17 Things You Should Never, Ever Share
Unless you love washing your body with fungus and brushing your teeth with the stomach flu.
Sharing personal hygiene products with friends, family members, or partners is kinda inevitable.
Whether that's borrowing your sister's brush or your partner's soap or your friend's nail clippers.
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But some of those seemingly harmless items can actually put you at risk for serious skin and health problems when shared.
So BuzzFeed Life reached out to Dr. Whitney Bowe, board-certified dermatologist in New York City, and Philip Tierno, Ph.D., professor of microbiology and pathology at New York University School of Medicine, to find out which items you definitely shouldn't feel bad about keeping to yourself. If anyone asks to borrow any of these, we hereby give you permission to say HELL NO.
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Bar Soap
It's self-cleaning, right?! Eh, not really. After each use, the bar gets covered in organisms from your skin, ranging from harmless germs to serious pathogens people can carry without getting sick, says Bowe. Even if it's antibacterial (and these days most soaps aren't because antibacterial soaps are so harsh on the skin) the bar of soap itself isn't an effective germ killer like alcohol, says Bowe. And it's even worse if the soap sits in a wet dish, because moisture makes it easier for bacteria, fungi, and viruses to grow. More serious risks include norovirus (stomach flu) and community-acquired methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (CA-MRSA), a bacteria that causes serious infections and illness, says Tierno.
Although, OK, the experts agree that this is a little less harmful if you're sharing soap with a partner, since your bodies are already pretty acclimated to each other's unique ~bacterial flora~.
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Towels
Funky old towel smell? That's actually bacteria, fungus, and mildew, says Bowe. Towels are a breeding ground for germs, especially when they're hanging in a damp bathroom. "Contaminated towels can transmit fungal infections on the skin, acne-causing bacteria, and even pink eye," says Bowe. Towels can also transmit the same dangerous CA-MRSA bacteria that can live on soap. Besides keeping your towels to yourself, Bowe suggests washing them after four uses and always letting them dry completely.
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