Paper towels or Hand dryer?

[Kernel Hapablap]

Alright, it's been bugging me for a while. Is it better to dry my hands with paper towels or the hand dryer? Hand dryers, even the newer efficient ones, use up energy. Paper towels make waste, but I was pretty convinced by Penn and Teller's BS episode on BS recycling: paper comes from trees farmed for paper / there is no landfill crisis.

Save me!

[ServiceSoon]

First inclination is blowers are better for the enviroment.

[madurobob]

Stop wasting all that water washing your hands!

[thatguywhojuggles]

Just dry em' on my shirt...

[alfaniner]

Problem is, those guys that don't bother washing their hands have contaminated the door handle. Now what do you do?

[RoboTimbo]

I blow dry and take a paper towel for the door handle.

[Sir Robin Goodfellow]

I prefer paper towels myself. The best is the kind of setup we have at work, which is a washable cloth roll that hangs on the wall.

[Autolite]

Alright, it's been bugging me for a while.


If you think that using paper or blower is a major dilemma then don't even consider researching the harm done to environment by using flush toilets... :D

[quixotecoyote]

I prefer paper towels myself. The best is the kind of setup we have at work, which is a washable cloth roll that hangs on the wall.

ewww. Those things always look really nasty.

What's nice is the high power blow dryers some places have. The Quiznos has one that makes the air feel like its scraping the water off you.

[WildCat]

I pee on my hands to harden them, like Moises Alou does. Why do you weirdos want soft hands?

[fuelair]

Problem is, those guys that don't bother washing their hands have contaminated the door handle. Now what do you do?
Carry water in your hands and wash the door handle, then rip the blower off the wall and carry it over to dry the door handle. Hope nobody wiped their hands on the blower.


Nuthins perfect.:)

[RoboTimbo]

Pee your pants. Wash when you get home and it's safe.

[Ron_Tomkins]

Problem is, those guys that don't bother washing their hands have contaminated the door handle. Now what do you do?

Actually, I always wash my hands, dry them with the paper towel and then open the door by putting the paper towel on the handle so that there's no direct contact with it

[TX50]

Actually, I always wash my hands, dry them with the paper towel and then open the door by putting the paper towel on the handle so that there's no direct contact with it

And then you do what with the soggy paper towel?

[Sir Robin Goodfellow]

ewww. Those things always look really nasty.

What's nice is the high power blow dryers some places have. The Quiznos has one that makes the air feel like its scraping the water off you.


In public restrooms, yeah, but ours is at the common hand washing sink. The towel is clean when you pull it down, and we go through about a roll a day. But you should smell them if they get rolled up when they're still wet from washing.

[Oliver]

Alright, it's been bugging me for a while. Is it better to dry my hands with paper towels or the hand dryer? Hand dryers, even the newer efficient ones, use up energy. Paper towels make waste, but I was pretty convinced by Penn and Teller's BS episode on BS recycling: paper comes from trees farmed for paper / there is no landfill crisis.

Save me!


Put one of your shoes in the door after entering the room, do your business, wash your hands while flushing the toilet, dry them using the paper towels, dry the paper towels using the dryer, put the dried paper towels back into the dispenser, open the door, put your shoe on and leave the mess you created.

[rjh01]

I never can dry my hands with a hand dryer. Not enough hot air comes out.

[Cavemonster]

Penn and Teller are often a great starting point, but you need to take them with a grain of salt.

For instance, they make a lot of claims like "It takes more energy to recycle a plastic bottle than it does to make a new one" They state this stuff as facts, but it's not only not backed up, it's sort of a meaningless statement. Recycled plastic bottles generally don't become new plastic bottles. As was demonstrated on the show, they become textile, carpeting and plastic lumber. Very few plastic bottles are made from recycled material, so there really aren't analogous processes to compare.

The same can be said about most of their claims. They ask very good questions, and are not afraid to torch sacred cows, and that's great, but don't let them convince you of anything. They're wonderful at presenting their pitch, they're showmen. Take everything they say as a claim that needs to be backed up by independent research.

In terms of hand drying, here's a nice article
http://www.slate.com/id/2193740/

[Ocelot]

ewww. Those things always look really nasty.

What's nice is the high power blow dryers some places have. The Quiznos has one that makes the air feel like its scraping the water off you.

Was it the Dyson Airblade (http://www.dysonairblade.co.uk/) they had them on holiday, and absolutely awesome hand drying experience.

Forget about it being more hygenic (it is) and more energy efficient (it is) what matters is that it makes you want to wash your hands again just so you can dry them one more time.

[TragicMonkey]

I wouldn't mind using the blowers if they actually dried my hands, but I invariably end up with the choice of running it again and again or just wiping them on my pants anyway.

[Kernel Hapablap]

Penn and Teller are often a great starting point, but you need to take them with a grain of salt.

The same can be said about most of their claims. They ask very good questions, and are not afraid to torch sacred cows, and that's great, but don't let them convince you of anything. They're wonderful at presenting their pitch, they're showmen. Take everything they say as a claim that needs to be backed up by independent research.

In terms of hand drying, here's a nice article
http://www.slate.com/id/2193740/

First of all, I agree with you completely about Penn and Teller. Second, thanks for the article. I thought I was thinking too hard about it, and now I realize some people are worse.

Same goes for all the responders to my silly thread. I thought I was being weird and paranoid until I read what everyone has to say.

I think probably the difference between towels and dryers is negligible compared to other environmental concerns. But something about the way they put them side-by-side that just forces a decision.

[tkingdoll]

I blow in restrooms. At home I use a paper towel afterwards.







What? Why are you looking at me like that?

[Cuddles]

Jeans are basically just a wearable towel.

[Holler Hoojer]

Think for a minute about which is cleaner. Then wash your hands before you urinate, not after.

[Beerina]

Problem is, those guys that don't bother washing their hands have contaminated the door handle. Now what do you do?

IIRC, the germophobe practice of opening the door with a towel is one of the few practices that actually works. I.e. that is statistically useful beyond just not touching your mouth, nose, and eyes all the time (thus introducing germs past the skin barrier.)


Poop gets on a guy's hand, and then gets on the door handle. This does not die instantly. It gets on your hand, then you touch your mouth directly or indirectly through eating shortly thereafter. If unlucky, something takes, either a cold or flu, or perhaps something much worse.

Unlike those stupid toilet seat covers that won't stop liquids from touching you if you don't wipe the seat first, and are unneeded if you do, (and are statistically unneeded in any case unless you are in the habit of sitting on unwiped seats with goo on them with open sores of your own on your ass.)


Funny. Our company, in a fit of green, tore out the lovely stainless steel towel dispensers with the built-in trash receptacles below, you know the kind, they are recessed into a big rectangular vertical hole in the wall, and then they put in some air hand dryers. Then they had to put back towel dispensers, but crappy wall-mounted, white, tin ones, not the stainless ones, and did so presumably because air driers can't wipe up up bloody noses or snot or whatever else people may go into the bathroom for. Then they put back trash cans, plastic tall ones with flippy tops, not the nice recessed, stainless steel ones.

Then, since these bathrooms are served by a double door system, they put another tall can in the little airlock room to catch the paper towels people were heaving, crumpled, onto the floor after using it to opening both doors.

Almost nobody uses the hand air driers, and even those who do grab a paper towel anyway to open the doors.



I've seen people leave not just the urinal (which would only require a brief rinse) but the stoolchugger itself without even glancing at the sink, then grab the door handle, towelless.


YMMV.

[BPSCG]

I don't pee on my hands. If you pee on yours, then wash them afterwards. Otherwise, please explain to me what's so inherently unsanitary about your ding-dong that you have to wash your hands after you touch it, but your wife/GF/BF doesn't have to brush her/his teeth after, well, you know...

[alfaniner]

I've seen/heard of guys that use their feet to flush the toilet, so that they don't have to touch the handle. Thanks dude, for putting all that guck from the floor on the handle now.

[Furcifer]

I don't pee on my hands. If you pee on yours, then wash them afterwards. Otherwise, please explain to me what's so inherently unsanitary about your ding-dong that you have to wash your hands after you touch it, but your wife/GF/BF doesn't have to brush her/his teeth after, well, you know...

I always wondered that too. I usually wash my hands before I do my business, then try not to touch anything besides my zipper on the way out.(I just scrolled down and saw Holler Hoojer and I are on the same wavelength here :) )
Then again I am amazed at what some people can do to a public bathroom. I can't imagine anyone causing that level of damage without needing a shower afterwards.

The same reasoning goes for the old "hair in the soup". Generally speaking a hair is probably the cleanest your food comes into contact with, and yet some people freak out if they find one.

As for the OP, I prefer the old school cloth pull/roll thingy. They are the best as long as they don't get to the end of the roll. Hard to find them anymore. Other than that its paper, followed by jeans, followed by the air dryer.

[dirtywick]

If you use paper towel your hands will actually be dry.

[Skeptical Greg]

... But something about the way they put them side-by-side that just forces a decision.
This is all very odd to me - I don't remember having a choice - As I recall any place that had the blowers did not offer paper and vice versa ..

I'll pay attention, and If I'm somewhere that has both, I think I would use both..

I'm not a fastidious hand washer anyway.. I'm of the school that what don't kill me just makes me stronger .. It's worked out great so far..

[Dorian Gray]

The dryer uses electricity, which involves burning coal and strip mining, unless it involves nuclear waste. The paper involves cutting down trees, plus you can use paper towels to avoid catching and spreading diseases picked up from the door, faucet and toilet handles. No contest.

[Lithrael]

The dryer uses electricity, which involves burning coal and strip mining, unless it involves nuclear waste. The paper involves cutting down trees, plus you can use paper towels to avoid catching and spreading diseases picked up from the door, faucet and toilet handles. No contest.

rofl, yes and I'm sure the paper mill uses no electricity, like the trucks moving the paper use no petrol

[ZirconBlue]

I don't pee on my hands. If you pee on yours, then wash them afterwards. Otherwise, please explain to me what's so inherently unsanitary about your ding-dong that you have to wash your hands after you touch it, but your wife/GF/BF doesn't have to brush her/his teeth after, well, you know...

See here (http://www.straightdope.com/columns/read/1043/why-are-men-supposed-to-wash-their-hands-after-urination).

The dryer uses electricity, which involves burning coal and strip mining, unless it involves nuclear waste. The paper involves cutting down trees, plus you can use paper towels to avoid catching and spreading diseases picked up from the door, faucet and toilet handles. No contest.

Perhaps you might consider reading the article linked above (http://www.slate.com/id/2193740/).

[BPSCG]

I don't pee on my hands. If you pee on yours, then wash them afterwards. Otherwise, please explain to me what's so inherently unsanitary about your ding-dong that you have to wash your hands after you touch it, but your wife/GF/BF doesn't have to brush her/his teeth after, well, you know...
See here (http://www.straightdope.com/columns/read/1043/why-are-men-supposed-to-wash-their-hands-after-urination).So when your girlfriend polishes your knob, she's in mortal danger from the dreaded coliform bacteria?

Methinks the danger from not washing your hands is overstated. This is begging for a Mythbusters piece. They did a five-second rule segment, and a segment on double-dipping a potato chip, and a segment about urinating on the third rail, so a segment on washing your hands after urinating seems to be a natural.

[DC]

Problem is, those guys that don't bother washing their hands have contaminated the door handle. Now what do you do?

thats why i use a solarpower driven handdryer and a recycled papertowel to open the door :D

[DC]

I've seen/heard of guys that use their feet to flush the toilet, so that they don't have to touch the handle. Thanks dude, for putting all that guck from the floor on the handle now.

hey hey will you please stopp with spreading those awefull stories?
im close to getting a toiletphobia :eek:

Only people like Monk should use public toilets.

[rjh01]

If having oral sex with your partner is not very dangerous I think I might live as a hermit with my spouse and so not have to wash my hands after touching my penis. Of course the rare times I see other people in the flesh I will have ensured that I have washed my hands.

[Kernel Hapablap]

This is all very odd to me - I don't remember having a choice - As I recall any place that had the blowers did not offer paper and vice versa ..

I'll pay attention, and If I'm somewhere that has both, I think I would use both..


I definitely think there is a regional aspect to it. Where I'm from (Ottawa, Canada), pretty much everywhere has both. I have had friends and family from elsewhere remark that they have not seen it as such (in Geneva, parts of the US etc.)

I also wash my hands before, rather than after. Or both if I have poo on my hands. I do think, in a lot of ways, concern for germs is overblown. However, there is no doubt that sanitation stops the spread of infection and disease. How would you feel if your doctor didn't wear gloves or wash his hands before giving you a rectal exam?

[BPSCG]

How would you feel if your doctor didn't wear gloves or wash his hands before giving you a rectal exam?If my doctor didn't wear gloves while doing a rectal exam, I'd have more pressing concerns about my doctor than her sanitary habits... :boggled:

[Cuddles]

Of course the rare times I see other people in the flesh I will have ensured that I have washed my hands.

Surely the lesson to be learned from this thread is that when you see other people you should ensure that they have washed their hands?

How would you feel if your doctor didn't wear gloves or wash his hands before giving you a rectal exam?

I think it's more important that the doctor wears gloves during the exam. Whether she wears them before or not is less of a concern.

[rjh01]

Surely the lesson to be learned from this thread is that when you see other people you should ensure that they have washed their hands?

<snip>

Very good point. That was what I was trying (and failing) to say. Those very close to you are unlikely to be infected with anything you have as you already have infected them with what you have. Hopefully you have not hurt them too much. However it is other people that you can hurt and they can hurt you with their germs.

So live like a hermit and live long infectious free life.

[eeyore1954]

I pee on my hands to harden them, like Moises Alou does. Why do you weirdos want soft hands? Did you ever read A Tree Grows in Brooklyn? According to that book the Italian bricklayers did that.

[BPSCG]

So live like a hermit and live long infectious free life.Because we all know hermits live longer than anyone.

[Travis]

I blow in restrooms. At home I use a paper towel afterwards.

You aren't afraid of getting caught?:eek:



I personally use paper towels because they actually dry my hands where the air blower usually just makes them feel cold and still wet.

[Twilek]

I despise the blow dryers not only for leaving me with damp hands, but also for, in busy restrooms, making me wait in line not only for the toilet but the dryer as well. With a paper towel, you can grab it and move aside while you dry, allowing people to dry simultaneously. Not so with the dryer.

[bigred]

I have always hated the stupid dryers. Give me a freakin paper towel. And don't install the ones where they come out of the bottom of a small circular hole because those damn things won't tear off and you end up with like 50 of them at a time.

/silly rant

[LeSuz]

paper towels. blower is blowing contaminated air on your hands (think of the kind of particles that are floating around in a public restroom).

[TragicMonkey]

paper towels. blower is blowing contaminated air on your hands (think of the kind of particles that are floating around in a public restroom).

Neutrinos and quarks, and filthy, filthy protons.

[Travis]

Neutrinos and quarks, and filthy, filthy protons.

Atomic particle porn is as dirty as it gets.:D

[tesscaline]

Those of you wondering why hand washing is so important might benefit from a food sanitation course...

[Audible Click]

If my doctor didn't wear gloves while doing a rectal exam, I'd have more pressing concerns about my doctor than her sanitary habits... :boggled:

Even worse. How would you feel if the doctor was wearing gloves but had both hands on your shoulders during the rectal exam?

[BPSCG]

paper towels. blower is blowing contaminated air on your hands (think of the kind of particles that are floating around in a public restroom).Yeah, that's kinda my thought. If you can smell pee and crap in the air, it's because there are pee and crap particles of some sort floating around in the air. You're drying your hands with recirculated pee and crap particles, not to mention the fact that you're also breathing them the whole time you're in there.

All things considered, it might be best to just put on a pair of DependsTM when you get dressed each morning...

[BPSCG]

Even worse. How would you feel if the doctor was wearing gloves but had both hands on your shoulders during the rectal exam?Since my doctor is a woman... :eek:

[roger]

All yall wouldn't survive very long in, um, developing nations travel. Squat toilets, used TP only, stored in a basket beside the hole, floor covered in brown, no lights, and when you fumble with the door in the dark it's slick and you come out smeared in brown residue.

But, you know, it's sanitary, because you only use your left hand for 'the business', and the right for eating.

[rjh01]

IIRC, the germophobe practice of opening the door with a towel is one of the few practices that actually works. I.e. that is statistically useful beyond just not touching your mouth, nose, and eyes all the time (thus introducing germs past the skin barrier.)


Poop gets on a guy's hand, and then gets on the door handle. This does not die instantly. It gets on your hand, then you touch your mouth directly or indirectly through eating shortly thereafter. If unlucky, something takes, either a cold or flu, or perhaps something much worse.
<snip>

Been thinking about this issue and related issues. 100% of the people who do wash their hands touch the tap before they wash their hands, so that when you have finished washing your hands and turn the tap off then you are touching a very dirty surface and so you need to wash your hands again. I think we should have taps that do not need to be touched when you turn them on and off.

[Mason]

Wash your hands, with soap, when you first walk in, because you hands are already disgusting from daily activities. You want to avoid transferring things to the warm, moist, dark area of the body which you're about to touch, which, coincidentally, doesn't get any hygenic attention between showers, even after your infected hands smear them with bacteria and grime.

Wash again, with soap, on your way out, use the paper towel to open the door. If you see someone not wash their hands, remind them "Hey, you're not gonna put your hands all over the doorknob without washing them after you've just been handling your personal petri dish, are you?"

After you walk out, it's a good time to use a little hand sanitizer. Don't go crazy with the sanitizer after everything you touch, but after visiting the restroom and before you eat are good times.

[Dragoonster]

I prefer towels, much quicker and more efficient at drying them. I just do it out of habit though, I'm just assuming that it's very rare to catch a fatal or chronic disease from a restroom, and don't really care at all if I get sick for a week. I certainly don't vigorously scrub my hands with soap before I do my business.

Are there actually any horrible deadly or deforming things people actually catch from restrooms that they wouldn't have if they opened the door handle with a towel instead of their bare hand? My impression is there's not, not in any numbers that would make going through elaborate and time wasting motions worthwhile.

[ZirconBlue]

Wash your hands, with soap, when you first walk in, because you hands are already disgusting from daily activities. You want to avoid transferring things to the warm, moist, dark area of the body which you're about to touch, which, coincidentally, doesn't get any hygenic attention between showers, even after your infected hands smear them with bacteria and grime.

Wash again, with soap, on your way out, use the paper towel to open the door. If you see someone not wash their hands, remind them "Hey, you're not gonna put your hands all over the doorknob without washing them after you've just been handling your personal petri dish, are you?"

After you walk out, it's a good time to use a little hand sanitizer. Don't go crazy with the sanitizer after everything you touch, but after visiting the restroom and before you eat are good times.

Isn't there a hypothesis going around that the reason there is (allegedly) a higher incidence of allergies, is that people are living in too clean an environment?

[applecorped]

Was it the Dyson Airblade (http://www.dysonairblade.co.uk/) they had them on holiday, and absolutely awesome hand drying experience.

Forget about it being more hygenic (it is) and more energy efficient (it is) what matters is that it makes you want to wash your hands again just so you can dry them one more time.

But, from wiki:



The jet air dryer, which blows air out of the unit at claimed speeds of 400 mph, was capable of blowing micro-organisms from the hands and the unit and potentially contaminating other washroom users and the washroom environment up to 2 metres (7 ft) away.
Use of a warm air hand dryer spread micro-organisms up to 25 centimetres (10 in) from the dryer.
Paper towels showed no significant spread of micro-organisms.

[rjh01]

If you need to open the bathroom door with a towel then you should also use one to open any door in public for the same reason. Not that we need to open many doors in public now. Also never shake hands with anyone, as they may not have washed their hands after going to the toilet.

[ZirconBlue]

If you need to open the bathroom door with a towel then you should also use one to open any door in public for the same reason. Not that we need to open many doors in public now. Also never shake hands with anyone, as they may not have washed their hands after going to the toilet.

And, certainly, never accept money from anyone, ever.

[rjh01]

Actually it is worse than that. Never accept food from someone who has handled money and not washed their hands between times. Coins in the hands of men (and a few women) go in the pockets which are near the groin area which is full as germs (see above).

I think there are health regulations that mention this.

[Ocelot]

But, from wiki:



The jet air dryer, which blows air out of the unit at claimed speeds of 400 mph, was capable of blowing micro-organisms from the hands and the unit and potentially contaminating other washroom users and the washroom environment up to 2 metres (7 ft) away.
Use of a warm air hand dryer spread micro-organisms up to 25 centimetres (10 in) from the dryer.
Paper towels showed no significant spread of micro-organisms.


My comparator was with other hot air hand dryers not towels. The evidence the wiki (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dyson_Airblade) you mention references research from the university of westminster which appears at first glance to be from a sound deprtment rather than the complementary medicine rubbish they notoriously award degrees for. The paper (http://www.europeantissue.com/Files/positionpapers_and_studies/090402-2008%20WUS%20Westminster%20University%20hygiene%20 study,%20nov2008.pdf) in question introduces the question of bias from the source of sponsorship, the european tissue symposium yet does confirm what I said. The dyson airblade is more hygenic than a typical hot air dryer.

[Ysidro]

I think we should have taps that do not need to be touched when you turn them on and off.

So buy them. It's not like they don't exist already. They just kinda suck. Sensors never seem to work properly, damn it.

[rjh01]

Been thinking about this issue and related issues. 100% of the people who do wash their hands touch the tap before they wash their hands, so that when you have finished washing your hands and turn the tap off then you are touching a very dirty surface and so you need to wash your hands again. I think we should have taps that do not need to be touched when you turn them on and off.

So buy them. It's not like they don't exist already. They just kinda suck. Sensors never seem to work properly, damn it.

I am talking about taps that are in public. Some are starting to have sensors. Some, as you say do not work. There are alternatives, like ones that turn themselves off or ones that surgeons use that are operated by using your arms.

Not sure what you can or should do about taps in your own home. Do they matter?

[GreyICE]

paper towels. blower is blowing contaminated air on your hands (think of the kind of particles that are floating around in a public restroom). I really am curious, have you people never heard of filters? Filters? Keep stuff out of the air? There's more crud on those paper towels than there is in that air...

Nevermind. :rolleyes:

[Ysidro]

I am talking about taps that are in public. Some are starting to have sensors. Some, as you say do not work. There are alternatives, like ones that turn themselves off or ones that surgeons use that are operated by using your arms.


So was I.

What I don't get is why every place that has something automatic only has one or two things and then the rest are up to their usual germ spreading ways.

My current workplace has auto-flush toilets and has recently put in automatic paper towel dispensers but has regular taps and water fountains. I've gone to school in a building that had regular toilets but automatic taps and water fountains but still had push button air dryers.

And everyone still has door handles to collect all those lovely germs....

[bigred]

Problem is, those guys that don't bother washing their hands have contaminated the door handle. Now what do you do?

This is why I think all public restrooms should be pull door to get in, push to get out.

Anyway, paper towels. I hate those air blower things, they take forever to dry your hands. Plus paper towels have other uses, like maybe I spilled something and want to try and "blot" it a little etc.

[Whiplash]

And then you do what with the soggy paper towel?


You turn around (while holding the door open with your feet) and do a beautiful 3 point shot back into the receptacle. With a lovely arc.

If you miss, you just hurry out the door and let someone else pick it up. ;)

[Scootch]

How would you feel if your doctor didn't wear gloves or wash his hands before giving you a rectal exam?[/QUOTE]

I would tell him "Doctor those gloves are for your protection, not mine."

[Ron_Tomkins]

And then you do what with the soggy paper towel?

Er.... throw it in the trash?

Was I supposed to do anything else with it?

[ServiceSoon]

This is why I think all public restrooms should be pull door to get in, push to get out.

....Easy solution to that. Every public bathroom should be cowboy doors. You know, doors that swing both ways :eye-poppi