8 Sneaky Places Germs Are Hiding in Your Bathroom

Your bathroom is the place where you spruce up for the day or take a relaxing bath at night, so no one wants to think about sneaky germs hiding out in there. But, no matter how often (or how well) you clean your bathroom, you’re likely missing a few of these key locations that can quickly turn into an icky breeding ground. 

These are the eight surprisingly germy places in your bathroom (and yes, we know you’ll want to go clean them right now).

1. Knobs and Handles

It should come as no surprise that the knobs and handles in your bathroom—including your cabinets, linen closet doors, and even drawer pulls—harbor a deep and dirty secret: germs. Not only are they high-touch areas in your bathroom, but they’re also spaces we normally forget to work into our cleaning routine. 

To help cull the germ count, ensure you’re wiping these surfaces down with a disinfectant when you clean the rest of the room. When it comes to disinfecting your home, you’ll want to carefully read the directions on the label of your cleaner to make sure you’re allowing the product to sit on surfaces for the right length of time. 

2. Light Switches

Like knobs and handles, lightswitches see a lot of action without a lot of cleaning. In addition to being spots that we frequently need to touch, they can end up being touched more than once in a single visit, often by both clean and dirty hands. When we touch the light switch as we leave the bathroom, we often render our freshly cleaned hands unclean once more. 

The easy fix for keeping these spots clean is to remember to hit them with a disinfectant spray and be sure to clean them during your weekly routine.

3. Bathmats

There’s a reason why some people opt to take their shoes off before they enter their home: A lot of unwanted things can come in on the soles of your feet. Not only can you bring a bit of the outside into your bathroom when you walk on your bathmat in your shoes, but you can bring a bit of your bathroom around your house when you step on an unclean mat. 

Considering that bathmats are designed to absorb drips and splashes from your tub, sink, and toilet, they’re the perfect breeding ground for germs and bacteria that you probably don’t want to think about. Fortunately, managing mat cleanliness is as easy as tossing your bath mats in the washer and dryer once a week.

4. Hand Towels

You’d think a towel that only dries clean hands would be a relatively germ-free area, but unfortunately, that couldn’t be further from the truth. Hand towels can pick up some of the microparticles that are floating around your bathroom when you do your business, redepositing them on your clean hands (just like your light switch). They’re also prone to developing mold, thanks to poor air circulation. 

To beat this germy locale, you should frequently swap out your hand towels for fresh ones—twice a week should do the trick.

5. Shower Curtain

Similar to hand towels, your shower curtain is exposed to everything that goes on inside your bathroom. That means microparticles from the toilet, the sink, and the shower can be absorbed into the fabric and then lie in wait until you brush up against it. 

Unlike hand towels, you don’t get that up-close-and-personal with your shower curtain, so washing it (and the liner) once a month should be enough to knock those germ numbers down significantly. Follow the care instructions on your liner’s label and avoid putting it into the drier unless it specifically says it’s dryer safe. 

6. Toothbrush

We’re sorry to be the bearer of bad news, but your toothbrush is likely a major source of hidden germs in your bathroom. This has more to do with what’s going on inside your mouth than what’s going on inside your bathroom—but real talk: The things floating around inside your bathroom will eventually find their way to your toothbrush. 

Consider keeping your toothbrush in a well-ventilated area where it can dry out between uses. Avoid leaving it out on the counter (where it can come into contact with more undesirable things), but don’t tuck it away in the back corner of a dark linen closet. The best spot is going to be at least 4 feet away from your toilet. And replace it often: According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, you should be swapping out your toothbrush three to four times a year.

7. Toilet Tank Lever

The fact that germs like to hide on your toilet’s flush handle isn’t what makes this spot surprising. Instead, it’s the fact that it so often gets overlooked during cleaning. Keeping on top of this germ hotspot is easy, though, since all you need to do is incorporate it into the rest of your routine when you wipe down your toilet.

8. Bathtub 

Your bathtub is likely holding far more secrets than what you sound like when you’re singing in the shower. The space you go to get clean is far from clean itself. Not only does everything you wash from your body pool in the bottom of your tub, but unseen germs and bacteria can multiply in the often poorly ventilated space. 

The fix? Make sure you’re thoroughly scrubbing your tub every time you clean and leaving your shower curtain open for a few minutes after you shower to help speed up the drying process.