5 Personal Hygiene Items You Should Never Share

You went away for a weekend with the girls and your friend forgot her bar of soap. You didn’t want to seem rude, so you lent yours, after all, it’s just soap – it would wash off. Or you lent a razor to that friend who had a date and forgot to shave her legs. One way or the other, we all have found ourselves in positions where we really did want to say no but couldn’t because we didn’t want to seem rude or like we couldn’t share. However, we need to brace ourselves to always say no.

Check out these personal products that you should absolutely not share…

1. Razors. Sharing of razors has also been known to cause transmissions of fungal infection – specifically tinea corporis, known more commonly as ringworm – and bacterial infections,” Bethanee J. Schlosser, M.D., PhD., director of the Women’s Skin Health Program for Northwestern Medicine says. She said this in a report for Womenshealthmag.

2. Toothbrushes. Everybody has bacteria in their mouth, and whenever you brush your teeth, these bacteria are transferred to your toothbrush and it multiplies. Your own bacteria might do you no harm, however, when it’s coming from another person’s body, then you have to start getting worried. Even sharing a toothbrush with your partner, who you get intimate with, increases the chances of you spreading infections.

3. Antiperspirants. Deodorants and antiperspirants are two very different things, however, a lot of people tend to mix them up. Deodorants kill the germs that causes you to stink when you sweat, antiperspirants only help reduce your sweating, so they won’t kill the germs that are swiped onto your stick or roll on. While there may be no transfer of infection(s) if there is no broken skin, you may transfer skin cells and hair particles from your body to the next person’s as well as from that person to yours when you share them.

4. Towels. It’s pretty easy to spread infections ranging from pink eye (Apolo) to eczema and rashes from using someone’s towel, especially wet ones. Always remember to have yours with you wherever you go.

Note that it’s not enough to not share your towels, always keep them dry and clean to reduce the risk of re-infecting yourselves.

5. Soap Bar. As harmless as it seems to share a bar of soap, it’s really easy to spread germs through it from one person’s body to another, especially when the soap sits in a wet place. Let’s admit it, how many people take the time out to make sure their soap containers are dry enough? While soap’s self-cleaning nature does minimize germ-swapping, dermatologists advice that it is better to use liquid soaps. It’s in a sealed bottle most of the time and that, you can actually share. Although, dermatologists also say that it is relatively safe to share a bar of soap with your partner as your bodies have become acclimatized to each other’s “bacterial flora”.