Submitted by samuelma t3_z8r5za in explainlikeimfive
BongkeyChong t1_iye22ly wrote
Reply to comment by sparklesandflies in ELI5: Why does stuff dissolve in hot water more? by samuelma
this seems wrong, i feel like without hot water, i am smearing skin grease and oils around, not a lot but like, what your hands would generate in a few hours, and I assume germs can become infused with such congregations of detritus and with using cold water only, my hands feel waxy faster because they heat up to normalize after washing along with taking longer and probably not being as completely as effective as possible.
It doesn't have to be super hot water either, as long as it is above 80 degrees or so it becomes even more useful, below that and you might as well just suds up and wipe dry with a paper towel because you're not gonna convince your skin to let go of that microbial film.
sparklesandflies t1_iyecjg5 wrote
That’s what the soap is for. I guess that just rinsing in warm would be better than just rinsing in cold, but neither is particularly effective.
From the CDC: “Is it better to use warm water or cold water? Use your preferred water temperature – cold or warm – to wash your hands. Warm and cold water remove the same number of germs from your hands. The water helps create soap lather that removes germs from your skin when you wash your hands. Water itself does not usually kill germs; to kill germs, water would need to be hot enough to scald your hands.”
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