Is sharing gross for you?

[Haruki-kun]

This has been bugging me for a while, but... how many people are grossed out by the sharing of personal hygiene products?

I mean, I'd never even consider sharing a toothbrush, that sounds... gross. But for example, I've heard a friend say he can't even share a bar of soap with his family, as he finds it extremely disgusting. Me? I have no problem with it. As Chandler bing put it:


Soap is soap! It's self-cleaning!

Plus, it's immediate family.

Same thing goes for towels.... I don't seem to mind sharing one with a sibling or parent. With a stranger I would, but not with close family. Though I guess I can see why most people would find it disgusting...

So I was generally wondering: Where do you draw the line?
I draw the line with toothbrushes, deodorants, or razor blades. But I don't mind sharing soap, toothpaste, hair brushes, or most other things.

Thoughts?

[Tirian]

Then again, as Joey said, "think about the last thing I wash and the first thing you wash." I mean, if there is a hair on a bar of soap, my first thought is not that that hair is especially super-clean given that it's spent hours touching a bar of soap. Beyond that, I'm fine.

Growing up, we never shared bath towels, but hand towels are of course not an issue. I stand by that and the toothpaste, but that's the limit of my queasiness.

[onthetown]

I don't mind sharing hairbrushes because I'm neurotic about my hair (so I'll take anything I can get at the time), but that's about it. When my mother suggests that I take one of the used towels instead of a clean one, I gag.

The idea of sharing a bar of soap became way too gross for me to handle, so now I buy my own body wash and even if other people want to share, I can guarantee that it's fresh from the bottle.

[Don Julio Anejo]

Hygiene wise I don't mind sharing handtowels or any consumables (soap, shaving cream, toothpaste, shampoo, etc). Anything else that touches my body is a big no-no. So no razors, no toothbrushes, no hairbrushes, etc..

Food I don't mind if it's a close friend and booze I don't mind in general since booze is, well, a pretty good sanitizer in and of itself.

[onthetown]

Hygiene wise I don't mind sharing handtowels or any consumables (soap, shaving cream, toothpaste, shampoo, etc). Anything else that touches my body is a big no-no. So no razors, no toothbrushes, no hairbrushes, etc..

Food I don't mind if it's a close friend and booze I don't mind in general since booze is, well, a pretty good sanitizer in and of itself.

...soap and shampoo are consumable?

[druid91]

If its mine its mine, I'm selfish like that. Heck its considered a special privilege if I let one of my sisters use my lord of the rings cup.

[Haruki-kun]

...soap and shampoo are consumable?

Well, they're consumed as you use them.... plus, I guess people don't touch the shampoo you pour into your hand.

Some other people have issues with toothpaste, though, because the tip of the tube touches the brush.

[Pyrian]

Yeah, I pretty much prefer to not share my entire shower room with any non-lovers. :smalltongue:

[onthetown]

Well, they're consumed as you use them.... plus, I guess people don't touch the shampoo you pour into your hand.


Ohhhh, hahah... thought you meant you could eat them...

Well, I guess you could, but that's the sort of thing that the weird kid in the back of the class with the gluestick always did in school.

[Coidzor]

Hmm. I've lent my beard trimmer to my best friend when his was on the fritz on a temporary or one-off basis before. I gave him one of my toothbrushes after washing it like a piece of silver ware with soap and hot water and he then put it into rubbing alcohol.

My family sometimes rotated toothbrushes when I was a kid after putting them through the dishwasher. I semi-regularly handwash my toothbrush with soap and hot water before using it.

We don't share bath towels on purpose but as far as I know, we don't mind if we accidentally use someone else's towel as long as it's dried. Though the most we generally let towels go is two baths before they become floor towels or cycle into the laundry.

I would not want to share razors with anyone I wasn't already sleeping with. And then I feel ok with it from a hygiene standpoint but would mind it from a convenience and MINE! standpoint unless it was some sort of use situation that I've never encountered before. Like, I don't know how I'd feel about using my own razor on my lover, for instance.

So the idea of girls habitually borrowing the razors of friends or roommates is deeply disturbing and disgusting both from the perspective of painting them as slovenly and of bad hygiene and of them as being too lazy and cheap to have their own razor.

Using the same shampoo, fine. Using the same conditioner, whatever. That's just a fact of life if you ever spend the night at someone else's house unexpectedly.

Using the same soap, well, that just requires common courtesy, I'm not going to touch the soap directly to my genitalia and then set it down at the end of the shower, for instance, and I would expect my family to hold to that decorum as well. In any case, the first and last thing anyone's going to be washing with the soap, even if it's in a haphazard and secondary way, is going to be the hands of the person handling it.

With a lover, well, I mean, I'm pretty much going to be exposed to every single part of my lover's external body. So, yeah. I just don't really see the point of minding sharing toiletries with someone you're having unprotected fluid exchange with.

Now, if I know someone has some kind of communicable disease more serious than the flu that can carry over from sharing certain things, then, yes, I'm going to be very insistent about propriety and hygiene if I am forced to share facilities with them in the first place.

I trust my family not to put me into that kind of danger though, since you sorta have to with your parents as a small child anyway, and if they haven't given you cause for alarm in that department, then they're probably still worthy of that trust as a teen and young adult.

I don't like to do it, but I have shared deodorant on a temporary, "I've just run out and I need to not smell like a stuck pig" basis with my best friends and brothers growing up, but it is very much something that requires asking of permission.


Some other people have issues with toothpaste, though, because the tip of the tube touches the brush.

For some people. Depends on your squeezing skills. AFAIK, it's considered rude and sub-par to touch brush to dispenser.

[SDF]

Sharing a toothbrush is bad because it often causes small abrasions in the gums that would get infected with the bacteria from the other user. Soap bonds to the oils and dirt and pretty much stays self contained all the way down the drain. Sharing soap shouldn't be a problem. Deodorant especially so. It is mostly gelatinous alcohol and kills anything it touches. If there is a reason not to share it I don't, and if there isn't I don't mind.

[Haruki-kun]

For some people. Depends on your squeezing skills. AFAIK, it's considered rude and sub-par to touch brush to dispenser.

:smalleek:

I bow to you. My skills are not leet enough. v.v

[ghost_warlock]

OK: hand towels, finger/toe-nail clippers, tweezers (if regularly sanitized with peroxide or alcohol solution), & stuff that comes out of a container or off a roll, is used by one person, and then discarded (toothpaste, body wash, shampoo/conditioner, spray deodorant, moisturizer, shaving cream/gel, mouthwash, bathroom tissue, Q-tips, etc.).

Not-OK: bath towels, roll-on deodorant, bar soap, hair brushes.

Good-Lord-Don't-Share-These!: razors, toothbrushes, & other stuff that can easily draw blood during routine use.

[Tirian]

I'm really surprised that so many people are squicked over sharing razors. To me, that would be like not wanting to share silverware between meals. It's going to be rinsed between uses, and a stray piece of beard stubble doesn't concern me the way hair in the more personal parts of the body would (and even then it would have to be a Tier 3 personal part of the body, not just leg hair or even armpit hair).

Different strokes for different folks, I suppose. Good thing I've got spare blades in case guests come over. :smallcool:

[Don Julio Anejo]

...soap and shampoo are consumable?
Wait, you don't mean to say yours are magic ones that last forever? :confused:


I just don't really see the point of minding sharing toiletries with someone you're having unprotected fluid exchange with.
Wow, you make it sound so.. romantic! :tongue:

[ForzaFiori]

I really don't care sharing most things with friends/family. I pretty much only draw the line at toothbrushes and stick deodorant. I've shared tooth paste, spray deodorant, soap, shampoo, razors, hairbrushes, towels (only if REALLY necessary though), and pretty much anything else. As long as you don't have any infectious diseases, and I know you, I'm cool with it. I'm also fine with sharing food and drinks, but I will NOT share a straw except with a gf. I figure I'm already making out with her, so a straw shouldn't matter.

[Elder Tsofu]

I would share a razor, but I would put in a new blade for them - and then a new one for me. (I don't use cut-throats)
Small cuts happen, blood diseases spread - new blades cost ~10 cents.

I like my own soap, but if we have a family soap we always rinse it (don't tell me you don't people). I even rinse it for myself - its like making your bed!

Dry body-towels are ok, I would be a bit uncomfortable with using the same towel as the one before me but not more than that.
Toothbrush would be for someone I really liked, and then rinse it thoroughly afterwards.
Toothpaste, no problem - I'll scold them if they can't apply something as simple as that correct though. :smallwink:

[thubby]

aside from toothbrushes, i don't have much problem sharing anything provided the person keeps themselves reasonably clean.
my facial hair tends to eat razors so more out of courtesy i don't use others'.

[The Vorpal Tribble]

No razors or toothbrushes. Deodorant is fine because I use the Axe spray-on stuff. Don't even touch me, so it's all good.

I was visiting family and my sister recently had a cow because I used her toothpaste. Was disgusted by the idea. I'm like, 'The paste goes on my brush. Nothing touches my brush that will then touch yours'.

She just couldn't get over it. I make a point to always bring my own now and show her it is mine. I am not polluting her tube... :smallsigh:

[Dr.Epic]

This has been bugging me for a while, but... how many people are grossed out by the sharing of personal hygiene products?

Well, some hygiene products I wouldn't want to share. Others I'm fine with.

[Haruki-kun]

Different strokes for different folks, I suppose.

Pretty much what gets me thinking.

I mean, from the responses here, I can't even organize them by levels or anything in which people say "I'll share any of these, but nothing above that". It's like some people think some stuff is gross, and others don't.

I think soap is the only one that keeps me thinking. I understand why people wouldn't want to share stuff like... well, anything else, but I can't understand soap. It's self-cleaning! Srsly! :smalltongue:

[Cleavon]

Yeah, I pretty much prefer to not share my entire shower room with any non-lovers. :smalltongue:

So no one then?

I kid, I kid.

[FoE]

My mom was very definite on the matter of other people in the family using her hair comb. She screeched "THAT'S DISGUSTING!" and locked me in the basement for several hours. That was also the same treatment I received if I scored less than an 'A' on my report card or if I wore mismatched socks.

[factotum]

When I very young I was required to bathe with my twin brother--when you've shared someone's bathwater a few hygiene products here and there aren't much of an issue, believe me. :smallamused:

[albis]

hmm, sharing a toothbrush would definitely be out of the question, even with an hypothetical clone, soap/towels I think I can share with family members (or a really close person I know everything about, like a friend I've been with for sixteen years) though I do like having my own towel... hairbrush... I prefer to have my own because I'm completely psychotic about hair hygiene, but I think that's about it..

[Savannah]

I have no problem sharing any of the listed items with any of my family members (and I probably have shared all of them at one time or another). I'd hesitate to share certain items with people I don't know well, if they might transmit germs (like toothbrushes or razors, not soap).

[Lioness]

I don't mind sharing hairbrushes, toothpaste, handtowels, and razors. We usually wax, so razors are for emergencies only...we don't each have our own, and the one we have hardly gets any use.

Not cool with sharing toothbrushes or flannels, or soap. We use liquid soap/body wash though, so that's not an issue.

I'd prefer not to share towels, just because they've been used to dry bits I don't particularly want to go near. But if it's an emergency/there are no clean towels in the house, then it's fine as long as it's dry.

[Serpentine]

Lets see...
I never even heard of the possibility that toothpaste might be contaminated :smallconfused: No problems there.
Toothbrush: No.
Hairbrush: Fine, but I might pull off all the hair before I use it.
Soap, any: Fine.
Shampoos etc.: Fine, but prefer they get their own in the long-term for financial reasons.
Razors: Slightly uncomfortable, but the main conscious reason is expense. Would be okay if asked first, and only occasionally. And only legs/face...
Towels: Definitely prefer not. In particular, not my hair towel for body drying (GODDAMMIT BOYFRIEND I HAVE GOTTEN OUT A FULL THREE TOWELS FOR YOU TO USE WHY DO YOU STILL USE MINE PICK ONE AND STICK TO IT), but more than that it's hard enough to get my towel to dry for my next use anyway.
Spray-on deodorant: Go ahead.
Roll-on deodorant: Only in an emergency.
Facewasher: Only if there is a clearly defined "face cloth" and "body cloth".

Anything else I can't think of is probably fine.

It might be worth noting, though, that I tend to judge people a little bit on whether they let me steal share food and/or drink with me.

[Coidzor]

flannels

Is that... something other than clothing then? :smallconfused:

[Mystic Muse]

It might be worth noting, though, that I tend to judge people a little bit on whether they let me steal share food and/or drink with me.

I have no problem sharing food. You just have to ask first, and if I'm down to the last shrimp/fry/whatever I ordered, it is extremely annoying for the person to ask for it then. The last is always the best! Why else do you think I read all the other comics in my paper before "Pearls Before Swine?" okay, not entirely related but in my mind it's the same thing

[Serpentine]

Coid: I believe you'd know it by "washcloth" or somesuch.
I have no problem sharing food. You just have to ask first, and if I'm down to the last shrimp/fry/whatever I ordered, it is extremely annoying for the person to ask for it then. The last is always the best! Why else do you think I read all the other comics in my paper before "Pearls Before Swine?" Oh, totally with you there. One of the cruelest and most annoying things my sister does is "Oh hey there's one last morsel left you obviously don't want it nom" ARGH :furious:

[HellfireLover]

I think it really does depend on the level of intimacy you have with the share requester. Pretty much everything in our house is shared, except toothbrushes and floss and such. I wouldn't share lip balm with someone known to have herpes simplex, or let anyone else use my kohl (on the waterline - infection can be passed easily, and I'm precious about my eyes).

I freely admit that I have shared chewing gum before, and not in a biting to split it sense. I trust my friends to tell me if they have anything which could cause me harm.

[Coidzor]

Coid: I believe you'd know it by "washcloth" or somesuch.

Huh. I wonder who it is that's supposed to call them terry cloths then. :smallconfused:

[Drascin]

I don't really have that many scruples, and get a bit weirded out by people who do, which seem to be most. I've been several times on the receiving end of someone grabbing a bottle, drinking straight from it, and assuming that means I'm not going to be willing to drink from it too and that therefore they have claimed full rights over it - which never fails to make me go "what". "Dude, we breathe worse and more icky things than your spit every second. You yourself eat snails, which are basically concentrated mucus with a butter sauce. You really think I'm going to get weirded out by you chugging from the bottle?" *grab, drink*

About the only things I will refuse to share with someone I know are toothbrushes and such other dental hygiene stuff, because, you know, infections. I never had a problem sharing a towel, glasses, silverware, or whatever.

[Lolzords]

It's especially annoying when you find it gross, but no one else seems to, I can't count how many times I've walked past the bathroom and seen my brother helping himself to my hairstyling products...

It's still annoying now he's moved out, since my dad used to help himself to my brother's deodorants but now he helps himself to mine. :smallmad:

[hobbitkniver]

I share drinks all the time and some people like try to pour it down their throat from 3 inches away.

[Mauve Shirt]

Toothpaste, shaving cream and shampoo I'll share. And if one of my ladies needs a hygiene product they can help themselves to my stash. Washcloths and used towels I prefer not to share, but I hang my handtowel next to the sink for anyone to dry their hands on. I definitely don't share my toothbrush or razor. I have a bag of disposables if someone needs one, they just need to ask first.

I have no problem sharing food with people, but they should ask before they take it. I ask them.

[EmeraldRose]

I am married and have two (going on three) children. Sharing is not really an option anymore. Mind you, this includes pretty much everything from my cup of water to my leftover sanity.

But no, I don't find it gross. Annoying at times, but not really gross.

[Thajocoth]

Toothbrushes and anything else that was in someone's mouth. (Except for silverware, if washed first.) Anything used on a dog. (Like, if a dog was dried off with a towel, I want that towel bleached before I'd consider using it.)

[Aedilred]

I generally don't like sharing anything- not so much because I'm selfish but because I don't like people messing with my stuff. It applies particularly to books, since I've yet to meet anyone who can read a book while keeping it in the same standard as it was in prior to reading, and I'm particular about trying to keep books pristine if possible.

It applies to everything to some degree, although for the most part I *will* lend stuff out, just privately freak out about it until I get it back. With stuff like razors, towels, and the like, I will lend them if necessary but will wash/replace them before using them again myself. The only time I think I violated this personal rule was at a wedding last year when my ex's brother forgot his razor and asked to borrow my (electric) one. I did the mental calculation of brownie points with her family versus private scruples about lending my stuff and let him borrow it- obviously I didn't replace it afterwards either (although I did rinse it out), but I wasn't too concerned about hygiene issues with that anyway.

With toothpaste, shampoo, soap, etc. (and I'd include deodorant with this), I don't have a problem with people using mine, except where they're basically just stealing it (since I have to pay for it to be replaced!) Lending it to a friend who's been caught short is fine, having a housemate who just uses it all the time is not.

When it comes to using other people's stuff, generally I don't, although I will borrow consumable toiletries if necessary. I wouldn't ever borrow a "soiled" towel, or borrow a razor or toothbrush; I'd just go without then buy a cheap one of my own at the earliest opportunity.

[742]

a good general rule (exceptions do exist)

"does it touch anything i wouldnt want to touch, or anything wet? then no, i dont want to use it now. i dont care if you only washed your face with it."
bars of soap are a major exception, but i generally scrub the soap under hot water for a minute or two before i use a bar anyway.

[arguskos]

Yeah, I pretty much prefer to not share my entire shower room with any non-lovers. :smalltongue:
Amen sirrah, amen. Keep preaching the good word.


So no one then?

I kid, I kid.
Boy, I see you're new around here. Let me explain somethin' to ya. Pyrian is pretty much the Casanova of GitP. If ya gonna make that joke, know who ya talkin' bout, we clear here? :smallwink:

On my sharinesslevel: I don't share squat with other people. Why? Cause I don't have to. I always bring toiletries for myself, hell I keep some in my car for emergencies! Bring your own, you stealing bastards! :smallfurious:

On sharing food: again... no. Now, I sometimes offer to share, mostly so someone else can taste whatever I have, if they're curious. In that case, it's obviously cool if you nick a spoonful or a bite or something. Otherwise, keep yer grubby mitts off my damn food, you stealing bastards! :smallfurious:

On my seriousnesslevel: Obviously, it is not that high. :smalltongue:

[shadow_archmagi]

Finally, a relevant place to post this comic!


http://www.supermegacomics.com/images/329.gif

[CynicalAvocado]

I don't mind sharing hairbrushes because I'm neurotic about my hair.

same here, but if i see even one strand of hair that isnt mine, i will spend hours getting all the hair off of it. my friends think i'm weird for this

[Tirian]

Huh. I wonder who it is that's supposed to call them terry cloths then. :smallconfused:

If you wanted to make your own custom-sized towels, I suppose terry cloth is what you'd ask for at the fabric shop through at least much of the English-speaking world.

[Coidzor]

If you wanted to make your own custom-sized towels, I suppose terry cloth is what you'd ask for at the fabric shop through at least much of the English-speaking world.

Terrycloth is the type of fabric then, eh? Learn sommat new every day.