THe DAngers Of hand dryers

By Ella Paul, 2024

Published 11/03/22

As many businesses and public locations strive to save the environment and save money, many public bathrooms have transitioned from paper towels to electric hand dryers. These dryers seem like an amazing alternative, and do work wonders in regards to limiting the amount of paper towels used and wasted. However, hand dryers come with a catch: they spread more bacteria than one could possibly imagine. Every time someone uses a hand dryer, they are blowing bacteria floating into the bathroom air and mastering it right onto their hands. Additionally, with the air coming out at high speeds and blowing powerfully in all directions, they often transfer germs to physical surfaces and clothing.

A series of popular TikTok videos that were trending brought this issue to light as researchers sought out to prove the disgusting truth. In one specific example, a man had four petri dishes and used them to collect bacteria from the air, an Xlerator dryer, and a Dyson Blade dryer. The air dish was to serve as a controlled variable of just shaking one’s hands dry. After placing these dishes in an incubator to allow bacteria to form, the results were simply disgusting (pictured with this article). According to this study, the safest way to dry your hands if no paper towels are accessible is to shake them out or wave them dry, because the risk of bacteria is not worth using a hand dryer. If paper towels are accessible, they are the best option because according to studies, they actually continue the cleaning process by removing excess bacteria that was washed off by the soap and water. Though hand dryers are helpful to the environment, it is at the expense of truly clean hands and risks of spreading germs and bacteria.