WHEN drying our hands in a public restroom, many people choose not to use hand dryers, citing potential health hazards.
This time, a Malaysian woman has shared another reason to avoid using hand dryers in public spaces.
In a post on Threads, the woman included a picture of a hand dryer in a public toilet, allegedly tainted with what she believes to be menstrual blood.
“I don’t know why I decided to look inside the hand dryer and there was menstrual blood. (I can distinguish the difference between menstrual blood and regular blood),” she claimed in her post.
The post gradually gained attention on Threads, with netizens expressing their disgust and sharing valid reasons for avoiding public hand dryers altogether.
Some users claimed to have seen hand dryers being used for purposes other than drying hands — with one alleging that a cleaner had used a public restroom’s hand dryer to dry off a floor mop.
“Hand dryers can be less hygienic than paper towels, particularly when it comes to bacteria and the spread of viruses. Studies show that some hand dryers, especially jet air dryers, can disperse bacteria and viruses into the air, potentially contaminating both the user and the surrounding environment,” said one commenter.
“If possible, avoid using hand dryers. They blow germs into the air and back onto your hands. Paper towels are more hygienic and safer,” another added.
“I always make sure to use a hand dryer that only blows air downwards,” one user noted.
Meanwhile, another user argued that the stain was likely not blood, but rather water that had been sitting inside the dryer for too long — giving it a rusty appearance.