Wash Your Hands of Warmed-Over Lore

Researchers at Vanderbilt University and University of Texas-Austin present evidence that washing your hands in warm or hot water doesn’t clean away germs any better than washing your hands in cold water. What sanitizes your hands is time spent rubbing the soap thoroughly on your skin, not the temperature of the water during the rub, says the research. Yet 64% of the people in a survey of 510 adults said they use warm or hot water.
     Retailers, too, will frequently adhere to procedures which research claims is wasteful. Why?

• Lack of knowledge. The hand washers and wasteful retailers might not know what the research says. 
• Hand-me-downs. We learn so many of our actions through imitation of people we respect. Among retailers, hand-me-down reasoning is seen most often in family-run businesses. The adult kids take over the reins, having grown up doing things in certain ways because that's how their parents said things were to be done. Hand-me-downs also happen when inexperienced retailers purchase a business and are coached by the former owners. 
• Old habits. We’ve been washing our hands for almost all of our lives. If we’re accustomed to warm water, we resist changing our routine for what seems to be a highly routine task not worth thinking much about. Old habits are always a driver of retailers’ actions because retailers are so busy that they find it hard to carve out the time to build new habits. 
• Superstitions. “There was one time I washed my hands in cold water and came down with the flu afterwards. Never again will I wash my hands in cold water.” The retailer says, “A few years ago, I tried out exactly what you’re suggesting I do. I lost a lot of money. Never again will I do that.” 
• Superior knowledge. Maybe the research conclusions are wrong or incomplete. People might find it more pleasant to wash their hands in warm or hot water, and if pressured to wash in cold water, they’d stop washing their hands as often. Moreover, there are stains which require a high-temperature scrub. Considering only germ removal is an incomplete assessment of the value of hand washing. Retailers also can consider research findings to be wrong or incomplete. To be convinced, they’ll need to hear more. 

     Look out for any of these drawing you to warmed-over lore and getting in the way of you facing the cold truths.

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