Oh no…are you eating your hand cream?
*Ahem* I’m embarrassed to admit this – but I don’t always wash my hands before I eat. This is particularly so when I’m at home because I don’t think my hands or my home is dirty. But the thing that bothers me sometimes is that I’ve just applied hand cream and I didn’t even bother to wash my hands before picking up that piece of bread or biscuit. Now, did I or did I not just ate a bit of those hand cream that I’ve applied?
To wash or not to wash?
Actually someone popped this question to me some years back. “Should I wash my hands before I eat because I applied hand cream just now”? I wasn’t sure of the answer of course but I told her that I don’t usually do so unless the cream is still not absorbed into my skin. Otherwise, I’m not conscious of the cream at all.
Does your hand cream penetrate your skin completely?
But when I sit down and think about it, some of ingredients in these hand creams are more occulsive in nature such as beewax, cocoa butter, lanolin, petrolatum, mineral oil or dimethicone and some of these are bound to stay on top of the skin layer because they do not penetrate into the skin. So even when we do not feel that our hands are “creamy”, they must still have residues of some ingredients on them.
Don’t you sometimes forget?
This is why I usually use my hand cream at certain times of the day when I know I won’t be in contact with food handling; much more so when I’m preparing food for my child. Or I stick to using olive oil to moisturize. However, there are still many moments when the thought completely slipped my mind and I just carelessly slip some tidbits into my mouth without washing my hands, and after I’ve applied my commercial hand cream like half an hour ago.
Are you bothered and what do you do?
I guess it’s the same with lipstick. I doubt all of us actually wipe off our lipsticks before eating our food and inevitably, we eat some of our lipsticks too. So what about you? Do you consider the hand cream factor before eating your food or you’re not that bothered about it? Or perhaps you in the extremes – you don’t use hand creams or you must always wash your hands before you come into contact with food?
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I do wash my hands with soap diligently, of course including before meal. So I also need a lot of hand lotion to prevent dryness. I rather concern about eating lipstick.
I don’t wash my hands diligently! ugh, I am too lazy to use hand cream because of that factor as well! But gosh, I need to start washing hands diligently prior to eating!!!
I don’t wash hands and I don’t use handcream. hehe…
I recently found that the hand I use to apply my skin care is more rough and dry compared to the other hand.
I should be concerned. ?
Yes, I am on the extreme of washing my hands every time before I come into contact with food, becoming ‘worse’ after I become a mother. I mostly apply my hand cream at night before bed time, after food handling when I know I’ll not be touching food for another few hours (doesn’t really matter ‘cos I’ll always wash my hands again) and after coming out from the shower(after applying skincare and body lotion, then a separate hand cream).
Yeah, all that washing really dries out the hand.
I don’t face that problem since I only apply my hand cream before I sleep. Even though I’m using a veggie brand, never pop to mind of putting my hand to my mouth xD
Lipstick, its abit weird to wipe it off before eating in public places, right?
With the virus spreading, it’s better to be more diligent especially when you’re out.
Eh, that’s quite strange. The hand in contact with lotions and creams should be quite smooth logically.
Ah, I used to be like that when my boy was younger. Wash hands until nails bleed! Ai…but now he’s older, I’m not so diligent although still like to be keen when I’m preparing his food and stuff.
How about when the food is finger linking good? ?
Lipstick, typically not but I’ve come across some who really wipe their lipsticks before they eat. I guess they’re uncomfortable with eating a bit of it.
I don’t have the habit of wiping away lipstick before eating. What I try to do is, I eat my breakfast first then I apply my lipstick. At night, I remove my lipstick before dinner. So, at least I only “eat” the lipstick one time for lunch. With handcream, sometimes you can forget.
I always wash my hands prior to eatting- even when I’m at home, and funnily enough I wash them after as well, which is when I apply my hand cream.
But thank you for allerting me about the lipstick. Maybe I should start wiping it off before I eat.
I wash my hands all the time as I have a very slight OCD tendency. As a result I apply hand cream all the time too. It gets tiring cos it’s like a never-ending cycle. In the absence of water, I use wet wipes to wipe down my hands before I eat. However, I’m very sure some traces of cream will linger. Talking about wiping off lipstick, what about lip balm? I use lip balm all the time at home too but like lipstick, I don’t wipe off before I eat. Hope I’m not putting on weight cos of all the extra lip product I’ve consumed haha.
Ya, easy to forget…especially more so if our hands don’t feel creamy or sticky.
I suppose it depends on personal threshold. I don’t wipe my lipstick before I eat but then again, by the time I eat, my lipstick is almost gone! Eaten well ahead of meal time! ?
I don’t think the lip balm will cause a weight gaining issue but some pple might be concerned with the ingredients. For lipstick, the concern is more of the lead that some of them contain.
hahha because i dont like seeing the lipstick marks that i leave on utensils and cups, and i dont like the usual sticky icky feeling of normal lipgloss, i don apply anything. except for a lip balm that is in oil form in a roller container. and i doubt it stays on my lips very quickly because it gets absorbed really quickly.
Oh I know what you mean about leaving marks! I find it quite distasteful too! But not much of a choice if we apply lipsticks.
I usually apply my handcreams at night before I sleep. So MOST OF THE TIME, I don’t really eat them.
But with lipsticks, I’m guilty of that. lol.By the end of the meal, all my lipsticks are gone. And i’m guilty of lipbalms as well. I do apply lipbalms whenever I go out, and sometimes its just for a meal!
Looks like I need to get into the habit of wiping them off before I pop anything into my mouth. lol.
I find Virgin Olive oil to be better than any hand cream so I don’t have to worry about eating it,lol
I have no such concern as I dont apply hand cream during the day ( too lazy ) . I only apply hand cream before bed. Guess that’s why nowadays I notice my hand have obvious wrinkles. Anyway, if I do apply hand cream ,it is better to wash your hand if need to in contact with food but if your hand do not have direct contact with the food, then for me it should be ok.
It does feel a bit weird to wipe off the lipstick before eating? But that’s one way to prevent eating it. I’ve seen some friends doing it consciously.
Yup, that’s one good oil and I don’t have to worry about my hands when I’m preparing food. But I don’t always use it when I’m working or when I’m outside.
I noticed I was “eating” it because I use bare hands to pick up tidbits.
Hi…i wash my hands very often… but i don’t apply any hand creams…
I tend to wash it off once i applied hand cream.
I know what you mean – it doesn’t make sense to apply if one is going to wash the hands anyway.
I wash my hands every time before handling food. I’ll only put on hand cream once all the washing up’s done ?
That’s a good habit!
what do you think if hand cream is put into your mouth. My mother-in-law has Altzheimer’s and had squirted hand cream into her mouth after eating her lunch.