Pondering the Mysteries of a dirty bathroom.

[Crossroads Inc.]

Last night as I do once a week, I found myself cleaning out my bathroom. Obviously something good to do often. In doing so, I found myself pondering just what I was cleaning up, basically, lots and lots of hair mixed with dust.

Now I have a good sized bathroom, and my trips basically go from Shower, to sink, to pot. That said you can find shaved hair EVERYWHERE. every crevice, ever bit along the floor along the walls. it doesn't matter that I clean it, it doesn't matter where I shave. I did one week shaving only in the shower, and there was still bits of hair everywhere.

Is this just "one of those things" ?That hair just falls from you constantly without noticing? I could shave outside on the patio and still have a bathroom covered with hair at the end of the week? Quite mysterious.

[Ziggy Stardust]

If you really want to trip yourself out, consider that your entire bathroom (no matter how clean you think it is) has tiny molecules of fecal matter coating just about every surface. The average toilet flush can project fecal matter ~20 feet, IIRC.

[Simon_Jester]

Hmm. Flush with the lid down?

[AMT]

Hmm. Flush with the lid down?

You have to open the lid eventually...
Seriously, I read something where it will actually stay in the bowl and then spread out once you open the lid. Maybe not with as much vigor as flushing, but it'll get there.
That's why I brush my teeth in the kitchen.

[Sea Skimmer]

Yeah the shit can remain suspended in the air for quite some time.... but so what? The very reason it can do that is because of how damn small the particulates are. Its not that big a deal when you consider we are equipped by nature to eat raw dead animals. All that shit was already inside you once.

[Norade]

Not to mention that ingesting fecal flora was how we gained what lines our own guts to this day.

[Temujin]

The Mythbusters tested that years ago leading to Adam Savages famous retort: "There's poo everywhere!"

[ArmorPierce]

Oh god this again. As Temujin stated, mythbusters already tested this. Shit gets everywhere regardless of whether the lid is closed or not and no matter where in the house or how far it is from the toilet.

[Broomstick]

And to REALLY gross you out - time and again studies/tests have shown that the average toilet seat is actually cleaner than the average kitchen sink. That's right - it's still healthier to brush your teeth in your poo-particulated bathroom than in your kitchen!

[Akhlut]

For one, you constantly shed hair. For two, some of those shaved hairs are going to cling to you somewhere, unless you're scrubbing with sandpaper; this means that hair will fall off you somewhere. It is just more noticeable in the bathroom, due to having tile/linoleum/whatever.

Secondly: we're all composed of biology. You were all shoved out of a woman's vagina (or, at least, cut out of her uterus) at some point in time. Further, all of us are covered, absolutely covered, in fungi, bacteria, protists, and arthropods. Further, you've been living in this shit-encrusted world for as long as you've lived, anyway.

[PeZook]

The funny thing is that once the hair and dust accumulates to a certain level, it stops.

At least that's what I noticed in my bathroom: one time, I haven't cleaned it according to schedule. It looked exactly the same after two weeks as it did after one.

Optical illusion, perhaps? Or not?

Dun-dun-duuuuuuun!

Also, wisps of dust mostly accumulate in like four places in my home. I could have most of, say, the bedroom floor clean, then look behind the door and WHAM - lots of dust wisps.

Craaaazy...

[cosmicalstorm]

And to REALLY gross you out - time and again studies/tests have shown that the average toilet seat is actually cleaner than the average kitchen sink. That's right - it's still healthier to brush your teeth in your poo-particulated bathroom than in your kitchen!

You seem to assume that the cleaner = the healthier. I was under the impression that there has been a lot of indications that humans are actually better off in dirty environments because that's exactly the environment in which our bodies evolved. Or am I just way out there right now?

[Sea Skimmer]

You seem to assume that the cleaner = the healthier. I was under the impression that there has been a lot of indications that humans are actually better off in dirty environments because that's exactly the environment in which our bodies evolved. Or am I just way out there right now?

The issue is surfaces that we clean tend to loose bacteria which is no threat to humans, and opens the way to dangerous stuff taking hold in its place. However this does not meant dirty is healthy, and this is mainly an issue with people using the same anti bacteria products on the same surfaces over and over again. Then not only do you kill harmless bacteria, you encourage the bacteria that survives to evolve to resist the chemicals. So in the long term you are breeding better germs. Kitchen are often worse then bathrooms because kitchens have raw meat in them all the time, along with other food that brings in dangerous bacteria. Some of that bacteria like certain kinds of e coli can cause a dangerous infection if you ingest just a few of the individual bacteria.

In contrast the bacteria in human shit is dangerous, but since it has to be able to live inside your gut in the first place its only dangerous in very large quantities. The way people die from dehydration for example is normally that the gut dries out, and all the bacteria inside it is then able to move into the bloodstream in a massive billions strong wave. Meanwhile if you consumed a microscopic amount of shit on a toothbrush, it'd not even be noticed since so much is already present.

Man did evolve in a filthy world... but that also caused average lifespans to be in the range of 25-30. This is also why humans can breed so damn well to the point that even slight sanitation improvements allow third world countries to gain massive populations.

[Kamakazie Sith]

I don't let this shit bother me. To me this seems like common sense. Our bodies are not a clean room. Does this mean you shouldn't practice proper hygiene? No. However, it doesn't mean you need to grossly alter your behavior just because shit happens.

[Johonebesus]

And to REALLY gross you out - time and again studies/tests have shown that the average toilet seat is actually cleaner than the average kitchen sink. That's right - it's still healthier to brush your teeth in your poo-particulated bathroom than in your kitchen!

You seem to assume that the cleaner = the healthier. I was under the impression that there has been a lot of indications that humans are actually better off in dirty environments because that's exactly the environment in which our bodies evolved. Or am I just way out there right now?

You're probably thinking of the hygiene theory of allergies. Asthma and hay fever/seasonal allergies are rare in the developing world, and even among farm kids in the West. The thinking is that when a child grows up in a very clean environment his immune system lacks the normal stimulation our ancestors evolved with, so it becomes hypersensitive and overreacts to tiny, mundane irritants.

Also, except in exceptionally harsh environments, average lifespans in pre-modern societies is usually forty to fifty years. The twenty-five year mean comes from averaging in all live births, without correcting for infant mortality. If someone managed to make it to twenty, he could reasonably expect to see forty, and sixty wouldn't be unheard of.

[Molyneux]

For one, you constantly shed hair. For two, some of those shaved hairs are going to cling to you somewhere, unless you're scrubbing with sandpaper; this means that hair will fall off you somewhere. It is just more noticeable in the bathroom, due to having tile/linoleum/whatever.

Secondly: we're all composed of biology. You were all shoved out of a woman's vagina (or, at least, cut out of her uterus) at some point in time. Further, all of us are covered, absolutely covered, in fungi, bacteria, protists, and arthropods. Further, you've been living in this shit-encrusted world for as long as you've lived, anyway.

...I want to be a robot now, please. Also, I would love a "green around the gills" smiley.

And yeah, it's not good to foster the growth of antibiotic-resistant bacteria, but it is still good to clean to an extent. Just soap and water should do the trick for most surfaces.

[Jeremy]

Are you brave, do you have a strong stomach? Take a black light into your bathroom at night, see how well you clean.