Toilet Hygiene

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I wash every single time, both at home and in public restrooms.

In public restrooms, I use a paper towel to turn off the faucet and open the door (I get paper ready before washing by pushing down on the lever unless they're the "pull-off" variety).

In nearly every restroom at my university, there have been signs up telling everyone to do this since the H1N1 scare started.

My mom got me doing this when I was a little kid. At first, people thought it was weird (except for my grade school's nurse). Then, it came out on the news that this IS the proper way to stay healthy.

I guess it's only true if it's on TV.

I wash my hands every time I go to the bathroom, or even touch the toilet - No exceptions.

I always wash hands after using any public bathroom, and for that matter after touching door handles or whatever in a public building. I crank out the paper towel first, then wash & dry, then I use the paper towel to shut the water off and open the door. Most public bathrooms now have a trash can in the doorway for that purpose. And just to clarify; I wash hands with strong soap, at length, after using the toilet (#2). I am a clean-freak, and I don't even like to do #2 after I've taken a shower for the day. But as far as taking a whiz, I might not wash hands since I'm very much a hygiene freak, and I'm very clean down there. As a courtesy when I'm with other people or in someone else' house, of course I wash hands in all bathroom visits.

When I leave the grocery store, bank, or wherever, I keep a bottle of hand sanitizer in the car. I use that before I drive, and that keeps the germs and bacteria off my steering wheel and shifter, so I won't bring all that home with me. Believe me since I started doing all this clean stuff, I never get cold or flu viruses, and I have only had food poisoning ONCE, and that was when I used a public bathroom that was out of soap (before I had my hand sanitizer with me). I had soiled my hands on the door, or flusher, or whatever, and I then later ate a handful of peanuts. e-coli from my hands went on the peanuts and straight into my stomach.

Charles

If you avoid all germs compulsively, your immune system never has a chance to develop resistance, and the first time you encounter a really nasty germ, you will die immediately, like one of those horrible infections people always died from on The X Files, when they swelled up and turned purple and green, with yellow oozing pustules and blue and red lines of infection crawling underneath their skin in every direction.

I mean keeping clean is always a practical idea, but constant washing and obsessive use of hand sanitizers is a disorder all by itself.

I bathe twice a day, once to remove the bedsweat and wash my hair, and again after working out - never use any restroom other than my own, and I scour it myself at least once a week, so I don't worry too much about getting cooties.

I have become compulsive about not flushing unless the lid is closed, from all the reports about mist spritzing up in a cloud and contaminating the room. And I keep my toothbrush in the medicine cabinet for the same reason.

Some of this thread is so funny - I love the irrationality!

I wash my hands every time I use the toilet because a) the toilet is the second-dirtiest area in a house, and b) those warm, moist parts of the body harbour germs. Urine is (usually) pretty sterile, so it is not the primary reason I hand-wash.

(The dirtiest part of a house is the kitchen sink, which is far more likely to cause illness than a domestic toilet or even a public toilet - I am grossed out when I see a damp cloth going from sink to food preparation area to clean plate).

My family never does this, and they're the ones that prepare my food.

I never wash because there are more germs on the taps (fawcet) than on my hands to begin with. And germs keep you healthy.