This is kind of a silly question for woman, about their toilet paper practices in public bathrooms.?

Question

Many say I am overly nuerotic about certain things, so I am curious about whether this is normal or not. We all hate using public bathrooms, but when we need to go, we go. My question is am I in a minority for not liking to use the toilet paper in the public bathrooms and will either pull of lots of layers of the paper until I am satisfied that I reached a spot that is not contaminated. I do that in "decent" public bathrooms. In disgusting ones, I won't use the paper and would opt to "drip dry," (sorry for the silly term, but I couldn't think of another way to put it.) if I had nothing with me to use. I even take this approach in the homes of certain people.

I am assuming I can't be the only one who has these practices, because I have seen travel size toilet paper rolls, but wasn't confident enough to ask others in person. So, I am curious about the peeling the layers thing, and the drip dry thing. Is that normal behavior?

Lol, I have seen travel toilet paper at Target in the "travel" toiletries area. As for how toilet paper can be contaminated....well honestly in my OCD/ germaphobic mind I get caught up with wondering where the roll has been prior to being put on the dispensor. Have you ever dropped a roll of toilet paper on the floor and had it roll half way across the floor. I just have this vision of the person putting it on the dispensor picking it up out a of a dirty stock room, or dropping it on the dirty bathroom floor. I guess what is funny that while I do hover over the seat...(I thought everyone did that.) I am less concerned about touching things in the bathroom then about the toilet paper. I figure that I can wash my hands before contaminating myself or my clothing. (I just keep switching the fingers I use...lol, maybe I do have OCD.) The idea of rubbing a contaminated peice of paper on my most intimate body part is just not working for me.

Lol, as for the purse on the floor thing...I never put anything on the floor. I even take a very active role in not allowing my pany legs to touch the floor. It is not easy to hover over a toilet while holding your purse, and trying to pull your pant legs up so they don't hit the ground and sop up the urine of the person who missed the toilet a few minutes prior. The idea with walking around with some strangers urine at my ankles is way to much for me to handle.

Answer 1

Well, I am probably even worse. I lock and unlock the door using my sleeve so I don't get any gross germs on my hands. I also roll out a lot of toilet paper before I use it. And no way would I ever sit on one of those toilets. And I flush the toilet using my foot.
So it is not abnormal to do what you do. We do this to protect ourselves and not bring home "the crud" to our loved ones.

Answer 2

I am in complete agreement with you. I roll off the roll about 2-3 times, then get what I will use. I rarely sit, I balance over the seat. I carry a hand sanitizer with me so I don't have to worry about the paper towels or the blow dryers. If I ever meet you in a public restroom, I'll be happy to share my travel size tp. I run out often and forget to get more, but I will share.

And I NEVER use the stall closest to the door. I've heard it is the most used. I will use the one closest to the handicap stall.

You are not alone! Be blessed.

Answer 3

I have torn off the beginning of the toilet paper roll so I don't use the last piece the previous person touched. I also don't sit on the toilet seat. Oh, and I flush the toilet with my foot. If this is an issue for you, why don't you just carry some in your purse?

Answer 4

Sounds a bit OCD to me...
IMO, people who "hover" are gross, esepcially if they sprinkle on the seat and leave behind a mess for the next person. Toilet seats are a hard inorganic plastic and they don't support germs very well. Most public toilets in decent places are cleaned and disinfected several times a day by the people working there, if they aren't, you can tell by the mess left behind by people who peel off lots of paper and hover over the seat.
As for the peeling layers thing, how can toilet paper be "contaminated"? Just because someone else has touched it?Usually they touch it -before- they touch themselves in a personal area, so I don't see how it can be any more "contaminated" than anything else that people touch, such as doorknobs, bannisters, shopping carts, computer keyborads in public libraries, pens in banks, etc.
If you are a reasonably healthy person with a reasonably robust immune system, you can take such things in stride. If you are a chemotherapy patient, an AIDS patient, an organ transplant recipient, or other person with a compromised immune system you would need to be careful not only with "contaminated" toilet paper but also with door handles, etc.
Another thing about peeling off multiple layers of toilet paper -- what about all that wasted paper? Where does it come from? Paper comes from trees, you know. A large proportion of the paper pulp that's used in the USA is used for toilet paper, and I think it's a shame to be flushing all those trees. Also, making all that toilet paper uses a lot of bleach and dioxins, which remain in the waste stream both during manufacture and after use. And where does it go? Do you flush it? Does it clog the plumbing? Or do you leave it on the floor for the poor working stiff who has to clean up the restrooms behind you?
As far as drip drying -- that doesn't sound very pleasant to me. Not to mention the lingering odor, the moisture remaining in a personal area of your body that's a lot more supportive of bacteria than the dry inorganic toilet seat,.etc.
All in all, your bathroom habits seem to me a bit over the top in the OCD dept, and not very normal at all. But who am I to say? What you do in the bathroom is private. Except that you've made it public, by asking about it here.
PS -- one thing that's often overlooked as a serious source of contamination, is putting one's purse on the bathroom floor. Bathroom floors are dirty, because they are not cleaned as often as plumbing fixtures, because people walk on them, and because a plume of microbes erupts from the toilet during flushing and these microbes tend to settle on the floor. Yet people put their purses on the bathroom floor, then, when they go to eat, they put their purses on the counter or table. Studies have shown that purses are often contaminated with bathroom germs such as E.Coli and salmonella, especially purses made of organic materials such as cloth and leather. Now THAT'S Gross! But people don't think of their purses as being contaiminated because it's "their" purse. They only think of toilet paper as being contaminted because "someone else" touched it. It's not so much about germs as about the distinctions between self and other.

Answer 5

Normal for people who have "germophobia" or "obsessive compulsive disorder" maybe =)

Oh, and don't waste such a HUGE amount of public toilet paper... think about of all the trees being cut down, global warming, and funds that government has to issue for 1000 toilet paper rolls to replace the ones you hauled and wasted. =)

One solution would be to bring along your own personal tissue (paper roll or kleenex) or... even better... those moist wipes (like the baby bum wipes), the scented ones not only leave you clean but refreshing and smelling good too! =)

Another solution is to NOT drink as much liquid as possible before leaving the house and to always go to the bathroom before leaving the house.

Answer 6

i usually just pull off a couple of sheets and then use it. I only do like 5 sheets and that's cause i figure people have to touch the first few sheets to pull and tear it off. But i pretty much figure it's not contaminated once it's got closer to the roll......i wouldn't stress over that though....you'll get sick a whole lot easier from someone sneezing an not washing their hands than touching toliet paper

Answer 7

This is highly odd. Your idea about the invention of travel toilet paper being just for people like you is ludacris. It's called "travel toilet paper" and it's for travelers who run into the problem of no toilet paper at all. You are wasting the precious resources of our planet because you are freaked out about germs. Well, dripping dry breeds more than its fair share of germs and problems. Do you touch shopping carts? They are filthy.

Answer 8

You needn't worry about whether it's normal or abnormal, unless you pee with the stall door open.

I know of people who do that with the toilet paper... I haven't seen them do it, but I hear them in the stall next to me, spinning and spinning that roll. I don't do it, because, well, I never really thought about it much before.
I do carry my own roll of T.P. when I travel, just because Murphy's Law says that if you don't carry a personal sized roll of T.P. when you travel, then every pitstop along the way will be out of toilet paper.

Pee in the way that brings you the most pees.... uh, I mean,
peace. :-)

Answer 9

Yehh that's incorrect ! And regrettably because human beings like you scouse borrow bathroom paper, others get stuck even as the paper is all lengthy gone! Public loos/loos are there to provide a provider to the commonplace public, no longer that you ought to take liberty & scouse borrow issues.

Answer 10

You are worried about the toilet paper and you touch the door handles and faucets in the public bathroom. I think you need to get help! Now! Run!