Do you wash your hands after going pee?
My roommate only washes up if he poops, never after peeing. Now every time I'm in any of the common areas I have to wash my hands after touching anything I haven't wiped down. Thus, I wash my hands twice every time I use the bathroom; once as normal and again in the kitchen because I touched the taps, light switch and door handle in the bathroom which likely have groin sweat on them... /rant
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Your roommate is disgusting
Most people are
Yeah, at the very least he should lie about it.
Yes. Wash my hands:
First three always, fourth sometimes, definitely not the last two.
The sexy time edit makes this funnier
I should've probably made it a numbered list, eh
something made him remember ๐ค
Aren't your hands extremely dry from all the washing ?
I follow pretty similar standards and keep some coconut based lotion around to keep from drying my hands too much.
They are, and it's just like I like it.
I strangely don't need to moisturize, ever. My hands' skin is curiously soft and smooth all year round, despite harsh and dry winter conditions during those months. Wife and kids need so many lotions and shit and I hate putting it on the kids. I want to wash the lotion off afterwards lol. But it's good bonding so I do it anyway.
I read this comment when this post was relatively new and just wanted to say that you've somehow subconsciously inspired me to wash my hands more often over the past 3 weeks. Specifically when coming in from outside. So thanks ๐
๐ You're very welcome, friend!
I started washing my hands a lot more after my kids started preschool btw. We kept getting sick by their germs all the time, and they kept getting sick, too. Constantly.
So then we introduced this rule of always washing your hands before meals and after coming in from outside, to reduce bacteria and virus exposure. The frequency by which they got sick dropped dramatically.
And I noticed that my keyboard and mouse got a lot less grimy too, so that's nice.
It's crazy how dirty your hands get from being outside. Just touching a door at work or school or holding on to a hand rail or whatever. You come home and the soap water is literally light gray. Disgusting.
Anyway, I'm glad to have reached someone with my being alive. ๐๐ค
Wow, the difference being that noticeable is wild. I also work with 5- and 6-year-olds at my job and I have to constantly remind them to wash their handsโ with soap! I've literally had kids say "yes" to "did you wash your hands?" only to follow it up with "with soap?" and get an eyeroll and sulk back to the sink ๐ฅฒ
I wash my hands plenty at work, because my hands get grimy and sticky just from being in their vicinity for more than 15 minutes lol, but yeah also washing more at home now!
๐ Classic! We also hit em with the "can I smell your hands?" And they gave us their hands at first but now they just go back to the sink again knowing what's about to be said, lmao.
Yeah, working with kids I can imagine how dirty hands get. I'm thinking our adult hands get dirty for the same reasons, just a little less so, but still enough to warrant washing, also for the same reasons.
yes, of course. no exceptions. kind of disgusted by all the people in the comments admitting they don't??? also your roommate reminds me of a roommate i used to have whom i despised and one of the reasons for that being her horrible hygiene. she admitted to pissing in our single private shower, which was shared amongst us (i had 2 roommates, so the 3 of us), and then after that called me germophobic for suggesting the idea that a shower/tub needs to be cleaned weekly???? also kept leaving piss in the toilet and never took out the trash. dont even get me started
Ahhhhhhgggghhh.gheg.h
I've also had roommates like that. They never admitted to it but... I could smell it... they also never took out the trash. STRANGE.
So Penn & Teller used to do a show called Bullshit where they would investigate things and explain why the "common knowledge" on them was, well, bullshit.
In the episode on handwashing, they took samples from people's hands, faces, and groins before and after using the bathroom. They came to the conclusion that the before/after on hands was negligible, because most people's groins are under multiple layers of protection and don't get exposed to germs.
What they didn't bring up in the show is that that's not why you wash your hands when you're in the bathroom. It doesn't matter if your asshole is downright sterile, because it's everything else in the world that is filthy. You wash your hands when you're in the bathroom because you should be washing your hands regularly throughout the day and it's easiest to do when you're already in the room with the soap and running water. It's got very little to do with anything else you may be doing in the bathroom.
Yep, I've always thought that. It's actually very sneaky of health officials, they are exploiting people's perception of how filthy going to the bathroom is to get them to wash their hands more. Ends justify the means I guess...
He really should stop being lazy and wash his hands. While feces is much more dangerous than whatโs likely hanging out on his junk, thereโs still plenty of transmissible nastiness that heโs leaving everywhere.
But if heโs not going to change his behavior, you can mitigate by turning off the taps and handling the bathroom doorknob with a paper tissue if you use tissues to dry your hands (although I think this is common mostly in public washrooms). The overwashing youโre doing to compensate for his underwashing is not good for your hands.
I was worried about that too but my hands are fine actually. I use lukewarm water and it appears to actually help since I haven't had any eczema flareups on my hands for a long time.
Yup. Wash your hands with soap four times daily and you reduce your chance of catching a surface-borne disease by 80%
I work in a hospital and one Christmas I brought home gastric 'flu with me... that wasn't a wonderful Yuletide for anyone.
Nearly all of the time yes.
I think we have to talk about you. Regardless of your roommates bathroom habits, you should really assume every public surface is as dirty as youโre imagining the things your roommate touches. Put another way, Iโm of the opinion that you are suffering from a bit of germophobia.
Especially because the science DOES recommend washing after you pee, but mostly because you're already in the bathroom and the sink is right there.
The idea is you're just regularly washing hands throughout the day.
Yeah this is the main thing for me. I wash after going pee anyways because hygiene but I randomly touch my junk through the day and don't run to wash after (sorry world, love touching Deez Nutz what can I say) but the reality is that it's just a great way to wash your hands every hour or two, which helps prevent the number one way I'll transmit/receive germs.
If I never went pee I'd have to look for reasons to go to a sink, but as it is I have a convenient reason already.
Admittedly this post was more of a rant but it's still helpful to know everyone's answers. I major in microbiology and I know for sure that everything, everywhere is teaming with life and my hygienic habits are informed by that. One of my biggest reasons for wiping everything down all the time is to reduce the chance of spending three or four days in hospital shitting in a bucket and chugging gatorade. It's unusual to die from a dirty doorknob (covid 3000 rubs it's hands) but it's not fun and a waste of time to be sick. Sometimes that's unavoidable ofc, but I take pains to reduce my chances, even if it's just a little.
Of course. I am shocked people don't. But it's not entirely the act of peeing, it's the fact a sink and soap are right there. It's a good idea to wash your hands occasionally, so how about now?
This how I started looking at it. I didn't piss on my hands and my balls have been wrapped up since my shower. But, youve touched other disgusting things, nows the time to wash them and start clean.
The unfortunate truth is that most people are gross as hell. A huge number of people don't wash after peeing. Ive come across some who don't even wash after poop (confronted a person once and they said that they only touch toilet paper so it's not like their hands are contaminated). Once you're in common spaces, you will obviously have to touch the same things as these people. There have been swab and culture studies that show fecal bacteria on a lot of touch surfaces. There will even be fecal bacteria on your toothbrush from being in a toilet with aerosol toilet water with every flush. It is gross, but our immune systems handle this environmental contamination really well without OCD cleaning habits needed.
Some points for others:
You might think your genitals are "clean" but you wouldn't want to touch any random person's clean genitals. Your hands are going to touch common surfaces. Wash them as courtesy (the same courtesy you would want from others).
Washing isn't about bacteria contamination. Pee has no bacteria on it but it would still be gross to be splashed by it. Hygiene gets rid of gross/ick things and it's worth washing what you would expect others to wash.
There's huge personal world-view at play here for each individual. Many wouldn't put up with the inconvenience of wearing masks to protect others from COVID at inconvenience to themselves. Unfortunately this mindset extends to things like hygiene for a lot of people. Please consider the world you live in and some inconveniences (like washing hands repeatedly) are for the sake of your fellow humans.
Same goes for things like picking your nose or jerking off......people, please.
Depends on the person
Sent you a PM. Let's meet up.....to discuss this further....
๐คฎ
Never shake that person's hand.
At work my hands are dirtier than my dick, I have to wash them before I pee. Come to think of it my hands are probably always dirtier than my dick because despite my best efforts I still can't use it to open doors and not many people want to shake hands with it.
My hands are also dirtier than your dick.
Yeah, probably. Unless you're Howie Mandel or something, and honestly even then.
I regret opening this thread and this completly validates me using anything but my bare hands to grab door handles.
contactless
Excellent lol. As an aside, there are cafes I do not go to just because they don't use paper towels in their bathrooms.
Me too. One of the reasons I hate summer is I don't usually have something with long sleeves to open shuff with.
carry hand sanitizer, but also if it's the washroom use paper towels to open the door, and toss it on the floor beside the door if they're stupid enough to not keep a trash can there / within reach.
I avoid certain restaurants/cafes that don't hove paper towel in their bathrooms for this exact reason. ;-;
Yes, always.
Lmao, reminds me of a college bathroom experience where someone entered, used the urinal, used the hand drier, and left.
I was astounded.
Life pro tip op, when your hands are coated in soap rub the taps (and rinse with hands) and don't use your fingers for the light switch and door.
I do
My parents don't
Yeah you read it right, my mom just TOUCHES THE FUCKING SEAT THING... then touch the flush, and I DON'T HEAR THE FAUCET RUNNING
I called it out once, and she did washed her hands for THAT ONE TIME then proceeded to never wash hands for every subsequent bathroom use... also never used soap...
My Theory on why: My parents grew up in Rural China... their standards of cleanliness is probably much lower...
I mean if they have germophobia like I do, then you can't even survive in the rural areas... if you know what I mean
Funny that they used to be the ones to teach me to wash my hands but now they don't anymore... wtf
LIFEHACK: do both at once by pissing in your hands! it's environmentally friendly!!!
I don't drink enough bleach for that to be effective though!
Plus, they say pee is sterile.
It's not, but that's what they say!
Urine is sterileโฆ until it hits the urethra.
It is cleaner before reaching the urethra, but not sterile.
Yes, every single time. Even if I'm camping in the middle of nowhere. Hell, even if I sat down and didn't even touch my dong.
If I don't wash them, it feels like there is an invisible film on my hands. I don't know how to describe it. Like, a film of filth or grease or something. Purely mental. I HAVE to wash them.
Every time. Itโs about upkeep, not worrying whether I touched anything. Plus, I always blot with toilet paper anywayโฆ
While most people would suggest a direct conversation, I have something far more interesting to propose. Think of it as a social experiment with a touch of behavioral conditioning. Hereโs how you can turn this annoyance into an opportunity for growth (in more than one way).
Phase 1: The Setup
Youโll need a sample of a Listeria monocytogenes bacterial culture. You can buy those online. It's visually harmless and olfactorily intriguing, but it has some special abilities too. You also need to look up what aseptic laboratory techniques are and implement them at home when working on a project like this.
Place your culture in a sealed plastic bag with a nutrient source (bread, rice, mushy banana etc). Add sugar if youโre impatient. Add a small amount of warm water to activate the experiment. Seal the bag with tape. You want it to look official, but tempting to open. Place the bag on a shared surface. The kitchen table works well. Add a handwritten note:
"CAUTION: ACTIVE MICROBIAL CULTURE - DO NOT OPEN OR DISTURB. PART OF AN ONGOING HOUSEHOLD HYGIENE STUDY."
You could also use a realistic but vague label. Something like "Bio-Experiment #4 - Handle with Care" adds mystery without outright warning him off.
Next, you wait for the enticing fragrance to develop. During this stage L. monocytogenes utilizes the provided carbohydrates to produce its unique aroma while multiplying rapidly.
The goal here is to exploit human curiosity. Your roommate will notice the bag. He will wonder whatโs inside. And if heโs the type who doesnโt wash his hands, heโs exactly the type of subject who will hopefully also open it sooner rather than later, especially if you casually mention how "fascinating" the results have been so far and how important they are to you. You could even mention that the resulting product will have "powerful health effects".
When your roommate inevitably asks, "Dude, what the hell is that smell?" downplay it. "Oh, itโs just a little experiment for a friendโs research project. Nothing to worry about. Just donโt open it, okay?" The more nonchalant you are, the more irresistible it becomes. If he opens the bag, your part of the experiment ends and you can dispose of the bag and its contents. If not, it's time to move on to the next phase.
Phase 2: The Reinforcement (A Study in Behavioral Adjustment)
After about a week, casually begin wiping down surfaces in the bathroom and kitchen with disinfectant wipes. Make it obvious, but donโt explain why.
Bonus: Leave a bottle of hand sanitizer on the kitchen counter with a Post-it that says "For everyoneโs peace of mind."
Start washing your hands immediately after touching any shared surface. If your roommate is watching, sigh and mutter something about "cross-contamination" and "unpredictable variables."
If he asks what youโre doing, shrug and say, "Just being cautious. You never know whatโs floating around in here."
Phase 3: Deployment
After a few more days of letting the experiment marinate (and your roommate marinate in paranoia), suit up. Gloves, mask, the works. Open the bag dramatically in front of him if heโs around. If heโs not, even better. Let him find the open bag later.
Dip a cotton swab into your microbial cocktail and generously apply it to:
The toilet handle.
The flush button.
The faucet handles.
The light switch.
Bonus: If youโre feeling artistic, draw little smiley faces on the toilet seat with it. Heโll never sit the same way again.
Avoid the bathroom for 24 hours. Let the magic happen. When you finally clean everything (with large amounts of 70% ethanol), make sure your roommate sees you doing it. Bonus points if you whistle while you work.
Phase 4: Aftermath
After The Great Cleaning, act normal. Donโt mention the experiment. Just wait and observe.
If your roommate starts washing his hands obsessively, pretend not to notice. If he avoids the bathroom entirely, ask him if heโs okay with fake concern. If he confronts you, just shrug and say:
"Dude, I have no idea what youโre talking about. Maybe youโre imagining things? Stress can do weird things to a person."
The Alternative (For the Faint of Heart):
Of course, if youโre not interested in exploring the boundaries of human behavior and hygiene psychology, you could always just talk to your roommate. Tell him his lazy habits are disgusting and inconsiderate. Tell him how that makes you feel and how to solve the problem.
Fucking sent me lmao
*Maybe I'll do this, but turn up the heating to 37C for ~16 hours during Phase 3 so my artistry can truly be admired.
The best thing about L. monocytogenes is that it's not particularly picky. Even if the temperature or pH-value are grossly off, you won't kill your cultivation that easily. You'll only slow down the growth and metabolism instead of stopping them completely. Technically, you could even carry out the experiment in a refrigerator, but it's just going to take an absurdly long time to get anywhere. If you want to hit the sweet spot, it's somewhere between 30ยฐC and 37ยฐC. Incidentally, that's also the temperature range where you can very easily get an understanding on what exponential growth really means IRL. This project is just full of educational potential for everyone involved!
Keep the earlier phases hidden somewhere private and then start from phase 3. Everyone who cleans their hands will be fine. Never end the phase until behaviour improves and keep a healthy supply of hand sanitiser in your room.
Ooh, a blind experiment. I like it.
Yeah, there's always tiny droplets. Would you also not wash your hands after pissing directly on it?
Yes. Yikes that's filthy. I mean I wash my hands throughout the day not just when I use the bathroom, as well. How do you prep and cook a meal without washing your hands to avoid cross-contamination between ingredients?
Omg I've had "Turn the page, wash your hands" stuck in my head for decades. Glad I'm not the only one.
Rocko's Modern Life was truly underrated.
Yes. Especially at work, especially before taking a piss. See, the break room has free snacks, including hot chips. I've yet to make the mistake of neglecting to double wash my hands but the fear of god and caspaicin is within me.
Its crazy not to unless the bathroom sink is so gross it feels like it would be worse. What really gets me is folks don't shower before going into the pool. ewww. I would rather have everyone take a pee in the pool than not shower before. that at least is just proteins as opposed to all the dead skin, bacteria, and oil.
Surely, unless I somehow manage to forget.
Also, I wash my hands before I cook and before I eat. But I don't wash them every time I touch whatever else all day long.
Public bathrooms yes. At home no.
Honestly I wouldn't sweat it. It's more something that seems gross than is actually going to make you sick. Pretty much ANY high traffic surface in public is gonna have way more pathogens on it than something in your house. And breathing the same air as your roommate is more likely to get you sick than touching something that they've touched. Still kinda gross though.
I wash my hands before I pee so I don't get germs on my dick--which is otherwise kept in my pants--from my hands that touch everything out in the world.
If I somehow get pee on my hands by accident, then I will wash them again.
Wash the groin sweat off your hands afterwards
Oh I plan on it.
sucks on fingers
Wash your goddamn hands after you pee. It splashes.
How the hell does it splash onto your hands? Are you holding your hands in the toilet when you pee?
Standing super close to the urinal, pissing with the force of of fire hydrant? I sit to pee. Even if the only toilet available is a urinal.
Why would you sit on a urinal, that's odd
to go poop ofc
True, I try to wash my hands before as well if I've recently touched like a public library doorknob or something but sometimes it's an emergency and I'll use the sides of knuckles like scissors.
I had someone suggest this to me once. His logic was that he knows where his dick has been and showers daily.
I subsequently came across a "Straight Dope" article that debunked it. It's best to wash after.
This is how the pros do it
Yes. Even at home. Poo particles everywhere, especially on the flusher.
Take a minute, wash your hands, smile in the mirror to make sure nothing is in your teeth. Straighten yourself up and walk out of that bathroom with your head held high. You deserve it.
How can people not wash after every trip to the restroom? I find it disgusting if I don't do it, so you can imagine how I feel about others not doing it.
Unless I'm pissing outside and flop my dong out without touching it (pull your underwear down, then use the fabric to support and aim), fuck yeah I wash my hands.
Ah the Royd from Dispatch technique
Somewhat related, have a think about how clean your belt is. Probably the first thing you touch after getting cack handed and never washed. Enjoy!
Even if I'm in a hurry, I splash them in water with a squirt of soap and quick scrub. I touch keyboards all day and my hands need to be cleaned. Never mind when I physically worked with IT equipment.
Usually during. I mean the sink is right there anyway, it saves time, and water.
Don't waste water like that, just use the pee.
A lot of people wipe their butt, flush the toilet, wqsh their hands, dry them, and leave the toilet.
This means that at least the toilet flushing button is often very dirty with poo germs. Depending on how you two and people visiting you handle the flushing, ut might make sense to always wash hands after flushing the toilet.
Otherwise... Whatever.
Surgeons wash their hand after peeing. Tradies wash them before peeing. Who would you rather shag?
Also maybe surgeons should be out of the running completely. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/25498174/
No, before
I wash my penis before so my hands stay clean.
Just seeing the state of toilets and stalls when some people leaveโฆ I donโt want that on my hands. When iโm at work I notice many people do their business and bolt out the door if they think theyโre alone.
Next time you get sick, for any reason, just blow up on him. "I got sick because you can't wash your goddamn dick sweat and piss after you pee!". Make it dramatic. He'll fear you'll blow up every time you get sick. Or bring friends over and let them go "ewww, did you just leave the toilet without washing your hands?". Bonus points probably if it's the sex he's attracted to that tell him.
On a serious note: I always wash my hands. WTF?
Always in public, at home i only do if i touch something which is often.
When in public:
Push door open (usually with elbow) Do business Extract paper towel, but do not grab them... Wash hands Get paper towel that has been dangling and begin to dry hands Use paper towel to get more paper towels (not touching the paper towel dispenser mechanism with skin, using the used ppr towel) Use new paper towel to secure the soiled one, and complete doing my hands, and turn off the water... Use paper towel once more to open the door out of the bathroom
This one time I used a bathroom that had a foot handle that you could open and lock the doors with and the rest of the accoutrements were motion activated.
In public yes
At home, Iโm wearing sweatpants or basketball shorts. Why do I need to wash if Iโm only touching the front of my waist band
Aside from the fact that you're peeing, you should be washing your hands throughout the day anyway and this is a perfect time to do it. So even if you just peed with no hands, this attitude means ya nasty.
Flushing?
No I don't and somehow I'm still alive.
I do at work though, out of courtesy.
do you wash your hands after shaking someones hand or scratching your arm ?
do you pee on your hands ? do you wash your dick where you shower ?
I'm the same as your roommate but then I'm also not pissing on my hands. i do occasionally but only just before I eat and not because I've just pissed.
You wash you hands before.
I don't. My hands will get far more dirty touching literally anything else in the bathroom than they will in the one whole second it takes to pull out/put up my dick.
But I also don't hold it when I pee.