Why you should never use a hot air hand dryer in a public restroom

[Passepartout]

I'll submit that hands are a lot cleaner after using a hot-air dryer than shaking them off and using your pants to finish the job.

 

[easyrider]

I'll submit that hands are a lot cleaner after using a hot-air dryer than shaking them off and using your pants to finish the job.

That's why I use my shirt.

Bill

 

[easyrider]

Not nearly as worried about the hand dryer as I am the bathroom door handle.

What I don't like is the wet floor at the urinal. I know no one has washed it and I know why it's wet.

Bill

 

[emeryjre]

If you use the air dryer
You at least you washed your hands
Probably used soap
Not everyone washes their hands after using the bathroom

 

[Carolinian]

I missed the Tiktok bit - yea, I wouldn't put much stock in that. That said, I suppose I got "got" by the various "health knowledgeable" comments out there like at:

Bathroom Hand Dryers: Are They Sanitary?

Washing your hands often and well is an important step in preventing flu and other illnesses. But the way you dry your hands can unintentionally spread bacteria.

health.clevelandclinic.org

and

The bacterial horror of hot-air hand dryers - Harvard Health

Researchers testing the dispersal of bacteria in public restrooms found that the hand dryers were picking up bacterial deposits, likely from aerosolized microbes caused by the flushing of uncovered...

www.health.harvard.edu

However, more reading brings up snopes:

FACT CHECK: Do Hot Air Hand Dryers in Restrooms Spread Disease?

Do restroom hand dryers spread disease by blowing germs and bacteria around? The jury is still out.

www.snopes.com

Which - says the science is mixed. Though all of these do reference slightly more reputable studies in journals. I will say, this is one that seemed intuitive to me that blowing droplets of water from my hands at high air speeds would lead to spraying them around the room more than wiping on a paper towel. What I didn't really take into account is that we just don't know how "dirty" the average wet hands are to spray around. Most of the studies seem to imply the "dirtiest" people don't wash their hands at all, and presumably don't use the dryer in that case, and even if they for some reason did on dry hands - it wouldn't be able to spread much. I personally will admit that I'm far more likely to wash my hands if there are paper towels to quickly dry my hands after than if there's just the hot air blower that all seemed to be ineffectual or would take SO LONG to work, on the order of like 5-10 minutes, that socially it'd be an issue to do.

That said, everything about most public restrooms seem to be designed to make it hard to do a good job - the auto water controls give you like 5-10 seconds of water, which isn't long enough per the articles, and manual ones mean you usually have to now touch the dirty handles just after washing your hands to turn them off. The doors all seem to open in so require you to somehow pull them open (if there's no paper towels, and just the hand dryers IDK how you're supposed to do that), so again, I'm not sure that skipping the whole thing doesn't leave you in substantially the same place with at least one of your hands after you pull the door open...

Snopes has never been a very objective source about anything. It owners have their own agenda, and the new owners even more so than the founders.

 

[Carolinian]

If you use the air dryer
You at least you washed your hands
Probably used soap
Not everyone washes their hands after using the bathroom

That's what makes the door knob such an issue. I wish building codes required public restroom doors to open outward where you could push it with your foot.

 

[dioxide45]

I'll submit that hands are a lot cleaner after using a hot-air dryer than shaking them off and using your pants to finish the job.

Especially when your pants were probably down around your ankles on the bathroom floor.

 

[TolmiePeak]

That's what makes the door knob such an issue. I wish building codes required public restroom doors to open outward where you could push it with your foot.

I like when the bathrooms have individual locking doors and then they have common hand washing sinks out in the hallway.

 

[beejaybee]

I have a Bath & Body Works mini-hand sanitizer attached to my purse, which I will always use if the only alternative to hand drying in a public bathroom is an air dryer. Will use soap/paper towels if available. On trains and other places, I've encountered sinks with air dryer buttons.

 

[AnnaS]

I usually have some paper towels in my bag just for this purpose. Many restrooms only have the air dryer option and/or don't work well. When I forget to replace paper towels, I might use the dryer or just shake off the water and do a quick wipe on my jeans.

I also try not to touch the handle on the door. I use the paper towel I used to dry my hands to open. I have pulled my sweatshirt over my hand to touch the handle - I like when the waste receptacle is by the door so I can throw away paper towel rather than hold it until I come close to one.

There are so many things we touch throughout the day.......we can only try here and there.

 

[dioxide45]

There are so many things we touch throughout the day.......we can only try here and there.

That's just it. Germs are everywhere. How many people use their phone while sitting on the crapper? Even if they don't, one's phone is dirtier than the toilet seat.

 

[emeryjre]

Problem solved
Use the bathrooms at Buc-ee's when away from home

 

[jp10558]

Snopes has never been a very objective source about anything. It owners have their own agenda, and the new owners even more so than the founders.

IDK, snopes has always seemed very credible to me, and mediabiasfact check rates them high factuality. They also cite sources. Seems like one of the better places to look at to me.

 

[emeryjre]

Political leanings of fact checkers

https://www.allsides.com/media-bias/fact-check-bias-chart

 

[Talent312]

Germs? I don't believe in germs.
According to these nice people on TV and the internet, doctors and drug companies just want to scare us.
.