DailyDirt: Did You Wash Your Hands?

from the urls-we-dig-up dept

Mon, Nov 23rd 2015 5:00pm — Michael Ho

Washing your hands with soap is an activity that most Americans probably take for granted. However, even doctors need to be reminded sometimes how important hand washing with soap is. This isn't just a conspiracy from the big "soap industry" for people to use more soap. Plenty of soap is bought and wasted, but hopefully, more people will use soap appropriately and wisely around the world....

Have you ever wondered what happens to the bars of soap in a hotel... that you only use twice? There's a non-profit organization, Sundara, that recycles barely used soap to distribute to underprivileged children around the world. [url]
Myriam Sidibe is trying to educate everyone about preventing the spread of disease and the use of soap. The global statistics of children dying is astounding -- and the estimate that 4 out of 5 people don't use soap after using the bathroom might be surprising. [url]
Trolling hotel staff about soap supplies isn't really that funny, so don't waste their time with frivolous requests for tiny bars of soap. Fortunately, Shelley Berman's comedy about hotel soap is completely fictional. [url]

Before you go off to wash your hands, take a look at this holiday gift guide for some awesome deals at the Techdirt deals store.

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Filed Under: cleanliness, health, myriam sidibe, sanitation, shelley berman, soap
Companies: sundara

7 Comments

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Anonymous Coward, 23 Nov 2015 @ 5:07pm

hmm. better soap design needed for hotels?
I suppose soap isn't that expensive, but you'd think there'd be a better way to dispense soap... but public restroom liquid hand soap dispensers are probably too tacky for hotels.
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Anonymous Coward, 23 Nov 2015 @ 5:52pm

So is the "Daily Dirt" putting itself out of business with this soap thing?
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CynicalChris (profile), 23 Nov 2015 @ 7:05pm

Too clean
As a side comment, there is the "too clean" hypothesis, that the rise in allergies, asthma etc. is because we're too clean. Lots of links to look at like http://www.nhs.uk/livewell/homehygiene/pages/are-we-too-clean-for-our-own-good.aspx
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Anonymous Coward, 23 Nov 2015 @ 8:40pm

Re: Too clean
That's just a theory. By far the biggest *known* reason for the increase of allergies is that ragweed populations have exploded worldwide. It's hard to imagine that Common Ragweed (as it's now known) was a very rare and geographically isolated plant back when forests blanketed much of its native North America.

http://www.theverge.com/2015/5/25/8654333/ragweed-pollen-climate-change-allergies-study
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Anonymous Coward, 23 Nov 2015 @ 9:19pm

Re: Re: Too clean
Nice theory, but why are rates going up where ragweed doesn't grow?
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Anonymous Coward, 24 Nov 2015 @ 11:22am

Re: Re: Too clean
Allergy to ragweed is completely different to "allergies" in general.

One allergen that is making a huge spike is "balsam of Peru" and similar substances. Where do you find these? In the perfumes found in...

...soaps. This includes bar soaps, liquid soaps, laundry detergent, dish detergent, and other similar soaps.

It's very difficult to find soaps and detergents that don't have these allergens in them; "perfume free" just means the manufacturer doesn't add perfume; but these scents come in the chemicals from THEIR suppliers; they often don't even know if they're in there.
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Anonymous Coward, 24 Nov 2015 @ 11:27am

On the flip side...
On the one hand, people should wash with soap after soiling their hands with anything bacteria-heavy.

What people should NEVER do is use "anti-bacterial" soaps. These have been found in study after study to breed anti-bacterial-resistant bacteria. This is due to the fact that people don't tend to use them properly, soaping down right up to the elbow and rubbing it in thoroughly for 30 seconds or so. If you fail to do this, there WILL be bacteria at the soap border who learn its structure and develop defenses against it (via natural selection if nothing else).

Also, anti-bacterial soaps aren't picky: they'll kill off all bacteria, meaning that you're a clean slate for the next bacteria you come in contact with. Depleting your skin's defensive flora means that not only bad bacteria, but also viruses have a higher chance of both penetrating the skin to cause real problems in your body, and to gain a tactical advantage against the good bacteria on exposed parts of your skin.
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