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?

what’s stopping you from buying your own preferred soap and taking it to work with you?

Get a tiny empty bottle and decant some liquid soap into it. You can then use this when you’re there.

YABU but we all have weird things and fears.

This.
Homes everywhere used to have bar soap; my grandmother always did.

If you are really so bothered and you live/ work there, just buy your own liquid soap and keep it there.

But washing your hands in the kitchen with fairy is selfish; bathroom germs should be dealt with in the bathroom not dragged down to the kitchen. Also I think covid made many of us reassess soaps/ hand san. The liquid soaps that claim to kill germs are soap with sanitiser in them. But to actually work it needs to stay on your skin quite some time. All the medically qualified people I knew were urging good old soap in preference to hand san as soap cuts through the greasy layer on the virus and dries it out ( which kills it) far more effectively. It also “ lifts” dirt by binding with it which anti bacterial ingredients don’t .

But the bottom line is if you don’t like what they provide, buy your own.

Yep my question too.

I don’t think it’s uncommon to not like the feeling of soap and I wouldn’t like to rub it on my hands knowing it might’ve been on a stranger’s bits!

I would take my own, say I prefer the texture or whatever and if the family don’t like me leaving things there I’d put it in my bag at the end of each day.
Tbh I’m also a bit particular about towels so would potentially bring my own too! Everyone has their quirks and my handwashing preferences don’t impact my ability to do my job

We have a modern world full of germaphobes. The obsession with washing and hygiene and laundry is just insane. There was a post recently about somebody suggesting they should throw away all the food in the fridge because one pack of chicken was a few days out of date. Madness.

Just no. I grew up in the 70s and 80s where bar soap was the norm. Is it also much more environmentally friendly than endless plastic bottles of liquid soap.

It may not be your first choice, but you need to get over it and use the bar soap. People are losing the plot. It’s psychologically so unhealthy.

Do you take your own hand towel when you visit friends and have to use their toilet?

After an extensive google, every article I have read comparing liquid soap with a bar of soap has revealed that liquid soap is not more hygienic than a bar of soap.

I find that glycerine soaps tend to go slimy so I buy triple milled soap, which lasts for ever.

I only have liquid soap in the kitchen and downstairs loo, but we use bars of soap in the bathroom.

A soap bar is considerably cheaper and lasts longer than liquid soap. It is also better for the planet. I also find it less drying than liquid soap.

Mumsnet does have a cohort of overly fastidious posters, so those of you who are on here please do the same googling I did and educate yourselves. As other posters have pointed out, the door handle, the flush handle and taps will all have germs on them.

Then try and deal with this unreasonable phobia.

You're being silly. Common sense has died.

How does a germophobe end up working with small children?

Soap and hot water is all you need

Wash your hands twice.
Once to wash the soap, once to wash your hands with the now washed soap. 😁

We have a mixture of bars and liquid, I am forever having to wipe the top of the pump on the liquid soap as it gets filthy very quickly.

If you're worried about offending them by being your own just say their soap is drying your hands out/skin reaction.

I wouldn't touch a bar of soap multiple people have used either.

Use your hand sanitiser.

Old enough to remember when the entire family used the same tablet of Boots soap!!

We're conditioned by large corps to feel this way. Whilst soap does not kill germs it certainly helps them to slide off the skin. Mechanical washing is the most important part, ie, the handwashing method. I say this as someone who was trained in aseptic handwashing technique to deliver drugs through central lines.

Don't be ridiculous. What do you do about door handles, the flush and the taps?

No but sometimes I’d like to!! If the only option is a soggy bath towel I’d rather use paper (but I don’t because that’s wasteful). And I’m only there for a few hours using the toilet once or twice, not a full work week where I potentially spend more time there than at home

I'm going to go out on a limb here, and suggest that even in some horror scenario where you touched a door-handle that someone had touched after they'd had a pee and not washed their hands, and 0.1 cc of their pee was transferred to your fingers, the nett result should be... absolutely fuck all! No dead bodies piling up in the streets....

And yeah, I like bar soap. And deplore the limited choice of now available compared to the past.

I prefer liquid soap but not BC the bar is harbouring germs. Though I get the shudders when I see a bar of soap with hair stuck to it?!
Just use sanitiser. I'd think as a nanny carrying that round with you would be a tool of the trade.

You asked whether you are being unreasonable to think bar soap for communal use is grim - yes, you are. You can feel icky if you like, but this is irrational. What did you want out of this thread?

You can buy handmade for a quid. Hardly worth making the post

I don't think we can attribute it to sensory issues. Sensory issues about touching a bar of soap would also mean you can't use any soap bars (maybe just particular soap bars). But the fact that you are OK with personal bars but not the shared ones would suggest that sensory issues have nothing to do with it.

It’s soap! It kills germs.

If I may quote Chandler "soap is soap, it's self-cleaning".

Bar soap is fine.

Lasts longer, uses less plastic, is cheaper, and just as effective as liquid soap. Why wouldn't you use it is the question.

It will only go slimy if you let it sit in water. Make sure you have a draining soap dish, or alternatively do what I do and just put it on the side of the sink. No slime.

I do have different bars for hand washing vs use in showers, so no danger of washing your hands with a bar that's been used anywhere else.