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We at AskBronny love our handbags, and we know that for most females, the bag you carry on any given day is an extension of your outfit, your mood, your self. So who would have thought such a fabulous accessory has the potential to make you sick? That's right your treasured handbag could be doing you more damage than you know!
And I don’t mean sick to the stomach that you spent another couple of hundred on new season Guess when your rent is due. I mean actually ill. It turns out that your trusty handbag has the potential to become a breeding ground for germs.
When you start to give it some thought, you realise its actually not that crazy a concept. Think about where your handbag ends up on any given day. I for one am fastidious about hanging my bag on the back of the loo door when I have to go, but very often female facilities don’t provide this luxury, and your bag ends up on the floor whether you want it to or not. Gross, right? Especially when you consider that if you are carrying a clutch for example, chances are it then ends up on the table next to you if you’re out at dinner.
And it’s not just the dinner table we have to worry about. Who amongst us doesn’t come home and plop our day-to-day handbag on the counter or kitchen bench where we probably prepare food? You can see how this is starting to pan out. When you really start to think about where your handbag can end up on any given day, you probably want it as far from what you are about to eat as possible.
Even our desks at work are breeding grounds for disease. I heard (but don’t quote me!) that your desk is often home to more germs than a public toilet seat, and you should never, ever eat anything that has sat on your desk. But many of us wouldn’t think twice about dumping our bag there, and no way would we then consider that it had been exposed to germs with the ability to make us very ill. Then there’s the car floor. Most of us automatically dump our bag on the floor of the passenger seat when driving. And lord only knows what else is on that carpet. Whatever it is that’s been on your passengers’ shoes recently for starters!
And for those of us who don’t drive to work, have you ever put your bag down next to you on the seat of train, a tram, a bus, a taxi? Imagine how many people, and how many little germs make their way onto public transport every day, and then onto your belongings! Ew! Next time, sit with it on your lap!
Some of you may have seen a warning email about this very subject going around. And it cites a lady named Shauna Lake’s research on the subject. Its obviously not referenced, as so many email claims are not, but even if the research cited is totally made up, the idea behind it is certainly a cause for concern.
The testing of handbags was done using a technique learned at a place called the Nelson Laboratories in Salt Lake, I presume Utah. And the microbiologist was apparently shocked at the results. As most of the tested handbag owners suspected, their handbags were deemed dirty, with leather and vinyl handbags fairing better than their cloth counterparts. But the shock comes in how dirty the bags were – nearly all those tested were carrying the kinds of bacteria that cause eye infections, salmonella and even E-coli. One even had faecal matter on it. Which is just disgusting.
Lifestyle plays a big part in how dirty your handbag gets, which is common sense really. Those ladies with children tended to have dirtier handbags than those without, but the handbag that gets taken along to nightclubs is apparently the dirtiest culprit of all. And I mean your real handbag, not your boyfriend. Surfaces found in nightclubs where your bag may end up have the potential to transmit the foulest of possible contaminations – faeces and vomit.
So although your handbag may be killer fashion, make sure it doesn’t kill your health too. And lord knows that if you’re forking out the big bucks for Bally or Chloe, you don’t want to end up with poo on it!
AskBronny, as usual, is here to help with all kinds of fashion woes – even the slightly more unsavoury kind like this – and here are a few easy ways to avoid contaminating your fabulous handbags.
1. Buy fabulous leather and vinyl handbags over cloth
If the microbiologist says it works, who is your boyfriend to argue when he sees your next Christmas/birthday wish list? Bally are good with leather – remind him of that when he’s next out shopping for you!
2. Wash your bags
Gently of course, and you can buy leather cleaner to handle the bottom of your precious Bally once the boyfriend has gifted it to you as per #1. Cloth bags can be washed in a more thorough way.
3. Always use a hook to hang your bag in the loo
If there is no hook available, be inventive. I usually lay a plastic bag on the floor when I have been shopping and sit my handbag on that. (Stop laughing. No one can see you in a cubicle!)
4. Treat your handbag like a pair of shoes
Anywhere you wouldn’t put your shoes, don’t put your handbag. Don’t put your bag on your kitchen counter, your desk at work, or a restaurant table. You can actually buy handbag hooks (which my Mum uses – irritating that they are always right, isn’t it?) which hook onto any table, and you can hang your handbag from there. Not suitable for all kinds of bag, and you may feel a bit silly, but you wont get E-Coli!
5. Buy a new handbag for every occasion
Just kidding, but wouldn’t it be nice?
Once you do start to think about where your handbag is at any given time, and it’s probably not always tucked safely and cleanly under your arm, the chances of it picking up something fairly disgusting seem pretty high. But if you take care of your fabulous handbags, and we all should, the only ill health you’ll experience is making others sick with jealously over your wonderful accessories!
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