From a tender age, we’re taught to wash our hands after using the loo, and while most of us adhere to this hygiene rule, many still flout it. In fact, recent research into Brits’ bathroom habits by Faith In Nature revealed that UK men are nearly twice as likely as women to skip hand washing after a number two (18% vs 10%).
Merely stepping into a bathroom ensures you’ll pick up germs on your hands, so not washing them risks spreading these germs to everything you touch afterwards. But what if the tools you’re using to clean your hands aren’t as hygienic as you first thought?
A recent experiment shared on TikTok has demonstrated just how contaminated your hands could get from a simple action. Ruth, a scientist and the mastermind behind Devon Science, an educational programme for children and adults, unveiled all in an eye-opening clip. In her experiment, she used an agar plate, a thin layer of nutrient gel in a Petri dish, and placed it under a standard hand dryer in a public loo to see what bacteria would grow.
She then took another agar dish and waved it around in regular air to compare the amount of germs in the normal air we breathe with what comes out of the hand dryer.
After conducting an experiment where she incubated two samples overnight, Ruth shared shocking results with her followers. She explained: “The hand dryer agar shows so many different kinds of bacteria and a fungus too. The one from the air grew nothing, no bacteria at all. And this is why I do not use hand dryers.”
The short video has been viewed a staggering 3.2 million times, leading to a flurry of horrified reactions. One person admitted: “I genuinely wipe my hands on my shirt because I don’t like the noise of a hand dryer.”
Another user expressed disbelief: “What on earth. There is no contact with the hand dryers. Where are those germs coming from? Also, I would have thought the heat would kill off bugs. I am no longer a hand dryer user.”
An agreement came from someone else who stated: “As someone who has said this for years. I feel less insane.” Some did point out the need for a control sample from the bathroom’s air for a fair test, something Ruth agreed with, replying to a comment: “Probably and I’m going to test that.”
Ruth’s findings may leave you feeling uncomfortable, just as one woman’s claim that she doesn’t wash her hands after using the toilet at home has sparked controversy.
Summer, who is known online as @thesummeredeen, revealed in her TikTok: “Do you wash your hands after you go to the bathroom in your own home? I really hope I’m not outing myself. If everybody does this and I’m the only one that doesn’t. But no, I don’t. I’m not going to wash my hands on my own home. One or 2 or 3. I’m not going to do it.”
She added: “Honestly, there are public restrooms where I feel as if I wash my hands after using the restroom, I would actually get them more dirty by touching all the things the faucets, but especially in my own home. In the comfort of my own home, you want me to wash my hands? Ridiculous.”
She even confessed that sometimes she pretends to wash her hands by turning the tap on so that others in her house will hear it.