My partner and I are arguing about whether or not you should use soap EVERY TIME you wash your hands after peeing. We have agreed you definitely should after pooping. He (26 M) says that just rinsing with water is good enough. I (27F) think that you should use soap every time. What are the opinions here?
Edit: I think just adding water just adds moisture to bring more bacteria. He disagrees.
Edit: He says you definitely wash with soap if your junk isn’t clean. He showers very often and maintains great hygiene otherwise, so I understand him thinking that without “touching” pee, he is okay. My concern is the toilet seat, door handle, etc. He always washes his hands before touching anyones food/dishes.
EDIT: This conversation happened at my apartment. We do not share a home but it is not a public restroom. He uses soap in public restrooms.
Comments
tbh if you’re home alone it’s okay to miss a few times, but in public restrooms, absolutely not. use soap everytime
Yes use soap! There’s a new one by Dove. It’s pretty nice and easy on your hands. It’s in a pump bottle. 🙂
I’m not sure the argument makes sense.
In order to wash your hands, you have to use soap. It’s okay to rinse your hands if you feel that that is what’s needed.
If you’re not using soap you’re just making your hands wet. That doesn’t get rid of germs so you might as well not bother.
That’s disgusting, you should always use soap
YES??
That’s not washing your fucking hands if you aren’t using soap.
Why is the bar for hygiene so low for men 🤦♀️
Use soap every time you wash your hands.
JUST WASH WITH SOAP, there is literally no argument against it!
Yes I do use soap every time, pee or poop. This is why statistically it is grosser to shake hands with men. 🤢
he’s so nasty he should probably wash his hands with soap before and after he pees
Yes. “Washing” your hands without soap is not actually washing them. I sure hope you two don’t share a towel!
There’s a mythbusters episode where they test just this
Wetting your hands without soup not only doesn’t clean them, it makes it easier for them to spread germs. It’s literally worse than nothing.
lol is this guy pissing on his hands or something? I use my elbow on the flush handle and a rise is fine if I don’t touch anything I consider filthy
Mythbusters tested this. While water alone did make a difference, it was like 10-20% cleaned compared to +90% clean with standard soap. So it does make some difference from the physical action of the water and friction when rubbing your hands together.
Edit: by the way, I’m an engineer and I still only know this shit from Mythbusters. Most engineers are only actually knowledgeable in their specific field of engineering.
Okay so there’s washing your hands and there’s rinsing your hands.
Lets say your hands were clean, and then you stole 3 cheetos from your friend’s bag and have a tiny bit of cheeto dust on your index and thumb. That’s a rinser. No soap. Maybe dont even rinse the whole hand. Cut up some orange slices and want to get the juice droplets off your hands? Rinser.
If you ate half a bag of cheetos and your fingers are covered in cheeto dust you have to use soap. Use the bathroom? Use soap. Just came in from shopping? Use soap etc.
Yet another man who touches his penis and then thinks it’s socially acceptable to not wash his hands afterwards
Show your partner the “Mythbusters” episode on this.
Why do we keep dating disgusting men….
There was a study done on just exactly this: The Effect of Handwashing with Water or Soap on Bacterial Contamination of Hands – PMC
On a side note, I was taught by my mother (who was a nurse for over 30 years) that it’s the friction you create on your hands when you wash them. In cases where there’s no soap available, rubbing your hands vigorously under running water will get rid of more germs versus just holding your hands under running water. But of course, it’s always better to use soap.
From this website: Handwashing Facts | Clean Hands | CDC:
“Lather your hands by rubbing them together with the soap. Be sure to lather the backs of your hands, between your fingers, and under your nails.
Why? Lathering and scrubbing hands creates friction, which helps lift dirt, grease, and microbes from skin. Microbes are present on all surfaces of the hand, often in particularly high concentration under the nails, so the entire hand should be scrubbed.”
50/50
I remember back in school where one of my teachers put up a little video showing that washing your hands with water just moves all the germs/bacteria around your hand and doesn’t actually get rid of it.
Using soap does.
Ever since then I always associated washing hands with soap + water.
Soap every time and sing “Row Row Row Your Boat” twice through. I’ve been through food safety training. Don’t want preventable illnesses when it’s easy to correctly wash my hands.
Yes or what’s the point. Washing means using soap.
I agree with you OP. However most men are taught to either not wash or only use water after taking a pee because of the ease of use and lack of probability of contamination.
Yes, use soap. Every time you wash your hands. How have people been brought up? This is a mystery to me. Men can’t be peeing all over the bathroom because they *want* to stand up, and they have to wash their hands afterwards. (And older women, you also cannot pee all over the toilet seat because you think you have to hover. No pee splashes left for others. And always wash your hands.
In fact if you were just wetting your hands you’re just spreading the germs. I’m a male and I see so so so so so so so many people in public bathrooms never washing their hands either going one or number two. It’s so disgusting. It’s why I refuse to shake hands with anyone.
Yes, i import olive oil soap from Nablus, Palestine. Best soap I’ve had. I got hooked so buy bulk so it lasts longer.
You should use soap every time. However, I think just using water to wash gets rid of like 80% of germs. At least, I remember that from that weird early COVID time when handwashing was really prominent in the news.
Yes. Is this a trick question?
Soap kills the bacteria! Plain water does not.
Does diesel count?
Yes
What’s more gross is the amount of people that don’t wash their hands at all when they come home. Especially after Covid.
If you don’t use soap you’re not washing you’re rinsing.
Everyone pointing out the obvious, that soap kills germs when water alone doesn’t. That’s missing the point, which is that the bacteria you come into contact with when you pee are way less dangerous than the ones you come into contact with when you poop. That’s why some people are more relaxed about post-pee handwashing.
If you use a hand dryer after, there’s no point in washing at all imo. Those things are full of germs.
But otherwise always use soap. Especially if it’s a public bathroom. Ew
There’s an argument to be made that if you wash your hands very frequently, then using soap every time is going to damage your skin barrier and potentially lead to issues with your skin. Personally I worked in a PC2 lab for a long time and can attest that frequent hand washing with soap will absolutely screw with your skin. I had actual skin splits on occasion which can be an infection risk.
I’m not exactly sure where the line should be but something to consider.
” think just adding water just adds moisture to bring more bacteria.”
This is incorrect – tap water has very low bacterial load and just the force of water flowing over your hands will dislodge some bacteria. Washing with just water will do more than not washing at all.
Anyway, urine is not that bacteria-loaded either. It’s not sterile, but neither is it anywhere close to as bad as poop. If he doesn’t soak his hands with urine or touch anything else gross in the bathroom (such as the toilet seat) it’s probably not that out of line to just rinse with water, imo.
In a public bathroom though all bets are off. I would honestly use soap after just touching the doorknob, whether I’d gone to the toilet or not.
– random nonscientific thoughts of one microbiologist.
Soap Everytime. Meanwhile my kids haven’t washed their hands after the bathroom use Everytime since B4 COVID
If I’m in my own home, I don’t usually wash my hands after peeing. I know Reddit is going to call me disgusting but there’s no hygiene reason why it matters. The only thing I’m touching is my dick, which is clean, so there’s no reason for me to wash my hands every hour.
I do wash my hands with soap every time I poop.
Medical professional here. Washing your hands with soap is one of the top three reasons half of you didn’t die in childbirth.
More in-depth: soap is really great at getting micro-organisms to detach from your skin and get washed down the drain where they belong. Soap even dissolves bacterial cell walls and viral envelopes, effectively shredding them like a water balloon thrown into a woodchipper. Unless you like getting sick a lot (and getting other people sick), wash your hands.
I’m a guitar player, I practice 2-3 hours a day. My hands will get sticky if I don’t wash them before I play. If I just use water, it doesn’t help, but if I use soap, no more sticky. There’s a difference.
If I’m washing my foods bc I got dirt or food or something on them I might just use water. But if it’s after touching something gross or especially using the restroom, you definitely need soap
I am OLD and didn’t really know how to wash my hands until Covid. and it has been life- changing! I used to have colds all winter every winter. No more.
I almost wouldn’t believe it if it hadn’t happened to me. It’s not like my hands were filthy; I guess they just never really got clean.
In the bathroom every time regardless of what you do.
If I’m cooking and have some of whatever I’m cooking on my hands and I need to open something I’ll just use water.
I wouldn’t think it’s “washing” my hands if there were no soap.
Soap’s main purpose is to lift and disperse germs and dirt from the surface of your skin so the rinse water can carry it away. Water alone isn’t capable of acting as an emulsifier like soap, so germs remain on your skin waiting to be spread and make people sick.
I mean how often are you washing with soap every time you touch any surface ever? You’d be washing your hands literally thousands of times a day if you wanted to wash after touching something germ covered and gross.
Why do you think the bathroom door handle is any more dirty than your phone screen, steering wheel, every surface in the place you work, etc.?
My penis is sterilized in my wife daily
Just FYI men’s junk sits inside the toilet bowl while they poop and gets splashed on. 🙂
Water is dumb. It’s better to not even wash than to wash with water. You’ll just get the drying towel dirty.
Yuck. Of course you need soap!
Yes
If someone touches their genitals I would really hope they wash their hands but I know a lot of men walk around with penis fingers and it’s gross
The pandemic made me reevaluate this. Now I feel like every time I pee I GET to wash my hands.
To put it another way, I should thoroughly wash my hands since it’s been an hour or two since the last time. Might as well piss beforehand.
I don’t even want to get into the science about how effective soap is versus just water (I mean I do, it’s way more effective but I digress).
My point is, what is the benefit of not using soap? You’re already getting your hands wet, you’ll have to dry them with a towel, you’re saving yourself like the extra five seconds to lather the soap (or more if he’s not spending any time actually rinsing when he isn’t using soap, which let’s be real is a real possibility for a guy who doesn’t use soap), and maybe a penny worth of soap per wash.
Why bother? Just use the soap. Like… why are you so against it is my question.
As someone who use to work at a bank and now works in a hospital, use the damn soap.
I gotta say, washing with soap after using the bathroom just makes sense. Water alone doesn’t get rid of all the bacteria. Plus, all those door handles and toilet seats aren’t exactly clean. So yeah, soap every time for me
Definitely wash hands throughout the day. I’m obsessed with washing my hands when I walk in the door from grocery shopping.
IMO him just rinsing is worse. Guess where he’s drying those hands? And next time you use that towel after washing your hands with soap, you get all those germs. I would not stand for this.
Yes you should use soap! He’s just being a dumbass. It might or might not connect with the online debate about wiping your ass being acceptable for straight men.
Your partner is gross 🤢
Every. Time.
I’m sorry, but what? Not using soap is nasty.
Who is teaching men these things!!!!??? Wash your damn hands with soap!!!!! You touched your dick!! I don’t care how clean you think you are (I wouldn’t trust his judgment clearly since he doesn’t wash with soap) 🤣 keep the dick cheese/sweat to yourself please and thank you
What kind of question is this??? Please break up with him
EVERY TIME
Yes
Yes. That’s the whole point.
Anyone who doesn’t is apart of the reason why covid spread like wildfire
I wash my hands with soap every time even though I didn’t touch pee. I still touched the flush button which is probably full of germs so that warrants a full handwash on its own
Hope I never shake their hand. Glad my surgeons washed with soap thoroughly. That’s gross, lazy, and ignorant. Your friend is a moron.
One should wash their hands a lot throughout the day, and always with soap.
Everything that’s in your pants is in a warm and probably moist environment close enough to the butthole to warrant washing your hands after touching it before you go on with your day. It’s just a pathogen playground down there
You def need to use soap but I can tell you for a fact washing your hands after the bathroom is not close to universal.
what’s the fucking point of using just water? don’t bother to wash at all at that point
gut bacteria can and will happily travel from your anus to your junk! even if you have a dick! wash your hands with soap!!
i edited to correct my grammar but i do want to say that ‘fuck point’ is also a mood
25m use soap everytime. But i also argue you should not piss in the shower and friends all say they do which i think is gross
Hand washing within and without soap
This is something black people never have to debate about… tell that nasty dude to wash his hands with soap
Tell him to smell his fingers. He’ll find out how well just running his hands under water does.
Soap is essential for clean hands.
Yes, it also dries up my skin though so I lotion after
He should wash his hands
He touched his junk to pee
Unless I’m out fishing and have to get fish gunk off in the middle of a stream, in which case I wash with some sand from the stream. When I get back to the car I hit ’em with sanitizer immediately, though.
But yeah, soap good. Use soap.
For it to be “washed” you must use soap, otherwise it’s “rinsed.”
Yes ofc soap is the washing part of washing your hands. Otherwise you’re just wetting your hands a bit.
Your skin is the first level of defense for illness. Handwashing is the best way to prevent most illnesses. Regardless of pee, you are still touching a body part and then touching other things or people. Would you wipe your armpit with your hand and then use that same hand to shake a friends hand?
Yes I use soap every time I wash my hands. There’s nothing wrong with being clean and it takes 30 secs max. I’m never in too much of a rush.
Yes, you should always wash with soap after going to the bathroom. What is wrong with people.
Soap! This is why we had to have handwashing tutorials when covid first hit. Please call him Typhoid Mary and send him to watch some tutorials.
There are times I’ll just rinse my hands off, but I don’t particularly think of it as “washing” if that’s all I do.
Peeing isn’t much of a reason to wash your hands, though; pee is relatively clean, and your hands are usually dirtier than your junk.
I used to swear by soap every time.
But then I moved to Las Vegas, and in the winter the cold+dry was wreaking havoc on my hands. I drink a lot of water and pee a lot, and the constant washing with shitty budget soap in the work restroom left my hands so cracked and dry I was literally bleeding onto customer’s receipts.
I stopped washing with soap when I pee. I don’t even touch my genitals anyway, and poop definitely gets soap. If I’m at home and can use good moisturizing soap I can wash all day. It’s just the cheap public restroom stuff that gets me.
If i’m going to wash my hands, mind as wash them clean. With soap. I also wipe my junk after piss….is that too much?
Yes, I seippo the soap evrytime!
Soap. Every time.
Every time, no question.
If you don’t use soap, it isn’t washing. It’s rinsing.
Always. Otherwise I didn’t wash them, I just made them wet 😂
Yes, use the soap! Rinsing your hands doesn’t get rid of the bacteria, then they’re getting transferred to everything you touch. Bork 🤢
Soap is an emulsifier that helps remover dirt and germs. Yes. I use soap every time.
After going 1 or 2, absolutely every time. Also if I’m using a public restroom, every time.
You know the videos of that woman with the big lips that pretends to bite food then goes Mmmm, tasty. Well not using soap are those vibes.
After my ex told me that guys “don’t need to wash their hands if they pee” I’ve had the same thoughts. I doubt most guy wash their junk really well but people should always wash their hands before and after touching their junk. You touch the toilet handle, door handle, light that other people touch. I think that’s really unsanitary and wish guys didn’t think that but everyone should wash their hands every time they use the bathroom
Idk if your bf mentioned but based on the ahem shape of his dong. Sometimes you can get away totally hands free peeing. Getting it out and shake 😅
Most times I’ll just use water unless I’m covered in oil or something. I hate the way soap feels on my hands and it dries them out real bad. Dry hands make my skin crawl.
Yes
i know you’re looking for a scientific answer which people have given and that’s awesome. but holy fucking shit he’s 26 and not using soap???? that’s like the first thing you learn when you’re old enough to bloody stand and wash your hands in the sink. absolutely insane.
Depends on what I’m doing.
Why is this even being asked? Is this a shit post? Use the damn soap. Gross.
I use soap when it public, after taking a shit, when i return home and when my hands feel or look dirty otherwise.
I don’t use soap every single time simply because my skin cannot take it (not even the gentle soaps). It would dry up and crack despite using a lot of lotion and i would have to constantly watch out to not stain stuff by bleeding.
So far i have seemed to avoid a lot of getting sicks by this, while also not having my skin hate me.
These comments make me lose faith in humanity. Are we living in medieval times? Have you learned nothing? 🤢
Soap unless at a public washroom without soap, then rinse extensively.
Yes. I use a moisturizing aloe vera with vitamin E liquid soap.
Not every time i wash my hands but if it’s toilet related then yes
Like if i just finished prepoing veggies for cooking i’ll probably just rinse my hands
I am, admittedly, bad at this. Because I have a shit working memory and don’t get to do anything on autopilot. So if my hands don’t FEEL gross, I may forget. Same reason I can’t have water on my nightstand, because if I wash the sleep-breath away I’ll forget to brush.
Solution: every time I turn on the faucet my brain goes “you use soap when you wash your hands” to the tune of “you can’t eat at errybody’s house”.
Don’t question the method. It works for me.
Yes you use soap. Every time.
Wash with soap.
Every.Single.Time.
No exceptions.
Of course I do
Your wiener is cleaner than your hands
I use soap almost always.
I have ocd tho lol
Thank you!! I was on holiday recently and we had to use public toilets that didn’t have soap and my mum and brother thought I was mad to ask them to use hand sanitizer afterwards….they were just going about touching things after only rinsing their hands with water! I’ve had this conversation with my mum and sister previously too. I have anxiety and OCD and it felt like they were putting it down to that and making me feel like I was the crazy one!! Glad that this thread agrees with me. It makes me feel icky how many people are going around doing this and then touching things that then we have to touch! 🤢🤢🤢
If you don’t use soap you’re only rinsing your hands and not washing them.
If a restaurant only rinsed their dishes would you want to eat off them?
Your boyfriend is insane. Your hands get dirty throughout the day, washing them every time you pee is the bare minimum, and you should always wash them at other times just to wash them, like when getting home and before eating obviously, before touching your computer, etc.
Not every time if we count the times where I like cut tomatoes and then rinse my hands after