Posted on 02/26/2020 1:21:19 PM PST by rickmichaels
A third of French people don’t wash their hands after going to the toilet and less than half before eating, while a fifth of Frenchmen change their underwear twice a week at best.
These are some of the unsavoury findings of a new study into personal hygiene in France, which researchers and Gallic doctors say leaves a lot to be desired. The findings stand to reinforce stereotypes that the French take a laisser-faire approach to cleanliness.
The survey by pollster Ifop found the French continued to display “ignorance of basic sanitary rules, despite public health messages and the current [coronavirus] context.”
Only 37 per cent wash their hands after using public transport and 71 per cent after going to the lavatory.
The study was commissioned by Diogène France, a group specialising in cleaning insalubrious housing from sufferers of Diogenes syndrome- a disorder characterised by extreme self-neglect, domestic squalor and compulsive hoarding.
A quarter of the country failed to take a “complete wash” every day, it found.
Women were less negligent than men, with 81 per cent washing every day compared to 71 per cent of males. Rural Frenchmen only managed such daily ablutions in 60 per cent of cases while the worst offenders were the over 65s, on 57 per cent.
Matters have improved since a landmark Ifop study in 1951 for Elle magazine that asked “Are French Women Clean?”
Back then, just over half performed a full toilette daily, but 14 per cent did so less than once a week. At the time, the French used less soap than almost any other country in the developed world – 6.38kg per year compared to 11.09kg per Briton.
A mere 17 percent claimed to change their underwear every day, and 30 percent changed it only once a week or less.
However, 80 per cent wore lipstick. “French women, in sum, knew a lot about beauty; they just did not associate it with being clean,” wrote American academic Steven Zdatny in his 2014 work, “The French Hygiene Offensive of the 1950s: A Critical Moment in the History of Manners.”
Doctor Frédéric Saldmann, a cardiologist and nutritionist said the French no longer deserved their lingering reputation as a smelly nation. “But more needs to be done,” he told Le Parisien.
He said a nationwide drive in schools to educate young French on personal hygiene in the 1960s had changed habits but that bad habits were creeping back in.
For example, the nail brush seems to have disappeared from the French bathroom, he lamented, adding: “Under the nails, it’s a jungle!”
The post ‘Unclean’ French continue to flout basic personal hygiene rules, study suggests appeared first on The Telegraph.
I had a German friend who always washed his hands before using the restroom. When asked about this seemingly unusual habit, he responded, “I know where my dick has been but I can’t recall all the things I’ve touched with my hands.” To him it made sense to keep his dick clean.
You deserve some kind of award for that pic
Yeah, but isn’t France the home of the bidet?
You clean what you care about.
An earlier article suggested men shave their beards off to help protect them from the coronavirus.
Does the same apply to French women’s armpits?
It ‘s not as if their other hand isn’t out and about, touching stuff as well.
```````
The right hand is touching stuff like your hand, caressing your hair and other parts ...
Perfume: The Story of a Murderer is a fascinating film based on a true story. Google it. I recently watched it for free on Pluto TV.
“Sorry, nothing is nastier than a German.”
Arabs. Their greasy, spicy diet (goat meat & cous cous stinks when it’s cooking) coupled with poor hygiene... geesh!
I had a German friend who always washed his hands before using the restroom. When asked about this seemingly unusual habit, he responded, “I know where my dick has been but I can’t recall all the things I’ve touched with my hands.” To him it made sense to keep his dick clean.
********************************************************
I’ve always washed my hands both before and after. Like your German friend, I don’t shake hands, open doors or endlessly touch things with my dick. My wife understands and appreciates that “eccentricity” of mine.
Let them study American men.
We were just commenting at work the other day on how our French co-worker always smells like he hasn’t showered in a month.
Seems to be a trait of countries that mix “a bit too much” socialism into the mix....general malaise and laziness leads to poor hygiene..
To paraphrase something I heard years ago when talking about a woman with impressive characteristics...
“What, she has smell?”
It’s not just France. I remember when I lived in Berlin you’d see clothes hanging out the windows of apartments. We called it German dry cleaning.
one of the definitions of TOILET is to dress or groom oneself.
On the other hand, the Serbs are fanatical about their shower heads.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.