Clean Toilet Brush

the_other_mce

newleaf wrote:

My Grandad said 'you have to eat a peck o' muck before you die'.
Exposure to some germs firstly, is unavoidable, and secondly, contributes to a robust immune system!
On the one hand there's 'clean', which should be perfectly acceptable, and on the other there's neurotic obsession which can make you very ill in a different way... :rotfl:

True : I'm not paranoid. My kids play out with all the other children, I taught them how to make mud pies etc. I go camping with the family each summer for a week. I go to Glastonbury, Reading and numerous other festivals. I am not fastidious about the rest of the house. I just can't abide the thought of a dirty loo......
"I'm a washer not a walker" so to speak...... and I did get gastro-enteritis when I was a teenager which was very unpleasant so I would rather err on the side of caution..
Also the only time I like to lean over a toilet is if I have drunk too much!!! The thought of scrubbing it with a pumice stone is just a bit too much for me!!!:D

Sarahsaver

How d'ya manage at reading?;) The old style soil pits at glastonbury 'back in the day' were buch better - long way between your butt and the offending articles... My kids like the 'greek' loos, you know the ones where you squat.

chickadee

This thread has gone interestingly off topic but here's a thought for you all to ponder on. When you have all been to a public loo, squatted, wiped, scrubbed and anti-bac-gelled your hands, you may meet a colleague on the way back to your office and shake hands with him/her. How do you know they do the same? What if that person you are shaking hands with is a "walker not a washer". And do you really know where your money has been? I hate it when shop assistants handle food and cash.

I once heard a very worrying statistic about open bowls of mints on the reception desk in restaurants but I won't share it with you here. Suffice it to say, lavatory, unwashed hands, unwrapped mints in open bowl. YUK!!!

Sarahsaver

Not really off topic is it? All to do with peoples' perceptions of hygeine and so on. Once knew a woman who was so disgusted by anything on the line of bodily fluids it was a miracle she ever got pregnant - twice!
Whats the prob with the loo brush? Missed what kim and aggie said and i cannot take advice from someone with hair like THAT! I dont use the loo brush for anything else so I dont see a problem with it! Douse it in bleach from time to time and we're all still alive.

HappyShopper3

I do think about that Chickadee. I'm a bit obsessive about the germ thing and won't put my hand to my mouth or near my face if I've just shaken someone's hand. With the winter coming up it won't be a problem as I have gloves on! Also I watched a programme about people who work in places like bakeries/cake shops where they make the food and then handle your money. Not hygienic at all.

tawnyowls

I don't like toilet brushes - am definitely a hands down the loo person. I keep separate gloves (extra-strong), sponge and cloth for the loo, and rinse out in bleach. Unfortunately, there's no way you can get a man to clean the loo without having a brush, so we do have some, but I clean them with bleach every day and replace regularly. Kim & Aggie's beef is really with people who never clean them - they particularly dislike the ones with black bristles, unsurprisingly, as they can hide a multitude.

As for cleaning the loo with just bleach - it may look clean, but unless you've actually removed the 'organic matter', bleach doesn't work very well, as its killing power is neutralised by actual physical dirt - you do need to clean first. Also, it's true what the ads say - limescale in the loo is bad; it provides a larger surface area for bugs to live in.

Laying a few myths to rest:

• A public loo seat is actually relatively clean. Bacteria need moisture, and a loo seat is generally too dry for them to survive on. There was a series recently called 'So you think you're safe in the ...', and one of them was the bathroom. They swabbed in a public loo - toilet seats were quite acceptable - just under the rim was the worst place. Also pretty bad were the flush handle, door handle, taps, soap dispenser and hand drier (in fact, in hospitals, they never use their hands to press the button on a hand drier - they're either foot-operated or people use their elbow). Hence, those of you (and I'm one) who use alcohol gel to clean their hands are being very sensible - Tesco & Sainsbury's sell small bottles, which last for ages, but then you can top up from big bottles bought in pound shops.
• Yes, loos do send up an aerosol of whatever's in the loo, up to 6 feet away! Do you know how far your toothbrush is from your loo? Hand driers also send up an aerosol, so if someone hasn't washed their hands properly (and it actually takes 2 minutes to do it properly with soap & water, as opposed to 10 secs with the alcohol gel), they're sending whatever's on their hands round the room. Paper towels are more hygienic.
• No, you can't catch crabs off a loo seat (despite what some of the less reliable websites say) - lice don't like cold hard things, so they won't move onto a loo seat (and in any case, they're black and big enough to see with the naked eye if they were on the seat, plus they're designed to grab onto hair, so they find it very difficult to move on a smooth surface); you can pick them up if you share towels or other fabrics (or a bed!) with someone who has them. They are considered an STI, so perhaps the toilet seat myth arose as a plausible excuse for an alternative method of catching them??;)
• Yes, the thing about the mints is true, although peanuts are worse. Salted ones not too bad, because the salt kills some of the bugs (lack of moisture again). There was a study recently, and IIRC, they found up to 9 different traces of urine on these.

competitionscafe

My flatmate never washes his hands after using the loo - no not even after a number 2 :eek: - is it just me or is this just a bit gross?
I know this because a) there was no soap or soap dispenser when I moved in, I had to supply one and fill it with liquid soap. b) my room is next to the bathroom and the time between flushing noise and exit from the bathroom is always about 1 second. He works as a waiter in quite an upmarket restaurant too - not sure if I would want the plates I was eating off touched by someone who was a 'walker not a washer'. Maybe it's a man thing: http://www.asylum.com/2008/01/23/keep-it-clean-boys-why-you-should-be-washing-more/ (not all men obviously).

Justcoll

One of my biggest hates is toilet brushes because they pose such a hygiene problem - but they are a necessary evil.

I've tried the disposable ones but they're fiddly, costly and ineffective so could I ask the rest of you if you've found a way of keeping them relatively clean?

Once I've used the brush I hold it under the flush water but this doesn't stop a small puddle of water being left in the holder with the odd unmentionable lurking there. :eek:

Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

tori.k

Dare she say it! of course she does she has no pride sling some bleach round don a pair of rubber gloves and a grab a cloth.

cardiogirl

I quite agree with the dilemma - I hate toilet brushes.
I do buy the disposable ones, but break them in half before using making the pack go twice as far. I'd also be interested to hear what others do.