Bathroom as guest AIBU

[serenavanderwoodsenn]

Technically I’m not a guest as I work in the home as a nanny but the family I work for only has bar soap in the bathroom for handwashing?? All of their guests (they have people every weekend) plus 2 kids and the parents use this soap. It makes me feel icky. I don’t feel clean at all as it feels like everyone else’s germs are festering on it. I always end up grabbing the Sanex off the side of the bath or trying not to touch anything and washing my hands with fairy liquid when I get downstairs.

AIBU to think bar soap is ok for personal use but as a communal soap it’s a bit grim?

It’s fine. Not unhygienic. And I prefer it. But my daughter with OCD cannot use bars of soap so we have bars of soap and liquid soap in our bathrooms. Why not buy a bottle of refillable liquid soap and put it in the bathroom and just say you prefer it? Maybe get one for sensitive skin and say it agrees with your skin better if you don’t want to say you think their’s is mucky!

Get yourself a bottle of what soap you prefer and pop it in the cupboard in the bathroom, or a tiny sanitiser to keep in your pocket. Rinse the soap bar before you use it if you like . They are probably being environmentally conscious by not having plastic

I fell for the liquid soap marketing - for a while. No more. It’s only bar soap here now. Anyone who thinks it is less hygienic than liquid soap is being ridiculous. And it’s far more environmentally friendly.

Don’t be silly, god do some people purposely go out of their way to find something to complain about? It’s so so, wash your hands and go about your day, how do you actually get any nannying done if this is the kind of thing you’re worrying unnecessarily about?

YABU. It’s perfectly hygienic. But, since you have a hang up about it, you could ask the family if you could bring a bottle of liquid soap to use? They’re likely using solid soap for ecological reasons as well, so I’d suggest a refillable container.

I much prefer bar soap for some reason, I don't claim to have eliminated single use plastics from my life but this is one I've managed.

A bit of vinegar gets rid of the slime.

I didn't know that soap kills germs, so I'd feel the same as you OP.
My MIL only has a bar of soap in her bathroom and I do use it with it makes me feel gross

How do you turn the tap on and off when other people's dirty hands have touched it?

I work as a nanny and (for sensory issues) I much prefer to use bar soap over the bottle of liquid soap that is in the family bathroom that I regularly use, so I take my own in. The family are fine with this.
Why not just take in a bottle of liquid soap for your use? If they don't like you leaving it there overnight/weekends you can take it home.

@LoobyDoop2

i have a slotted bamboo soap holder and it doesn't go soggy, not in the shower or by the sink.

@serenavanderwoodsenn

I understand how you feel. My EX in-laws had bar soap in the bathroom, it was filthy and as they're soap dodgers & cheapskates it was always cheap soap which had dried out & had huge cracks in it. Disgusting. I used to take a liquid soap with me.

in 'normal' households I just kind of wash the soap while washing my hands!

but (also a nanny) I'd just put a liquid soap in the bathroom & say I'm finding their bar soap is drying out my skin with the constant hand washing. If there's not much space on the sink, just put it in the vanity or in the side of the bath.

The mechanical action of washing your hands with soap removes any bacteria which might have been on the soap, so you don't need to worry about this. But if you're concerned just keep a mini sanitiser bottle in your pocket and use that after you've washed your hands.

Logically I know bar soap cannot be dirty. But I still can't touch other people's bar soap. But I'm autistic and can't touch alot of things other people touch so I already know I'm cuckoo.

YABU

It's soap. It's literally for cleaning skin

I think it is yukky too. Can you fabricate delicate skin and buy your own liquid handwash to keep in the bathroom?

The only thing I don’t like about bar soap is people that use it in the shower and leave pubes on it. That may be a DH problem though…..

This has been well established in studies, OP. I used to feel a bit like you do but knowing this changed my mind

I work with dementia sufferers and have seen faeces on soap bars. Idgaf how many germs soap bars kill, just because something is on soap, it doesn't make it clean and hygienic. I'm with OP here. But I'd just carry a hand sanitiser size bottle with liquid soap in for personal use each day. Sorted.

I know germs don’t actually live on it hence my choice in language of saying ‘I feel like’ and not saying it as fact.

but I have a lot of sensory issues and ASD so perhaps it’s just my autism showing here judging off the replies.

Mini hand san may be the way to go as some replies have suggested!

Mini soap hand wash would be better - it’s much cleaner to actually wash your hands than to use sanitiser.
eta - I know you were going downstairs to wash your hands after, it would just be likely more hygienic to wash them straight away and your own little bottle of soap would help that.

Big drip feed there! Try not to pass on your unfounded fears to the children.

There will be more germs on outside of a bottle of soap than bar

It’s more hygienic than a plastic bottle and better for the environment too.

We only use bar soap. Both in the shower and at the sinks. No plastic bottles of hand wash here.

I can’t stand liquid soap, never buy it. I don’t think it’s unhygienic to use bar soap