if u shared a kitchen with a girl who boiled her underwear would you say something?

Question

Sorry I am just so grossed out by this !!

She is Korean and I noticed that she is NOT clean at all she's actually quite dirty

and now she's boiling her underwear on our shared kitchen stovetop !!!

I do not want to say something to her but it's really grossing me out

and why is she boiling her underwear?

how would u handle this?

thanks

Yes I have my own pots

She's not a nice person, btw

She's totally rude so she is not approchable

Answer 1

If she's using her own designated pot then it's not that bad. It's actually a very sanitary way to care for underwear. It kills more germs and yeast than just washing them. I bet she doesn't get very many feminine infections. I wouldn't say anything but if your that curious just ask her. It sound like old folk medicine, and it's probably the way her whole culture has done it for hundreds of years. I've had someone tell me to microwave mine to stop reoccurring yeast infections. Just get over it. She's actually got better hygiene than most.

Answer 2

You should definitely say something to her. Tell her that it is absolutely unsanitary to boil her underwear in the same pots that she cooks with (by the way, I would wash that pot out with bleach and sanitize it completely before using it again).

Tell her that in this country we wash our underwear in the washing machine. This might also be a good time to talk with her about hygiene. Maybe she needs to know how Americans stay clean. I had a Chinese friend that rarely showered. Maybe it's a cultural thing.... But that's no excuse for being dirty.

Tell her now before you find her boiling eggs with her underwear!

Answer 3

I would make sure whatever she was boiling her underwear in, was not used for boiling or cooking meals.
If she insists on continuing to do this, then she should be given a thing so she could boil them in the bathroom rather than the kitchen. It still seems a little odd to me though.

Answer 4

Yuck! Definitely say something.
Laundry USED TO BE boiled in a Copper Wash Boiler on the kitchen stove, in the olden days PRE -automatic washing machines.

If she wishes to wash her un-mentionables in boiling water, then boil the water on the stove and fill the washing machine with that boiling water & complete the wash cycle in the washer.

I realize we do wash dishtowels AND personal clothing in the same washing machine, but to have the steamy underwear molecules filling the air over your kitchen stove is just so unappealing!

Answer 5

I would say something, I mean, I'm sure you use the pot she's boiling her underwear in to make food. Whether she is dirty or not doesn't matter because NO ONE'S underwear is clean at the end of the day!! That just isn't right. You poor thing!

Answer 6

Tell her if she feels the need that they need to be boiled as a way of cleaning and sterilizing them, to boil the water on the stove and then dump it into the bathtub and then put the underwear in the water. More though I would move out or ask her to move out.

Answer 7

u gotta draw the line on which pot or kitchen equipment to use.

i mean u cant cook your pasta using the pot she used for boiling her lingeries.
maybe advise her that using boiled/boiling water and into a pail/tub in the bathroom is as good as what she's practising now.

Roomies are hard to accomodate if no compromises and talk-it-out are done.

Good luck!

Answer 8

Washing clothes in a washing machine does not kill germs as well as boiling. For the record, boiling clothing, muskrat traps, tree sap, etc in a pot does not ruin it for future food use.

Customs differ between cultures, and it is quite possible that your Korean kitchenmate considers it normal to boil her underware. She may consider it odd that you don't.

You probably want to discuss it with her. If you can't face using that pot for food anymore, I suggest you buy another similarly sized pot, and explain to her that the new one is to be used only for food, and the one she used can be used for boiling underware.

Answer 9

she may not be used to a washing machine or the fact that it can get her clothes just as clean as boiling them.

that is pretty darn nasty.

if you can figure out a delicate way to do so, you might also want to raise the personal cleanliness issue with her. americans are probably the most fastidiously clean people on the planet as far as regularity of bathing, use of deodorant and perfume/cologne, and washing of laundry. she probably just has no idea what is culturally expected of her, and she might appreciate it if you were able to clue her in.

Answer 10

Who cares? boiling water will kill all bacteria anyway, and she is probably doing it to remove stains from the fabric. I admit it is kind of odd, but you should accept someone elses habits when they are from a different culture and also when you have to share you have to accept some differences. If you dont like her or her habits you should move somewhere else.