlashlightBeam]

Why would I wash my hands before dinner if I’m using a knife and fork, not my fingers?

[Theusual]

Having sex with your chosen partner is completely different from a manky stranger’s poo germs and smelly hands.

[WalkingOnAFlashlightBeam]

So what about using the toilet in your own home, that only you and your partner use, and you clean?

[RayRayBidet]

You know your toothbrush gets covered in microscopic poo particles if it is left out in your bathroom. Every time you flush it goes into the air.

[FurryDice]

You know your toothbrush gets covered in microscopic poo particles if it is left out in your bathroom. Every time you flush it goes into the air

Not if you put the toilet seat down before you flush.

[sadiekate]

@tambien @lethaldrizzle @walkingonaflashlightbeam I think you're not quite drawing a distinction between harmless germs and harmful germs. Yes, germs are everywhere and yes, exposure to the harmless ones is good. The ones we need to worry about are the nasty ones found in shite, on raw meat, etc. Exposure to these is not good, because they can make you ill, and because of the way they operate, you can't build up any serious degree of immunity to them either.
I am really slightly baffled to have to explain the distinction between having sex with one's chosen partner and not washing one's hands after one goes to the toilet. Find me the NHS advice that says that sex is dirty.
If washing my hands after I go to the toilet makes me "phobic" about germs, @walkingonaflashlightbeam, then the NHS must be phobic too and there must be something disproportionate and abnormal about wanting to avoid serious illness.

[sadiekate]

As a previous poster has explained, urine is sterile. You can drink your own urine, should you feel the urge.

[Sallystyle]

I don't always wash my hands when I am at home after having a pee.

Like I always say on these threads most people do not wash their hands properly and then go use their hands to turn off the taps they just turned on with 'dirty' hands. I use my elbow where possible but that is just a habit I got into from working in a hospital.

I don't always wash my hands before eating either. If I have just been sitting around I don't see the need to wash my hands.

I do wash my hands when I have handled money or gone shopping. It's the first thing I do once I am indoors.

[WalkingOnAFlashlightBeam]

I thought everyone understood that the whole ‘urine is sterile’ thing is a myth?

Google ‘is urine sterile’ for plenty of info, including a link to the scientific paper being discussed.

I don’t think simply getting on with whatever hygiene practices you think are necessary is phobic, sorry if I made it seem that way! But the level of horror and revulsion, hyper focus on what other people are doing, thinking deeply about ‘poo particles’ and germs and contamination does sound in the realm of phobia to me.

[firehousedog]

^presumably you flush the same toilet flush that people before you have also touched after wiping their bums?

[Tambien]

sadie and I think you are also missing the point that if you want to be totally sure to not be in contact with ‘germs’ from poo etc then you cant possibly also be confortable with sex/oral sex/anal sex. Because you WILL be touching poo too if you have sex.

I mean if touching your sex (as in hand in pants) leaves your hand dirty and you have to wash your hands as it has been suggested in this thread, then surely having sex will be just as dirty because you will be in contact with said germs (I would actually say probably even more)?

The point is, that YES germs are everywhere,
YES some are more harmful and found in poo for example.
But also YES those germs can be found anywhere (and certainly not just because people are dirty and don’t wash their hands properly)
And YES we are actually quite happy to be in contact with said germs when we want to.
That’s the example of licking the spoon when cooking and then putting it in the dish (eww disgusting) but having a (French) kiss is ok
Same saliva, same germs.

The point is basically that simple hygiene rules always apply but maybe not going completely overboard isn’t necessary either.
I’m thinking refusing to touch handles in the loo when you have a normal immune system etc...
But the reality is that most people on this thread are mainly reacting to the IDEA of being in contact with poo (even if it’s actually not poo but bacteria usually found in poo, but clearly could be found anywhere else).
Same wit raw meat and salmonella. There is always plenty of horror stories about it. But you never hear anyone saying that eating raw salad from a packet is disgusting. Even though the level of salmonella there is very high too (that’s why the advice is now to actually rinse said salad before using it for example).
Basically the more time goes, the more we come very aware that bacteria are everywhere, good AND bad. Including in some places we didn’t think it was an issue before. And maybe, just maybe, even now that we know there is a POTENTIAL danger, it’s still ok?
And maybe we also need to accept that
1- it’s impossible to eliminate all risk
2- we cannot live in a world that is free from dangerous bacteria/germs. I mean some of them live in our bodies anyway!

[RayRayBidet]

FurryDice


Not if you put the toilet seat down before you flush.

Do you sterilise your toilet each time and is the lid sealed?
Do you know for sure everyone in your house puts the lid down?
I highly doubt it.
Also many people have dangerous pathogens in the nose but don't wash their hands after touching that.

[Kursk]

I caught DH washing his hands with petrol in the kitchen sink this morning.

He was getting oil paint off.

[robotcartrainhat]

severe eczema.
So I generally only wash my hands if they are actually dirty or before preparing food which other people are going to eat.
I wash my hands at home after using the toilet, but not usually out unless I have to. Not after changing all nappies, only ones with poo in or if I have actually gotten wee on my hand or ended up touching the inside of the nappy accidently.
If I were to wash my hands as a rule after all the things you have stated I would have no skin left on my hands at all.

[firehousedog]

The thing I cannot get my head round is why people choose not to wash their hands after the toilet. It just comes across to me as pure laziness. It takes all of 20 seconds I accept that there are germs everywhere but there are different levels of germs in my book. Toilet germs are right up there on the highest pedestal (escuse the pun).

[RayRayBidet]

firehousedog
Few people actually do it effectively though

[firehousedog]

True, but any soap and water is better than nothing/wiping your hands down your trousers. Washing hands in cold water with no soap is just a pointless exercise though.

[user1486333358]

I wash my hands after putting washing powder in the washing machine so washing after going to the toilet and after taking the bins out is a given.

So shocked by the number of people admitting not washing their hands after going to the loo....... what ?

Thank you to all fellow hand washers.... I'm not alone :)

[Bashun]

AMEN! couldn't have said it better!

[adaline]

The thing I cannot get my head round is why people choose not to wash their hands after the toilet.

Some people have horrifically bad eczema and hand-washing is actually painful. I only wash my hands when I absolutely have to. If I do it too often, I end up with cracked, scaly skin and my hands bleed when it gets really bad. I'd rather be covered in a few germs than bleed everywhere!

[Bashun]

I'm sorry for your condition but you do realize you are spreading your excrement on doorknobs, keyboards, other people's hands when you touch them, refrigerator handles and other people might not want your poop on their palms. Not being mean just skeeved out.

[Lethaldrizzle]

Op I'm confused - so not washing hands after a wee - in your own house say - is gross, but having sex with partner which may involve touching (tasting!)genitals with traces of urine on them - is ok? So somebody else wee is fine just not your own

[adaline]

I said I wash my hands when I absolutely have to - that includes going to the toilet. But I don't wash them before eating or preparing myself a meal, after emptying the bin, using washing powder or when I get home from a day out.

[Likeindie]

speakout
Ha ha ha!