Wipe ‘N Wash
On last night’s episode of Grey’s Anatomy, the characters made a big deal about a woman who didn’t wash her hands after peeing. I must confess- I don’t always wash my hands after using the toilet either.
Any of you who just scrunched up your noses and said, “Ewww!” I have to ask: what the hell are you touching in there that makes it so gross? When I use the toilet, the only thing my hands touch is a wad of tissue paper that is cleaner than most of the other items I touch throughout the day. That’s not to say I go around touching dirty items all day, just that we all touch various paper products- like money that’s probably been intimate with a stripper’s snatch- and nobody seems to get grossed out that people don’t immediately wash their hands after touching that.
If the hand washing is a big issue for you, then I have to assume you’re not wiping right and here I have some suggestions that can help you improve in this area:
1. Use more toilet paper, for shitssake. I’ve heard some people say that they use a countable number of squares to wipe, like seven or eight. Remember Elaine’s TP shortage on Seinfeld? “I don’t have a square to spare,” guest Jamie Gertz told her from the next stall. What good would one lousy square have done anyway? Some claim they limit their TP usage to save the environment. Thanks to the Internet, I’ve stopped buying daily newspapers, I don’t mail letters or checks and I’ve cut my paper usage in other areas drastically. There are plenty of other ways to save paper that won’t leave urine on your hand. SO USE LOTS OF TOILET PAPER.
2. Change the way you wipe. I don’t remember how the topic came about, but several years ago at a party, I posed the question: do you bunch or fold your toilet paper? Half the party got involved in the discussion and people were pretty evenly divided. Most of the guests were lawyers and I must say, parties with lawyers, not so fun. Parties with lawyers debating the best way to wipe, highly entertaining. One guy even had to go through the motions of number two to figure out whether he’s a buncher or folder. Anyway, I’m a buncher and folding sounded like a really bad idea. But I’m open to trying things differently so I pledged to fold for the next week and I quickly determined it must be the folders who are particularly, um, anal about hand washing. I found I had to use about twice as much TP and even then, seepage was a, um, crap shoot. Not only that, I have fairly long fingernails, which makes for an uncomfortable wipe with the fold technique. I only lasted for about two days before I had to return to bunching. I suggest everybody try the opposite technique a few times then ask your friends to find out if they’re filthy folders or bone-dry bunchers.
I know washing hands only takes a few seconds and I’m certainly not trying to discourage anybody from doing it. But I’m inclined to be a bit more wary about those who do think hand washing is a necessity than those who don’t.
(BTW- Anybody who watched last night’s episode, did you buy the girl’s excuse that she washed her hands in the kitchen sink afterward? Puhleeze. She walked into a bathroom in just underwear and peed in front of two other women. I can’t imagine why she’d suddenly feel self-conscious about washing her hands in front of them).
I’d be afraid of anyone who folded their toilet paper.
This is slightly off-topic (when has that stopped me before?) but you know what really irritates me? Men who refer to the bathroom as the “little boys room.” I have a co-worker who’s constantly saying that. Matter of fact, dude, don’t tell me where you’re going no matter what you call it. How about “I’ll be back in a minute?”
OMG. Wash your damn hands! Even if you don’t think your hands are dirty, do it as a common courtesy to the rest of us!
Let me give you an example. We are both in the bathroom. We finish doing our business in our respective stales. I stop to wash my hands. However, you immediately leave… believing your hands are clean. If your hands weren’t as clean as you thought… well…. guess who now has to touch the door handle aftrer you to get out of the bathroom?! ME!
WASH YOUR HANDS!
What do you mean by “if your hands weren’t as clean as you thought?” What could end up on your hands without your awareness?
And don’t worry about that door handle on the way out of a public restroom: after you’ve washed your hands, turned off the faucet and pressed the knob on the towel dispenser, you’ve already touched several objects that had also been touched by people who most certainly had something objectionable on their hands. Even if you’re someone who uses a tissue to touch all those objects on the way out, if that wad of tissue wasn’t enough to protect my hands after using the toilet, why would it be enough to protect your hands upon exit?
Just curious, do you immediately wash your hands every time you touch money? Do you frown upon someone else who doesn’t immediately wash their hands after handling money? I find it odd that so many people are fixated on whether or not others wash their hands after using the toilet- a task that should never leave anything on your hands if you do it properly- but those same people don’t expect hand washing following contact with a plethora of other nasty objects throughout the day.
I do wash my hands pretty frequently, though not always after using the toilet. And unless someone always washes they’re hands immediately after touching money, after shaking someone’s hands, after eating, after pumping gas, etc. etc., I just don’t think they should condemn someone else for not washing when the only thing that person touched was some toilet paper.
This should dispell your ignorance.
Think before you flush or brush
Sarah Tan
One of my friends from high school has made a habit of putting toilet seat lids down before she flushes. She started doing this about four years ago when she heard that when toilets are flushed, water droplets are expelled from the toilet bowl into the air, and when they land, other areas of the bathroom get “contaminated” by toilet water. That always amused me, but when I went over to her house, I humored her and followed this personal rule of hers. However, I didn’t know—and chances are, she didn’t know—just how justified she was in worrying about in what is known as the “aerosol effect” in toilets. My discovery that there is actually a technical term for this phenomenon was the first indication that there might be something scientifically legitimate to it. It seems to have first been brought to light by University of Arizona environmental microbiologist Charles Gerba when he published a scientific article in 1975 describing bacterial and viral aerosols due to toilet flushing (2). He conducted tests by placing pieces of gauze in different locations around the bathroom and measuring the bacterial and viral levels on them after a toilet flush, and his results are more than just a little disturbing.
First is the confirmation of the existence of the aerosol effect, even though it is largely unrecognized. “Droplets are going all over the place—it’s like the Fourth of July,” said Gerba. “One way to see this is to put a dye in the toilet, flush it, and then hold a piece of paper over it” (8). Indeed, Gerba’s studies have shown that the water droplets in an invisible cloud travel six to eight feet out and up, so the areas of the bathroom not directly adjacent the toilet are still contaminated. Walls are obviously affected, and in public or communal bathrooms, the partitions between stalls are definitely coated in the spray mist from the toilet (1). Also, toilet paper will be cleanest when it is enclosed in a plastic or metal casing; after all, it’s subject to the same droplets splattering on it, and its proximity to the toilet bowl makes contamination potential obvious. The ceiling is also still contaminated and is in fact a potential problem site because it is often overlooked in the cleaning process. Bacteria cling to ceilings and thrive in the humid environment there; if the situation is left untreated for months or years (as is often the case), odors remain in restrooms that seem to have been to be otherwise thoroughly cleaned (1). The bacterial mist has also been shown to stay in the air for at least two hours after each flush, thus maximizing its chance to float around and spread (2). “The greatest aerosol dispersal occurs not during the initial moments of the flush, but rather once most of the water has already left the bowl,” according to Philip Tierno, MD, director of clinical microbiology and diagnostic immunology at New York University Medical Center and Mt. Sinai Medical Center. He therefore advises leaving immediately after flushing to not have the microscopic, airborne mist land on you (4). Worse still is the possibility of getting these airborne particles in the lungs by inhaling them, from which one could easily contract a cough or cold (6).
Obviously, the idea of toilet water being unknowingly distributed around the bathroom is less than appealing, but a study of this sort calls for looking in detail at precisely what microscopic organisms we’re dealing with here, even if we don’t really want to know. Put rather graphically, it can be summed up as the F3 force: Fecal Fountain Factor, compounded by the favorable temperatures for bacterial propagation in room temperature toilet water (3). Using a more scientific viewpoint, streptococcus, staphylococcus, E. coli and shigella bacteria, hepatitis A virus and the common cold virus are all common inhabitants of public bathrooms, but just because they’re all over the place doesn’t mean we necessarily get sick. After all, humans carry disease-causing organisms on our bodies all the times, but with healthy immune systems, the quantities in which these organisms exist is not enough to affect us, particularly with a good hand-washing after every restroom visit (4). This begs the question, however, of the number of people who actually wash their hands after going to the toilet, and more importantly, the number who wash their hands effectively. Simply rinsing one’s hands under running water for a few seconds without soap, as some people do, is not effective at all. The way to ensure maximum standards of hygiene is to lather your palms, the back of your hands, in between fingers, and under fingernails for 20-30 seconds with soap and hot water; the friction will kill off the bathroom bacteria (6).
Toilet seats have actually been determined to be the least infected place in the bathroom because the environment is too dry to support a large bacterial population (7). In accordance with that theory, the underside of the seat has a higher than average microbial population. The place in a restroom with the highest concentration of microbial colonies in restrooms is, surprisingly, the sink, due in part to accumulations of water where these organisms breed freely after landing their aerial journey. While toilets are obviously not sterile environments, they tend to not be as bad as people think because they receive more attention and are cleaned more often. “If an alien came from space and studied the bacterial counts, he probably would conclude he should wash his hands in your toilet and crap in your sink,” Gerba said (2). The alien would almost certainly not put your toothbrush in his mouth because, with its traditional, uncovered spot in the bathroom, it is one of the hotspots for fecal bacteria and germs spewed into the air by the aerosol effect (5). Understandably, the toothbrush with toilet water droplets on it is one of the most retold horror stories to emerge from Gerba’s report.
There are also greater implications from the study of the aerosol effect than simple grossness factor. Most obviously, bathrooms should be cleaned even more meticulously than before, with emphasis not just on and around the toilet, but equal emphasis on all areas of the bathroom because all areas are equally affected by the spray. Using the right cleaners is important because all-purpose cleaning solutions are not necessarily antibacterial, whereas most cleaners made specifically for restrooms are referred to as disinfectants or germicidal cleaners (1). Given that the sink area teems with bacteria, one must now be more careful about washing hands properly after walking into the bathroom for any non toilet-related purposes like washing your face and brushing teeth. Using a hair dryer can potentially be problematic in regard to bacteria counts because the effect would be largely the same as hot-air hand dryers, which actually increase the bacteria on hands by 162 percent, as opposed to paper towels, which decrease them by 29 percent (7). If you’re still not convinced that bacteria exist in any significant quantities on your hands, consider that kitchen sink actually harbors the most fecal matter in the average home, carried there by unwashed hands after using the bathroom (5). A tablespoon of bleach in a cup of warm water on the offending sink will fix the situation… for the day.
To limit the scope of the aerosol effect, the simplest method is to close the lid on the toilet every time before flushing (5). This would also provide the peace of mind that while you are washing your hands for 30 seconds, microscopic, bacteria-laden water droplet will not be descending upon your person. Unfortunately, most public toilets, including the ones in Bryn Mawr’s dorms, don’t even have lids for that option. Besides, given the large number of people who have used the toilet before you, it probably wouldn’t make much difference. After washing your hands, use a paper towel to turn off the faucet and to open the door to leave, in order to avoid being recontaminated (4). And today, get a new toothbrush and always, always keep it in the medicine cabinet or some other enclosed place after use (2).
References
(1) Janitorial Resource Center – Dr Klean.
(2) A Straight Dope Classic – Cecil’s been asked.
(3) Car Talk’s mailbag – People are talking back.
(4) WebMD – What can you catch from restrooms?
(5) Harvard Gazette book review – Overkill, by Kimberly Thompson
(6) When in doubt, Ask Men – What can you catch from (men’s) restrooms?
(7) Sean Blair: Writer. Researcher. Editor. – Killer offices.
(8) The Atlantic Monthly – Something in the water.
© by Serendip 1994-2006 – Last Modified: Thursday, 14-Nov-2002 13:46:46 EST
I guess by my ignorance you’re talking about the article’s suggestion that a flushed toilet expels water droplets 6-8 feet outward which would surely leave something on my hands. So let’s say I wash my hands and even go to the lengths of using a tissue to turn the faucet on and off and open the exit door (and how many people actually do that)? But what about my clothes and purse? Certainly they’re covered in the particles expelled from the toilet. How realistic is it to avoid contact with them for a prolonged amount of time? And what do I do if I’ve washed my hands and then someone in the stall four feet away flushes. Should I wash again? After all, I’ve been exposed again.
My point is that people put all their concern on hand washing after using the toilet but not about hand washing after touching various other unsanitary items. I just think people need to put a little perspective on the matter and save the condemnation because they’re probably touching dirty things all day without washing their hands immediately afterward.
I’ll also add that I probably fall into the category of washing my hands “usually” after using the toilet. But it has more to do with wanting to wash off all the other stuff I’ve touched since the last time I washed than because of cleanliness concerns related to toilet usage.
Just out of curiosity, how would you feel about a food service person cooking a meal for you after using the bathroom (even PROPERLY) and not washing their hands? Personally, I think it’s impossible to be sure your hands are clean – even if you don’t realized they’ve been soiled, I’d be willing to bet your hand has come in contact with some part of your anatomy.
Not washing hands is the primary source of food born hepatitis and gastrointestinal infections – especially e.Coli.
And PROPER hand washing requires washing, drying (automatic dispensers are great), THEN turning the faucet off – using the used towel. I carry it one step farther and use the towel to then open the door before throw it away – there are too many people who don’t wash before they open the door.
Your point about money ( and grocery cart handles and many other things) is good. They certainly are filthy, but why not destroy what germs you can by washing hands when you use the bathroom?
I’d be disgusted that a food service person didn’t wash their hands before touching my food regardless of what their previous activity was. Proper usage of a toilet wouldn’t hold more weight than anything else.
I’m not going to keep arguing this topic because I’m by no means anti-hand washing. The point is, was and shall be that people get their feathers ruffled by others who don’t wash their hands after using the toilet but don’t care if they do or don’t after other activities that are even more prone to dirt and germs.
Hey Jenee, you left out one other group – the warappers. As I roll the paper of the roll, I automatically wrap it around my middle 3 fingers. No need to worry about fingernails on my part either. This may or may not be a subgroup of the folders, but no scientific evidence exists to prove otherwise; and it is efficient time-wise as you can get – certainly more so than folding. I just want to get in there and out of there, including spending as little time as possible on the paperwork. Now for the REAL subject of interest: do you have your paper roll from over the top/front or from behind?
I’m no amateur. Over the top, of course.