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.

@speakout
YOU ARE MY HERO

in more boring news I’ve got skin allergies so I generally is sensitive anti bac sanitiser if I’m out and can’t get to work/ home where I keep my sensitive stuff

Why would it rise to 80% after a poo?
Bins are gross, but most people seem to happily handle them and not feel the need to wash their hands. Ugh.

Oh and bakers where they handle the bread and the money in the same gloved hands.

Ineffective hand washing is worse than no hand washing.

Simply wetting the hands under a cold tap and a cursory dry creates a perfect breeding ground for bacteria to grow.
And I see plenty people doing just this in public toilets.
A proper hand wash takes time, lots of lather, lots of hot water, drying thoroughly.

It would be better not to bother.

Bagging waste is now seen as unnecessarily wasteful most of the time. I don't bag when I use disposable nappies anymore unless it's an awful poo. I use cloth most of the time too.

I wouldn't wash after the bin. I tend to wash when I think they're dirty.

People are gross. I'm with you, op.

I can't bear to touch some things especially meat but I would wash my hands before and after as with dealing with bin stuff.
I garden a lot and by the time I have finished you could grow potatoes under my nails and I am filthy. I get into the shower and pick the rest of the muck out from my nails. I am clean but unless a public loo is spotless I won't touch anything

OP YANBU. It's amazing the number of people I notice not washing their hands after going to the loo. Revolting.

I think that too hild but it depends on circumstances. There's always hand gel as well

My DH, because you can’t see it. I’ve nagged for years but he only changed when he saw the tv infomational where the germs are bright blue and get transferred everywhere.

A little bacteria is good for the body

Erm... try telling that to those whose loved ones have just died from TB, pneumonia, meningitis or poisoning by salmonella, listeria or campylobacter.

Public rest room - do business, wash hands, touch tap/door handle - you are 'germy' again because the last person to leave didn't wash their hands.

To a degree you have an inbuilt immunity to your own filth.

Filth also creates immunity allergies and eczema.

I would imagine most have had worse things in their mouths at some point ...

I open bathroom door handles with paper towels for this very reason. Yes I’m probably going to get mucky elsewhere but just because I’m going to end up full of bacteria doesn’t mean I should welcome it

We wouldn't touch anything if we knew how many germs were on things.

Well, true, but I still need to use my hands, which I can’t do if they are bleeding and cracked and swollen.
It's hideous, I have eczema too. So I keep cream in my bag so I can wash my hands when ive been to the loo out. Because eczema is so horrible I wouldn't go anywhere without the cream.

I don't wash my hands after going for a wee at home. After all, they haven't touched anything dirty!

I do after using public toilets, but then I wonder if the benefit of washing them is outweighed by the fact that I end up drying them on my jeans, because the hand driers are so woefully inadequate.

I don't often wash my hands before eating. I think that's excessive. I wash my hands after anything where they might have got dirty: toilet, cleaning, bins, meat, gardening etc.

I've got DC well trained with hand washing, but again don't see the need before eating unless they've been up to something that warrants it, or they are eating something only with their hands.

my OH spends a lot of time with his face in my genitals and he is never ill

don't wash my hands after going for a wee at home. After all, they haven't touched anything dirty!

So this raises another question that I feel like I ought to nc for!
Don't you use a bit of loo roll to dry your bits after a wee? Decades ago at school I remember our biology teacher telling us that germs pass through the loo paper.

DH took part in a trial regarding hand washing and the spread of cold and flu a couple of years ago and the participants were sent very detailed results. Handwashing several times a day significantly reduced the spread of germs and the likelihood of catching a cold.

Now always wash our hands when we return from shopping as well as all the other recommended times.

"So bins aren’t dirty?!

Say what now?"

I have bin bags that go from my flat to the street. I don't see why I'd wash my hands after taking the bags out. I don't wash my hands every time I put rubbish in them.

Always after the toilet and not liking the soap is not a reason - better without soap than not at all. Using hand sanitiser isn't the same either - you're supposed to use water, preferably hot water and soap, but at least water.

I don't wash my hands before eating or preparing food, but then I only prepare food for myself so it's only myself I'm risking and since I was after the toilet, there's no risk of e-coli or salmonella.

I don't handle raw meat. I'm no longer vegetarian, but have no desire to start with the complications of storing and cooking raw meat.

Germs are every where. More people benefit from building a higher immune system than the few that are immume compromised.

Quote of the day speakout

I have eczema but I constantly wash my hands because I would personally rather have clean, sore hands than dirty hands. I have cream from the doctors that sorts my skin out afterwards. I appreciate that’s personal choice but I’m always really disgusted by people who don’t wash their hands in the circumstances listed in the OP. I’m not convinced by the ‘germs are good for you’ argument either - I am very rarely ill, and I wash my hands constantly and shower twice a day. I’ve always been this way but working in childcare definitely made me hyper aware of hygiene!

A lot of the time for me it’s because public toilets have no soap/paper towels/dryer doesn’t work. The loos at Stratford International station were awful, not dirty but 1 hand dryer that was largely ineffective. I always have wipes/gel with me and use those. We went to a large park yesterday and there was no loo roll and the dryer was one of those that’s just like being breathed on. I hung on till we got home.