A popular high school experiment is being repeated by journalists in an effort to get people to wash their hands properly.

Now that we’re living in a world seemingly run by microorganisms, it’s more important than ever to take seriously the warning from researchers that only roughly 5% of people wash their hands properly after tasks such as using the bathroom.

This means germs from nearly everything you touch during the day end up on your skin, face, in your eyes, mouth, nose, and hair, and on the people and things you come into contact with later – and yes, that germs include fecal bacteria.

Using a substance called Glo Germ, which has particles that simulate the size of disease-causing germs, a journalist for the Daily Mail used a UV light to show just how much of it remained on her hands after only briefly washing them.

And you can insist all you want that you don’t have germy hands, but you do. The world is covered in billions of microorganisms. Not all of them cause illness, but we’ve learned that the ones that do can significantly change our lives.

Here are her hands after rubbing GloGerm all over them. The white substance lit up by the UV light represents the dirt and grime that’s not supposed to be there. That’s that stuff you want to get off while you wash your hands so you don’t carry germs around.

For those of you who give your hands a quick rinse and a shake after using the bathroom, take note!

That’s gross.

Here’s how much that actually does for your hands: almost nothing.

The substance is still coating her hands.

Simply running your hands under water removes a minimal amount of germs. That means it’s likely that fecal matter and any other substances you touched throughout the day remain on your hands afterward.

So maybe don’t rush out of the bathroom and go pick up your burger, ok?

The average person spends around 6 seconds rinsing their hands and then drying them on a towel.

If you do that and do not use any soap, here’s what you can expect to achieve (remember, the white sections are where the germs remain).

Anyone who has been laughing at all the visuals we’ve received lately about how to wash our hands correctly would do well to note that the reason we say they need to be scrubbed in multiple areas for 20 seconds is that without doing so, germs remain in crevices, around nails, and amongst our jewelry.

Here’s what a 6-second wash and towel dry looks like with soap:

Soap is not meant to kill germs but rather bind to them on the molecular level and get them off of your skin. That means you have to let the soap do its work by spending some time lathering it up. (That’s even the case with antibacterial soap!)

Now, remember, this is an artificial substance that was added to her hands, but check out what even a 20-second wash doesn’t quite get rid of:

Areas around the knuckles and cuticles still have some substances left, but it’s FAR better than what we saw after a simple rinse and shake!

Even a 30-second wash didn’t eliminate everything, but it provided a helpful visual on where “gunk” lurks on your hands that’s hard to remove.

Here’s the results from that:

How many of us spend more than 30 seconds washing our hands even after using the bathroom, riding public transportation, or handling items in the store potentially touched by dozens of other people?

Not many.

But can you see why spending time washing your hands is of paramount importance right now?

Public health experts say it makes a world of difference to try to get the most germs possible off your hands each time you encounter a new substance, especially if you commonly touch your face, food, or other people.

If our main goal is to concentrate on hygiene so we can stop spreading the virus COVID-19 and get back to our normal lives, our hand-washing regimen is one of the many things that will have to change.

And after seeing these photos, we’re convinced good hand-washing etiquette is for the best even when there’s not a pandemic!

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Source: Live Science, Daily Mail