Item — HN Reader

> Whenever I see their hand-dryers in a public bathroom I just use paper towels

Removing and replacing paper towels with hand dryers in public bathrooms has been an unfortunately shortsighted move that's been copied without much thought. Hands aren't the only thing that get wet in a public bathroom. You may wash your face, you may be removing stuff off your clothing, and countless other uses that a hand dryer alone can't accommodate.

2 comments

Aerosolizing whatever might happen to be stuck to someone's hands is pretty irresponsible all by itself.

By the time you make it to the drying step, whatever that stuff is, should have already been removed by the soap, water, and scrubbing.

Thanks Mom.

Seriously, if paper napkins and no Dyson Aerosol-Your-Skin-Cells-9000 means I don't have to think about the sanitary habits of my fellow citizens, that would be reason enough to stop installing them.

They also scream like a banshee and don't dry your hands. I happen to also wear a beard, perhaps you can see why having only the Scream And Don't Dry My Hands Machine available would be unsatisfactory.

I don’t think it’s safe to assume that people are doing that good of a job on the wash step.

And even if they did, many (most?) bathrooms have doors that open inwards, so you have to touch the same bare metal that they (and every other previous user) also touched... and I'm yet to be convinced by the usual argument that it's for fire safety.

Those directional nozzle hand dryers that twist upwards so you can dry your face is a big billy bonus. One of my favourite campsites set in the Welsh Mountains has a Dyson blade for drying hands, and sure its very quick to dry your hands, but on a freezing winters day or night coming back from a hike in the mountains and its freezing cold and you are soaked through, the directional nozzle hand dryers give you that warmth you can never get from the Dyson blade, like drying the insides of your hiking boots for the next morning.

The ultimate bachelor's vacuum cleaner was the Dyson DC15 Animal. It just cleaned and cleaned and cleaned, their newer stuff I dont rate.