Are Germs Lurking in Your Tub?
Your bathing area is one of the germiest parts of your bathroom. Learn where bacteria hide and find out whether showering is more sanitary than soaking.
If a long soak in a hot bath is the most relaxing part of your daily self-care routine, you may not have given much thought to how many germs are lurking in the water.
So how clean is bathwater? And the bathtub itself — exactly how clean is that?
This shouldn’t be surprising, because bacteria thrive in moist environments. Some of this bacteria is harmless. But so-called gram-negative bacteria, the type most often found on bathing surfaces, have the potential to make you sick, SafeHome.org notes.
Flushing the toilet with the seat up can send germs into your tub, according to SafeHome.org. Most people also have fecal matter on their bodies that gets into the water every time they take a bath, says Charles Gerba, PhD, an environmental biology professor at the University of Arizona in Tucson.
“In bathwater we found about 100,000 fecal bacteria per cup of water,” says Dr. Gerba, who has studied this subject extensively. Most people have fecal material on their skin that they shed into the water every time they take a bath, Gerba says.
Regularly cleaning your tub can help, especially with fecal material, Gerba says. It’s a good idea to use a disinfectant spray after each bath, especially if you have young kids using the tub, he suggests.
“Most fecal bacteria will die off in a day or two, so the risk is low if the tub is used infrequently,” Gerba says.
The trick is to have a consistent cleaning routine instead of waiting until your tub obviously looks gross, according to SafeHome.org.
Not necessarily. “Shower water has just as much fecal bacteria after use as a tub, but it goes right down the drain,” Gerba says. The bigger concern with showers is that germs will linger on tiles and grout, especially if you don’t disinfect after each use.
This type of bacteria grows in moist areas with fecal residue or soap residue such as the tub, shower, or sink, according to North Dakota State University. Regular cleaning can prevent this bacteria from thriving in your tub, and a cleaner that contains chlorine bleach is a good way to combat it, per North Dakota State University.
As for how germ-free you’ll be after a shower or bath with Sydney Sweeney’s soap, it’s really hard to say, according to Gerba. Depending on what’s in the soap, any fecal bacteria from the bathwater used to make it may be dead, Gerba says.
“The bathwater soap is interesting, but I’m not sure how they process this,” Gerba says.
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