Active discussions

Meet the Other Phone. Flexible and made to last.

Meet the Other Phone.
Flexible and made to last.

Buy now

Please or to access all these features

Talk
AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

Most women hoover above toilet seat in public toilets to pee?

637 replies

summerfinn · 07/06/2023 07:55

I was out this weekend and had to use the toilet to pee. I normally hoover above toilet seat to pee in public toilets and was thinking to myself this is difficult especially if I need to do a long pee🙈😂 Is this what most women do too or am I being extra germ conscious and should just wipe the seat and sit down? Sorry if tmi but I'm just curious

OP posts:
Thread gallery
6
SwordBilledHummingbird · 07/06/2023 10:05

Pushmepullu · 07/06/2023 09:55

Read that Apparently you are more likely to end up with a uti if you hover than from anything on a toilet seat, it’s because you don’t empty your bladder properly. I’m not sure if this is true as it would mean women in countries that have squatty toilets would have permanent utis

Squatting is completely different to hovering and doesn't stop you fully emptying your bladder.

Iwasafool · 07/06/2023 10:05

MogsEgg · 07/06/2023 08:02

I bought a she-wee and use that now.

No need to touch the seat at all, shake it off into the bowl, wipe it with a bit of tissue and pop it in a waterproof case I've got them rinse it once I'm home.

I love it. Also use it when I go hiking because I've got a small bladder and like to drink alot of water.

Really recommend one if public toilets gross you out.

I have a little bag with the she-wee, a mini packet of wetwipes and hand sanitiser.

All I could think of was the boy scout motto "Be prepared" and it sounds like you are. I'm not that organised so not prepared at all.

Stalkedbyzombies · 07/06/2023 10:05

Florissante · 07/06/2023 10:01

Squatting is done when there is no western toilet but is 'Turkish' style. Anyone who stands on a toilet seat in a public place should be banned from using them.

😂Do you mean like, being issued with a Criminal Behaviour Order?
I have seen trainer prints on the seat occasionally in the Uk so it does happen.

I admit that my standards are more relaxed in the wanky unisex toilets because they are as foul as men's toilets and I am not going to be spending a second longer in them than necessary.

Stravaig · 07/06/2023 10:05

I sit down. My body is covered in an amazing invention called skin. It keeps everything inside safely protected. It also lets me go out in the rain without washing away.

Natsku · 07/06/2023 10:06

I never hover, I just give the seat a wipe with a bit of loo roll. I tried hovering once, out of interest, and it was difficult and the wee got on the seat (obviously cleaned it up) and my legs weren't too pleased with the effort either.

Odile13 · 07/06/2023 10:07

I don’t hover. I was told to hover as a child but stopped when I got older and decided I didn’t see what was wrong with sitting down comfortably. It’s only my legs touching the toilet seat - what’s so bad about that?

Stalkedbyzombies · 07/06/2023 10:09

Once my DH took Ds into the mens' and suggested that he sit on the seat inside the cubicle. DS was too young to negotiate (he never even needed to go). It almost resulted in divorce.

Iwasafool · 07/06/2023 10:09

HidingInAForest · 07/06/2023 09:47

Just what I was thinking - re chairs, restaurants etc.

It's a strange hang up people have and the few on here that have it seem proud of it!

I wonder if it harks back to generations ago when there was less understanding of germs? I know the whole Jim Crow laws made White people scared to sit on a loo a black person had used ( :( ) as if it was "dirty."

Also in the 80s with the fear of HIV and not knowing how it spread might be where some people's parents go the idea from.

But it really is a small minority that now have this hang up I would imagine.

I've had people on here tell me they need single sex toilets because even if they are totally separate, like disabled toilet, they won't use them as a man's bum has sat there. I assume they have a male and female loo at home.

I'm obviously a dirty slob as I sit and don't care if the previous bum was male or female, black or white (which is lucky as my husband is both male and black.) I draw the line at wee on the seat though and hoverers should definitely clean up after themselves.

BarbaraofSeville · 07/06/2023 10:09

Fighterofthenightman1 · 07/06/2023 09:28

I don't know how people hover without pee going everywhere

Pee does go everywhere.

But until I saw it on here, I had no idea how many women had so many hang ups about using public toilets, and it would seem that actually using them normally is even rarer.

You're all completely insane.

Framboisery · 07/06/2023 10:10

I dont hoover or hover.

Why the hovering- do you not shower? I shower daily so any germs if I was worried about such things would be washed off.

BettyBoopy · 07/06/2023 10:12

I just sit on it. Have reached 40 without anything coming of this!

ditalini · 07/06/2023 10:14

Stalkedbyzombies · 07/06/2023 09:49

I don't touch the door stopper or the flush. I pull paper out and quickly throw it in the second after I have pressed the flush button.

Mate. Just wash your hands after going to the toilet and it's all sorted without this palaver.

FarmGirl78 · 07/06/2023 10:15

WeAreTheHeroes · 07/06/2023 07:58

Boom! @ShowOfHands

I don't and never have. What exactly do you think is going to happen if you actually sit on a loo? Obviously if there's water from the flush on there I'll wipe it with loo roll first.

That's not flush water on the seat, that's the wee of the a hoverer.

Poppy61 · 07/06/2023 10:15

Lift seat up (with loo roll); hover. No tinkle left for others to sit on. Hate public loos, but couldn't life without them.

Poppy61 · 07/06/2023 10:16

Live

CreepingJenny · 07/06/2023 10:17

Stravaig · 07/06/2023 10:05

I sit down. My body is covered in an amazing invention called skin. It keeps everything inside safely protected. It also lets me go out in the rain without washing away.

😂

lieselotte · 07/06/2023 10:17

I've always sat down and have reached 50 without catching anything horrible. I bet hovering makes you slower as well and makes the queues to use ladies loos even longer. Just sit down!

I always laugh when a loo hasn't flushed properly and woman walks out again instead of using it. Do you think someone else's poo is going to jump out and infect you? But then, when I need to go, I need to go, and I don't worry about the condition of the loo (I might care if there were cockroaches in it, but thankfully it's never been quite that bad!) - I suppose you can wait for a cleaner cubicle if you are not desperate.

Poppy61 · 07/06/2023 10:17

Mumsnet, add an edit button. Quite sure it's not that difficult or that expensive to upgrade the site!

lieselotte · 07/06/2023 10:18

FarmGirl78 · 07/06/2023 10:15

That's not flush water on the seat, that's the wee of the a hoverer.

Show quote history

It could be either - or both!

FarmGirl78 · 07/06/2023 10:18

Stalkedbyzombies · 07/06/2023 10:09

Once my DH took Ds into the mens' and suggested that he sit on the seat inside the cubicle. DS was too young to negotiate (he never even needed to go). It almost resulted in divorce.

I'm hoping the scenario was you mentioned he should have hovered and DH wanted to divorce you for being such a neurotic, fussing, paranoid pansy of a wife.

tattygrl · 07/06/2023 10:21

No 😂 I sit down and relax!! I'm not sitting in chair pose/squat position just to avoid some germs potentially getting on the backs of my legs/bum which will get showered later anyway.

Aprilx · 07/06/2023 10:21

Sirzy · 07/06/2023 08:02

I thought it was hovering which actually poses more risk as it increases the chance of UTIs and similar?

@Sirzy

I am going back a very long time now, but I did my degree 1989-1992 and did a lot of medical statistics (I am a mathematician not a medic). I remember we did a study on women than hovered over public loo seats and yes you are correct, there are issues because hovering means that the bladder is not properly emptied because the woman is not fully relaxed and this can lead to issues such as UTIs. I think that was the gist of it, but as I say, a long time ago.

Hayfeverjogon · 07/06/2023 10:21

Poppy61 · 07/06/2023 10:15

Lift seat up (with loo roll); hover. No tinkle left for others to sit on. Hate public loos, but couldn't life without them.

But then you're using your hands to touch the seat.
Omg some people
😂

BananaPalm · 07/06/2023 10:21

Since I got several infections from sitting on public loos, I always always hover. Or, as my friend used to say, I "do the eagle" 😂

Unless I have one of those toilet seat covers with me. They're great for travelling.

LabelleLabelle · 07/06/2023 10:22

I’m not going to catch something on the backs of my legs so I sit down