From a tender age, we're taught to wash our hands after using the bathroom, and while most of us adhere to this hygiene rule, there are still many who flout it.
In fact, recent research into Brits' bathroom habits by soap retailer Faith In Nature revealed that UK men are nearly twice as likely as women to skip hand washing after going to the toilet (18% vs 10%).
Just stepping into a bathroom ensures you'll pick up germs on your hands, so not washing them means you risk spreading these germs to everything you touch afterwards.
But what if the tools you're using to clean your hands aren't as germ-free as you initially thought? A recent experiment shared on TikTok has highlighted just how much contamination your hands could be exposed to from a simple action.
Scientist Ruth MacLaren, who runs the educational programmed Devon Science, unveiled all in a shockingly informative video clip. In her experiment, the Devon-based expert 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 toilet to see what bacteria would grow.
She then took another agar dish and waved it around in normal air to compare the amount of germs in the standard air we breathe with what comes out of the hand dryer.
After incubating two samples overnight, Ruth revealed shocking results to her followers, saying: "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 revealing short video has attracted nearly five million views, leaving viewers understandably appalled. One individual responded: "I genuinely wipe my hands on my shirt because I don't like the noise of a hand dryer."
Another was baffled, asking: "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." Meanwhile, another person stated: "As someone who has said this for years. I feel less insane."
However, some pointed out that, for fairness, Ruth should have collected a control sample from the air in the public bathroom, rather than her office – a point she conceded after a comment suggested such a sample would probably show more bacteria, replying: "Probably and I'm going to test that."
If Ruth's findings have unsettled people, here's another hygiene debate: a woman in the US claimed she doesn't wash her hands after using the toilet at home.
Lifestyle vlogger Summer Edeen, known online as @thesummeredeen, shared her controversial stance on TikTok, saying: "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.
"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."
Summer, who hails from Nashville, even disclosed in her video that sometimes she feigned handwashing by turning the taps on so others in her house think she's washed her hands.
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