While you might be using them with good intention, hand dryers could do more harm than good
A biologist has warned that public bathroom hand dryers could do more harm than good. After using a public bathroom, it is vital to thoroughly wash your hands with soap to help eliminate any bacteria that can be left behind. This can help reduce the spread of diseases and viruses and maintain positive hygiene.
However, opting to use a hand dryer straight after could ruin all the good work you just did by washing your hands. Laura González, a biologist who regularly issues advice on social media, told her TikTok followers that using a public bathroom hand dryer could be “making this worse”.
In a TikTok video originally posted in Spanish, she said: “Have you ever gone to a public restroom and dried your hands with a hand dryer? Well, you’ll probably stop doing that after listening to me.
“Most people, when they go to a public restroom, do not close the lid when they flush the toilet. Even if you don’t see them, there will be many drops full of bacteria and microorganisms suspended in the air. And what do you think the hand dryer does?
“Take all that s****y air and put it on your freshly washed hands. In short, instead of washing your hands, you are making them even worse.
“And that bacteria ending up in your hands comes from other people. Several studies have shown that hand dryers, especially with a powerful jet, can spread microbes to more than one meter, contaminating surfaces.”
Similarly, a study from the University of Connecticut and Quinnipiac University, USA, found that exposing a petri dish to bathroom air under different conditions revealed that when a hand dryer was used, grew up to 254 colonies of bacteria. Meanwhile, the petri dishes that were exposed to the bathroom air without a handryer either grew only one colony of bacteria or none at all.
They theorised that hand dryers sucked up the bacteria from the bathroom air and dumped it into the hands of the person using it. They also concluded in the study that the majority of the bacteria from hand dryers also came from the air of the bathroom.
Better alternatives to hand dryers
If you’re grossed out by the idea of using a hand dryer in a public bathroom, there are a number of alternatives you can turn to to help keep your hands clean and free of bacteria and viruses.
Laura added: “Obviously, you won’t die, but in places of heavy traffic, it’s a little gross, don’t you think? For all these reasons, the most hygienic option is to dry your hands with paper towels for three reasons: it quickly removes moisture, reduces the transfer of microorganisms, and, what’s more, you can use that same paper towel to, once you’ve washed your hands, turn off the tap, open the door, and turn off the light.
“This way, you avoid touching surfaces that were previously contaminated. You might say: ‘Laura, you’re overreacting!’ Well, I like to have clean hands.
“And one thing that very few people do is wash their hands before peeing. I mean, do you have dirty hands? Then wash them before touching your private parts. I’m not telling you to just wash them first, also after.
“And if there is no paper, air dry your hands, do this and avoid hand dryers. So now you know, don’t use hand dryers if you don’t want to get your hands dirty after washing them.”
A study from Mayo Clinic which examined different hand drying methods similarly found that dryign hands with paper towels after washing hands was the most efficient way to effectively remove bacteria. It also found that using a paper towel for drying also reduced the chances of contaminatoni taking place in a bathroom.