So....Do we wash our hands every time we use the bathroom?

Although we don’t go to clubs or bars, we certainly wash our hands after using any restroom (and in public use the paper towel to open stall doors).

^ That’s a little extreme.

I do wash my hands, although I’m sure I forget occasionally.

I don’t know if we do but I can tell you that I always do.

I do. Anywhere anytime, I wash my hands after using the restroom.

I do. Every time.

Yes @gailcalled paper towel to open the door, and don’t forget to flush with your foot.

@wilma Why flush with your foot? I hate that people do that.

@JLeslie Why flush with your foot? I hate that people do that.

How do you know who to hate? No, don’t tell me – I would probably be better off not knowing. ;)

In Doctors’ and Dentists’ offices, there are instructions to use the damp paper towel to turn off spigots and open the door. Ditto for nursing homes and rehab centers. Staph infections that are penicillin-resistant are on the rise everywhere.

I flush with my foot, it’s a reflex and a habit. I’m not afraid of germs totally, but I just don’t see the point of taking all of these ‘extra measures’ when I know my immune system is OK (Damn I love being young…for now lol).

@JLeslie I’m not touching that flusher with my hand, who knows what’s on that thing.
edit: Only in public restrooms that is, of course I don’t do that at home or in someones elses home.

@DarkScribe I have only witnessed it a couple of times. But, mostly I am just speaking in general terms that I am not happy people do it.

@Blackberry I am kind of a germaphobe, but I don’t see the need to flush with my foot.

@wilma LOL. All over the bar is what is on that thing probably because people don’t always wash their hands ugh. The bottom of your shoe has probably way more crap, literally, on it. Meanwhile, I wash my hands, so I guess I won’t worry about it. What do you do if it is an automatic flush, and it doesn’t flush appropriately? Will you push the little button?

@JLeslie I will push the little button using a piece of toilet paper, and also open the stall door with toilet paper.

Wilma is hard…..core…..

@wilma Do you wash your hands before you go to the bathroom? Sometimes I do that.

@JLeslie sometimes, it depends on where I am and what I have been doing.

I just don’t worry about all that stuff. Sure, I wash my hands, but I don’t go in for any of the elaborate paper towel defenses, refrain from touching the knobs, etc. It’s the idea of the uses of a restroom that makes us think they’re worse than all the other things we touch, but I really don’t think the stall handles and doorknobs are likely to be any more dangerous than the backs of chairs in a restaurant, the armrests in the theatre, the knob on a drinking fountain, and the handrails on a stairway. Maybe someday I will die of a horrible disease that I picked up in a random restroom, but I honestly believe something else is far more likely to get me.

“so will it destroy my immune system if I just wash my hands once out of 50 opportunities ”
Actually, it would have the opposite effect if anything.

As jeruba alluded to, we are farrrrrrrrrrrr to obsessed with cleanliness/germs now a days, by constantly avoiding/kill all bacteria we could ever come in contact with, we are only weakening our bodies, then once we actually get in contact with it, we’re fucked.

I just watched a video today in school that had a 20 year study in it showing that kids who grew up around farm animals and such turned out to be much healthier and got sick a lot less often than those who spent most of their childhood indoors.

@uberbatman partly because when we are indoors we generally are sharing germs with many many more people. It depends on the type of sick you are talking about. Colds you aren’t going to catch from farm animals, cold and flu rarely jump species. I guess ecoli is a possibility on farms.

I think it is far more important to wash your hands prior to using the facilities.

So I guess that means since I have farm animals for pets I’m covered! lol
Havn’t been sick for 2 years running! I do wash my hands after using the bathroom…duh!

Yeah, I wash my hands, and I especially use a towel to open the door since I know someone who didn’t wash just opened it with their germy hands. This is how colds and flus become epidemic.

Yes, every time. Not so much because I’m afraid of germs, or because my dick is dirty, which of course it isn’t, but because by now it’s a habit. I’m sure forgetting or being lazy once in a while does little harm, though.

I do, however, use paper towels to open the bathroom doors of public restrooms if I can. Also a habit that developed early.

Yes, wash your hands each time. And teach your children to do the same.

Well…this is good news indeed!

13 people so far that wash their hands after going to the bathroom.

Imagine that! haha

@absalom – LOL i was gonna write almost exactly what you did (except for the d*ck part, lol) I always wash my hands, and if for some reason I can’t like no water or something I really feel uncomfortable.

I also do the paper towel thing with the door, open it, hold it with my foot so i can throw the towel away and still not touch the handle. I just know lots of other women have touched that handle with dirty hands. yuck!!!

I do. Do you have a mouse in your pocket?

@JLeslie you really think there are more germs inside than out and on a farm? The whole point the study proves is exposure to germs primes your system from an early age to deal with it.

”...flu rarely jump species”
H1N1 WHAT!?! :P

Washing hands at a bar or club after hitting the loo… It all depends on how intoxicated I am and what I plan on using my hands for afterwards. Unless I’m falling-down-drunk (which hasn’t happened in a VERY long time), I always wash my hands. Have you seen the ladies restroom?! Women can be soooo nasty, especially inebriated women!! [cough cough gag]

Public restrooms are notoriously filthy. In general terms, urine, fresh urine, isn’t full of nasties, but faecal matter is. (Hep C is in urine of the carrier.but contact with it does not contaminate…) Faecal matter can show up in strange places in a bathroom. I’m sure it’s in my mind, but when a club or cafe shows signs of not being looked after, I’m much more cautious in the bathroom and what I touch. Faeces contains bacteria that can make you quite sick, regardless of how ‘prepared’ your immune system is. There can even be blood in public restrooms and that is well worrying about. The act of peeing probably isn’t exposing you to much nasty stuff, but touching things in the restroom could be.

You are NOT going to destroy your immune system from washing your hands… You may end up with dermatitis because of the strong detergents in the dispenser.

As an experiment, a girl I know who does children’t TV, stopped washing her hands for a couple of days. Granted, she was very careful about going toilet, and even wore gloves on her hands to eat, just in case. They tested her hands at the end of the experiment and her hands weren’t that bad. As a lark, they tested her feet (she hadn’t showered in days and it was mid winter here with heavy, sweaty boots) Her FEET were disgusting. She was quite disappointed at the lack of filth because she has a little brother she’s always telling to wash his hands.

If you want to see the program (it’s in Norwegian.. but you might get the idea) PM me and I’ll send you the link. (my soap volcano is featured for about 15 seconds on the show) hahaha

So… I’d say, no… A man, using an automated urinal, were all he touches is the door and his freshly washed penis…. naaah… but some people think it’s just good manners.

I wash my hands before and after.

I wash my hands after using the loo and so, because of this, I don’t feel the need to flush with my foot! I find it ironic that people flush with their foot. They are trying to avoid germs by putting more germs (from the bottom of their show) on the flush.

I just rinse when I piss, and use soap when there are more serious things involved.

I wash my hands every time and in public places I minimize contact with any surfaces that are likely to be touch by others who don’t by using paper towel or my sleeves if necessary.

It seem like basic hygeine and self-protection to me.

Ok…...in the bar I may not have washed my hands after a squat. No towels….no air dry….no TP anyway…...in a dive.

shoot me. I dont go out much anymore. :(

which brings up….can you wipe your hands on your outfit??

@jazmina88 If you have pockets, flatten your hands out in them and let the water soak up

unless you’re wiping something else, then no

Using chinese toilets saves the hands, you just pee all over your feet!

Oh man…traveling through Asia one gets a renewed appriciation for sitting instead of squating!

Squating over a chinese toilet on a moving train…a skill I never imagined! lol

I always wash although @Jeruba has given me more to worry about!!

Well…I woke up at 3 a.m. to a little poof on my pillow…cat dropped a dead baby gopher next to my face…..awwww thanks Gad!

Sooo…my usual ‘things that turn up dead in my bed’ moment.

Pick up warm dead baby, run to front door, fling over deck railing, slam door quickly to avoid hearing the ‘thud’ in the bushes. On a disease continuem I’ll choose dead gopher over nasty bathroom anyday of the week! lol

@Coloma Well…I woke up at 3 a.m. to a little poof on my pillow…

Do you realise that in much of the English speaking world “poof” is a euphemism for a male homosexual?

@DarkScribe Well… it also seems to be the noise a dead baby gopher makes when it hits your pillow at 3am….

@DarkScribe

Um..no…not completely up to par on sexual slang. haha

Okay..maybe it was a gay gopher ‘coming out’ of it’s dirt closet. lol

@uberbatman Yes H1N1 and Avian flu, and I believe AIDS starting in monkeys. Still for the most part our dog or cow or pig is not catching a cold from us or vice versa. I am not a big believer in antibacterial soaps or purell. The fact is if we wash our hands properly we get rid of pretty much just as many germs on our hands as using antibacterial soaps.

I think there are many more variables than just playing in the dirt that affect the health of a child who lives on the farm compared to a city kid.

As far as the bathroom goes it is not just cold and flu, but hep A also, which we were seeing more in the states, especially states with higher immigration from 3rd world countries (please no one bother to be offended by that) but if I remember correctly rates have gone back down now that Hep A vaccine is given routinely to children in those states, someone feel free to correct me. Personally, I have not taken the Hep A series, but I think about it.

From Kids Health.org
‘Because hepatitis A can be a mild infection, particularly in children, it’s possible for some people to be unaware that they have had the illness. In fact, although medical tests show that about 40% of urban Americans have had hepatitis A, only about 5% recall being sick. Although the hepatitis A virus can cause prolonged illness up to 6 months, it typically only causes short-lived illnesses and it does not cause chronic liver disease.’

Hep A DOES infect through contact of faeces.

also worth reading….
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hepatitis_A

@cazzie Are you talking to me? That is what I said, that Hep A is also a concern when it comes to the bathroom not just cold and flu.

yes @JLeslie.. but Don’t confuse the more dangerous strains of Hep… with Hep A…. I think giving young kids a shot against Hep A is a bit pointless. It’s not chronic, most kids don’t even know they’ve cone into contact with it and by coming into contact they’ve inoculated themselves naturally. Grown ups with compromised immune and livers should get the shot. It’s the 50+ who are more at risk.

@cazzie Yes, acute cases of Hep A are rather rare. My husband’s was pretty bad when he was young, his siblings not as serious. I think TX, California, and some other states give Hep A as part of their vaccine regimen to children, I could have that wrong.

I actually think it is absurd that young children are given the Hep B series, I mean the only way, God forbid, they would be exposed to Hep B would be in horrible circumstance, which would be rare.

Geesh, know you get me thinkin I have hepatitis, among my other ailments…..