Want Cleaner Hands? Don’t Use This to Dry Them
If the pandemic taught us anything it's the value of washing our hands. I really think that so many of us have gotten into the habit of extra washing and hand sanitizing over the past year and a half that we will likely put a dent in the cold and flu season for the next several years.
Granted, I'm not a doctor but it certainly does seem as if more and more people are taking the extra steps to keep their hands clean. But are we actually creating more of a cleanliness problem by using high-tech appliances to perform one of the most basic functions of hand washing?
That function is drying your hands after you've washed them.
For most of us after we've washed up in the restroom we'll grab a paper towel if we are in a public facility. Those seem to do just fine. I actually prefer to just shake my hands dry and then grab a paper towel to turn off the faucet and grab the door handle.
Some public washrooms don't give you that option, they have those hot air hand dryers and I have never liked them. It takes too long and what if, just what if the air that's being blown out of that machine isn't "clean"?
A recent viral Tik Tok video appears to have confirmed my fears
What the video appears to show is that the fancy hot air dryers, even the fancier Dyson doesn't do as good of a job as the Jamie Bergeron method. What's that method? Shake it Shake it Baby.
And one more thing about those hot air dryers, we still need towels. Some of us like to rinse off our face and it's pretty darn difficult to hold your face under those hot air blowers. Besides the fact, that's really uncomfortable the threat of all those germs blowing directly into my face really has me creeped out.
Speaking of keeping your hands clean, do you remember the hand washing station in your school's cafeteria?
See How School Cafeteria Meals Have Changed Over the Past 100 Years