Why you should always wash your hands with soap before having sex

Washing your hands is not always an obvious reflex. Some people don't think that their hands are dirty and end up skipping the soap. But think about everything you touch over the course of a day.

Even the most innocuous objects can be teeming with bacteria: phones, door handles, and stair railings are all places that are breeding grounds for germs. And since sexual intercourse can happen at any time, it is necessary to have impeccable hygiene to avoid creating infections in your partner.

Why wash your hands before every sexual encounter?

With the COVID-19 pandemic, hand washing has once again become an automatic act that everyone (or almost everyone) does on a regular basis, more or less. But some people are unaware that they also have to go through the sink and soap process before touching their partner's genitals.

Doing this is simply a matter of health. The thousands of bacteria on your fingers, palms, and nails could inadvertently find their way into the warm, moist walls of your lover's private parts and, especially for women, create a yeast infection (a fungal infection of the vagina or vulva with symptoms of discomfort, itching, and white discharge) or bacterial and urinary infections. Sex therapist Vanessa Marin told Bustle magazine:

Ask your partner to wash their hands before touching you. Few people know that they should wash their hands before touching their partner's vulva. But we all have bacteria on our hands, and these bacteria can get into the urethra and vagina. Just wash your hands quickly and you're all set.

Men and women unequal when it comes to hand washing

Before the coronavirus pandemic, studies regularly showed that people’s hygiene was not necessarily the best. A study published in 2020 explained, for example, that 32% of men said they did not wash their hands after using the toilet. Among women, 25% of them leave the toilet without having washed their hands. The 2016 Hygiene-Matters-Report explains that women wash their hands on average 9 times a day, compared to 7 for men.