After many a year living in the lowlands I’ve made some serious progress in deciphering the Dutch: I’ve mastered the art (and pronunciation!) of gezelligheid, I’ve gotten used to the constant presence of Dutch directness, agendas and red pants. Heck, you might even find me with the curtains wide open, chewing on drop and swearing at Wilders on the boobtube.
TINY sinks for BIG people
However, there is one mystery that continues to evade me. One particularity I can’t seem to get a straight answer on: why the heck can you only find *cold water* in Dutch toilet sinks?!? Why my friend, why?? Why is there that one lonely tap? And why is its only job to provide glacial H2O? What could possibly be the logical explanation behind said torture?
I would LOVE to think there is something else going on here. Something else other than the obvious: sheer Dutch cheapness “thriftiness”. So please, someone (anyone!) fill in the blanks here and give me another plausible explanation. Don’t tell me that the Dutch are really so incredibly cheap that they are worried about those extra few cents in providing their guests with warm water to wash their hands. If so, then I’m afraid I’ve lost all hope for these peeps!
I can understand the argument that in those charming old canal houses and cozy brown cafés the ancient plumbing doesn’t allow for much. But head to a newly built apartment, restaurant or even a modern office tower in Amsterdam’s WTC, enter the toilet and you are still destined to find only icy water flowing from those shiny new taps.
Now folks, you are probably reading this and thinking “what’s the big deal here?” And I’m here to tell you: it is a big deal! This flat, peculiar little country spends a lot of its time being grey and cold and wet and the simple act of washing your hands without gasping from the arctic temperature goes a long way on a Dutch winter’s day!
....in COLD water!
Am I alone in this one? Is it that Dutch hands are simply more resistant to the cold? If you grow up dousing your hands in ice water multiple times a day, do you then longer feel the cold? And what about basic hygiene? Does cold water really do the trick?
Don’t even get me started on the size of these tiny sinks! They are normally less than 10 inches wide and 5 inches deep which essentially is useful for washing one finger at a time (especially for those freakishly tall Dutch folk)!
Perhaps my concerns fall on deaf ears. Perhaps Dutch people have never known the luxury of washing their hands in warm water. Perhaps when they travel abroad and wash their hands in warm water for the first time, their hearts are suddenly filled with joy and find themselves start humming for no reason! Perhaps, one day they will bring this civilized behaviour back to the lowlands. Perhaps…
Hahaha, you have brightened up my day again. Especially on a grey Monday morning like this. Being a Dutch girl I have no clue why we only do the cold water. I have to admit though that I do like it because I can refill my own bottle with water whenever I want (which is def not possible with those lousy warm water taps in for example the States
– and no, not sure refilling is because I care about the environment or just because I am a greedy and just incredibly cheap Dutchie 
Strange. I refill my water bottle in the kitchen by putting the tap into the cold position. And I get very cold water when I do so. Your argument is flawed.
Also, my old house had a WC with a tap that went from hot to cold (because I had it built that way in the verbouwing). The cold water was very cold when in full cold position, so it was a pleasure to wash my hands in that little WC in both the 2 weeks of summer we get here (with cold water) and the rest of the year (with warm water)!
I rekon she means the public space toilets, so she can fill her water bottle on the way. I do think, however that it is a very heroic thing to do, imagining how many people have touched that tap… Brrr
But here in “The States”, we call it U.S., we can still turn on just the cold and refill our water bottles, although most people use a Brita.
Hmm, never thought about this untill I read this…
Maybe the dutch find washing their hands in cold water more refreshing then in warm water? I personally DON’T like the fact that when I’m at a British airport for example, only warm water comes out of the toilet sinks… What is that about? You can’t even take a sip of some refreshing COLD water??? Pure waste of energy all that unneccessary warm water
I wonder if by ‘bathroom’ you mean toilet? I have lived in many different houses, and my bathroom sinks always (ALWAYS) had both hot and cold water. However, the tiny sinks in toilets usually don’t. You got me thinking on why this is, and probably it has to do with the fact that washing your hands takes about 10 seconds, whereas getting hot water out of the tap might take up to a minute. Especially if the CV installation is on the attic, and you’re using the bathroom downstairs, it can take quite some time before the hot water reaches your tap. All this time you’re just running cold water through the sink, waiting for 10 seconds of warm water. I can imagine this could be the reason
And ofcourse, we’re die-hards! Nothing is too cold for us, we should get taps that only supply icecubes!
Yes – I do mean toilet!
Not even close. Have you noticed that those sinks are about waist high, not higher like a normal sink? These little sinks are also used as urinals. Just a twist of the tap and they are flushed with a minimum of water. And you can wash your hands afterwards too, if you’re so inclined.
YIKES!!!!
NOW I understand why Dutch people prefer NOT to wash their hands in those sinks/urinals.
That is just bullshit xD
Bakhoogte is zakhoogte!
The height from the floor to the sink is the same height of the scrotum to the floor.
I’d say that commonly, washing your hands is seen as wasteful and decadent. Don’t forget that Calvinistic doctrine forbids most luxuries, which is where a lot of the Dutch thriftiness/ cheapness is rooted in.
This is the answer I was looking for! YES!
Are you looking for an answer that fits your first ideas? Or are you looking for information?
Both!
uhm I hope you mean that washing your hands with warm water is decadent! I wouldn’t want everybody to think that the dutch don’t wash their hands after using the facilities…
I’m afraid most Dutch people do not wash their hands after using public toilets. When I first got here it was one of the things that stood out to me, but I guess I’m used to it now. I’m glad I’m not a hygiene freak or I’d be wearing latex gloves constantly.
Yeah, brain fart on my part, of course I meant washing with warm water.
To be honest, that’s bull.
Washing your hands is not wasteful and decadent. Living in the black belt myself, I have never ever heard anybody suggest such a thing.
The sink in the downstairs toilet is just too far away from the boiler. The pipes are usually filled with cold water, as you don’t keep the hot water running all day for those 15 seconds you wash your hands every so often. By the time the hot water would have finally reached the water tap, you would be done washing your hands.
I think it’s a practical issue : you just want to wash your hands for hygienic purposes and be on your way. It would take too long to between opening the hot tap and actually getting hot water because the boiler has to start, then the water has to reach the tap. etc. In my house this will take half a minute at least. So I think we just don’t want to wait.
(Not sure about industrial systems where hot water is available immediatley, just working on a household basis here.)
We only have sinks with cold water?…
Hmm not in my house. But now that I think about it.. in my school they do only have cold water!
Which is in my eyes kind of logical actually.. if they had to pay for about 700 kids washing their hands with warm water everyday they’d shut down in no time.
But I don’t really recal any other places where they only had cold water… some places even have ONLY warm water so you can’t fill up a plastic bottle. Yes I’m looking at you Schiphol >:(
But maybe I’m wrong, maybe I got used to the cold and am having delusions about the water being warm xD
My brother and mom really love extremely cold water though! The kind that starts to hurt if you wash your hands for longer than 10 seconds (another trick to save money?!) They like to wash their faces with it in the morning… brrrr
which in my eyes… classic..
Lol
Schiphol has only hot water, that is right. But this hasn’t always been the case. I think this was introduced at the same time that the ‘liquid rule’ was implemented. It is now impossible to fill your own water bottle for a longer journey. You will have to buy water from the shops at ridiculous prices
Or you fill your water bottle and let it cool down…
Alternatively, bring a tea bag and make a bottle of tea with it.
I was only complaining about this yesterday! My Dutch boyfriend said it’s to do with a building regulation where you can only have one water line running into the premises. As someone who suffers from arthritis and someone who hates icy cold water, I find this really outdated and stupid, not to mention uncomfortable. Whether you’re in the bathroom at a restaurant, bus station, airport, cinema or elsewhere, why not offer either warm water or a mixer tap so you can choose your own temperature? It seems really backward to me. In our apartment we have a toilet and a bathroom and in the toilet we have a sink large enough to wash one finger at a time with one tap running icy water. In the bathroom we have 2 sinks each, both with a mixer tap offering anything from icy water to scalding water, depending which you require (usually something in between the two). We’re renting this apartment so it’s not something we can change.
It never occurred to me that you need warm water to wash your hands. For a shower OK, but just your hands can stand a little bit of cold! You non-Dutch people must be a bunch of sissies!
What I find strange is wash basins with 2 separate taps: one cold, and one scorching hot. Who’s going to put their hands under that?
I think you’re supposed to fill in the basin with the mix of hot and cold water and then wash your hands. but i find them super annoying to.
That is absolutely true, that has me baffeled too in some foreign bathrooms. I gues the idea is that you have to fill the sink with a mix and wash in the bowl, or so. Rubbing your hands over the ceramics.
The topic remembered me on a story of a Dutch immigrant in Canada who for the first time in her life had a indoor bathroom (shower and bathtub). That was not common in the fifties in The Netherlands.
It can’t be our particular toughness for cold. I was amazed by the freezing temperatures of beer in Canada. Even at -30, Canadians, when they drink a beer, they must experience that brain freeze. That is worse than cold hands.
The secret is when a Dutch put his hands in water, their hands don’t get wet. The water gets Dutched!
ROTFLMAO !!!
The water gets DUTCHED!!! You’re priceless!
I live in England and 2 separate taps seems to be the norm here. When we sold our previous house the buyers were absolutely flabbergasted by the modern mixer taps in the kitchen and bathroom, but (obviously) dissapointed there was only cold water in the toilet!
Yes, that’s how cheap we are. And not very hospitable with it.
Wow, the world is weird. Here the two comments tell of only warm water, and you tell of only cold?! In Norway (never noticed anything else in Denmark or Sweden?) we have both! Wow, magic?!
And yes, it is a big deal. Agree on having cold water for filling bottles, say at work where there may be no time to go and buy more to drink. But I have icy hands a lot, and I usually set the tap (both temperatures in the same!) either between warm og cold or straight on the warm side (if I know the sink!) to wash in, so I can get a quick warm-up without burning myself.
Thanks for the warning I guess
if I ever go to this weird country 
Amazing blog by the way!
In Britain we had both too. Crazy, I know. :O
Yes, but you in the UK have two faucets, each on one side of the basin, close to the edge, which makes it impossible to wash your hands, unless you have a way to keep the water in the basin and mix it….
In New Zealand, we have having these taps that mix the hot and cold into a single mixed stream. The amount of hot and cold can be adjusted separately so you can get whatever temperature you personally find comfortable. Mind you, most great things in New Zealand were invented by Dutch immigrants so it would surprise me if they don’t have this technology back in the home land.
In Sweden we have both
Ha, I totally agree, there should be hot water to0, I mean come on! I am (kinda) used to it now but still dislike it. When I had visitors from America over, a lot of them would actually not wash their hands in the bathroom, but come out to the kitchen and wash them there! ha
Haha! That’s true!! I do that myself
I also wash my hands in the kitchen, but with cold water… the sink in the toilet is just to small! But as a kid I used to drink that icy water, refreshing
hahahahaha…. I am Swiss and I do the very same at my mother-in-law’s house. And that for the same reasons… sink is too small in the bathroom (or better call it the tiny closet with a toilet in it) and there is no warm water…In combination with a house that has no central heating I can only say: BRRRRRRRRRRR!!!!!
We only have cold water in the office toilets and it was extremely painful to wash your hands during the “big freeze” – the water was ARCTIC cold. I often wash my hands in the cold water and then go to the kitchen and run them under warm water to thaw them before I head back to my desk.
Also, there’s a good chance that a Dutchie isn’t actually even washing their hands after the toilet, especially the men. And they admit it!
Being a Dutch man myself, I can’t say that I know many people who don’t wash their hands after going to the toilet. Having worked in quite a few large office buildings, I hardly ever saw anybody leave the bathroom without at least splashing a bit of water on there.
True, sometimes people in work environments are in a hurry and don’t have time to wash their hands for the 30 seconds with soap and then rinsing for 30 seconds the way you should, but still…
Actually, come to think of it, the only two people that come to mind that I knew didn’t wash their hands after a stop at the toilet were British…
We renovated our house that we purchased here in NL, and I insisted on piping in warm water to our WC sink. Our contractor thought we were INSANE. We had a heck of a time finding a faucet small enough to fit the standard Dutch miniscule powder room sink which could provide both hot and cold water, too. We couldn’t get a bigger sink because the space is too tiny. Seriously, it was a major hassle!
I asked our contractor about the cold water thing and his reply was that he never even BOTHERED washing his hands after using the toilet, but would go do it in the kitchen afterwards. Eww, germs, doorknobs… *shudder* I HOPE this is not the norm!
I do have to agree, though, that I think part of it is that so many houses have their boilers up in the attic. If the water has to get all that way just for a quick hand wash, it is a huge waste, and most of us aren’t that patient. We lucked out with the boiler in our garage, which is next to the WC (which means it takes forever to get warm water upstairs in the bathroom!).
Our contractor thought my wish for a laundry room sink was even more crazy. So crazy, in fact, that he ignored my request and neglected to put the plumbing in at all! He didn’t forget – we had talked about it at length. (But there’s another post for you: why Dutch builders “like” to not listen to requests from the little wife unless their husbands are there to back them up!).
That’s unbelievable about the laundry room sink. If you’re doing laundry, do you really want to do your hand-washing in the bathroom and then have to carry it downstairs? If you’re paying a contractor he should do what he’s told! It’s your house, not his.
wait, what is a laundry room, and if it’s a room just for laundry, why would you go through a lot of hassle to put a sink there?
I wash my hands after I put the laundry in (detergent on hands and stuff) but it isn’t that hard to just walk into the next room to do that, right?
@Eefje, it’s a room with a washing machine, dryer, laundry racks, maybe ironing board and iron if it’s big enough. And a sink for doing hand-washing is useful too if the room is large enough. Maybe more common in the UK/US than in NL where there isn’t usually the space for such a room.
Isn’t the Dutch equivalent to a laundry room the “bijkeuken”?
@ princess pompoentje (can’t reply directly)
Probably… and now that you mention, my dad’s house does have a sink there. It’s only used to wash your hands after you’ve been to the toilet though… as it’s bigger than the toilet sink and right outside the toilet door.
(my student’s house doesn’t have a bijkeuken, the washing machine is in one of the kitchens)
It’s not ony in Holland, it’s the same here in Belgium; the sinks in the toilets also only have cold water.
Why is that, I have no idea… gues the same reason as others here have said: warm water would take to long to heat up just for washing your hands quickly.
Hot water in the bathroom…. In my Dutch opinion that’s just ridiculously silly. A total waste of energy and environmentally unfriendly. It takes on average about 7 meters of pipe from the hot-water system to the bathroom tap. The bit of hot water used is usually less than actually gets sucked into the pipe, so you’re wasting a LOT of heat for an utterly tiny little bit of ‘comfort’. I can get quite annoyed when foreign visitors actually use the hot tap at the sink in the shower room where I brush my teeth. After they’ve been there, and I want to brush my teeth or wash my hands or some-such I always get greeted by a hot or luke-warm horrible flush. Ugh…
Real men use real water. Sissies have to warm it first before their fragile skin can handle these ”extremes of nature”.
*sigh*
LOL! hahaha “Real men use real water” – I like it! I might just have to add it to the post!
I am Rogier and I endorse this message.
Exactly! Totally agree on this!
It’s ridiculous, insisting to wash your hands with warm water in the toilet…
I live in Santos-SP- Brazil, coast, here is a hell this weather, always just as a summer, a lot sun, a lot rain, but its is very very hot.Then my boss wash his hands every minute in warm water at the taps over the home, this is a” luxuary” not a normal a sub country.
The price of Gas is expensive, but he is a wastle man.
+1 From a Dutch Girls point of view who has just moved to Africa, I can’t believe we are worrying about these small issues, I forgot how much people are used to their luxuries. Real women also use Real water, I’ve seen this lack of warm water “problem” all over the world. (<3 this blog btw)
Aawwkk, Nina!
Tnx for reminding us of how lucky we are to HAVE clean water at all. Good luck in Africa.
I think I could survive there if I get at least clean water, because I wouldn’t necessarily need a tap, I can make do with a bucket. Or two. Maybe that would be my personal luxurious uitspatting.
In small toilets we mostly just have cold water. But in bathrooms we usually do have warm water.
Maybe it’s a remnant of days long gone by where the outhouse moved closer to the house ?
)
It’s also practical to use one water line for both the toilet and the sink (unless you want the toilet itself use hot water too
I’m Dutch so used to this being a fact of life although I’ve never noticed things being different abroad in the way you do here. But hey, that’s what this blog is all about
Yep, don’t like it that I can’t have hot water. Have you ever tried to remove soap from your hands with cold water? You still end up with sticky fingers in a PAPER towl …
Having just a cold water tap is strange, but something you can get over. What I really don’t get is the British system where you have two taps on a sink, one for hot water and one for cold water. And both are at opposite sides of the sink, so you can either scald or freeze your hand off, but you can’t get lukewarm water.
Regarding thriftiness: My landlord installed a radiator in the bathroom (which includes the toilet, therefore I have hot and cold water at my disposal for washing my hands). However, said radiator is not connected to the heating system and therefore only serves as a dust collector. When I asked him why it’s not working, he said it wasn’t not working, but it was never connected since he felt he had already spent a lot of money on the radiator so he didn’t feel like paying a little more to make it actually useful. So now I have hot water but ice cold air in winter. You get to choose your pain in NL, methinks.
Yeah, the British system is weird. I really want to know the idea of that system, it’s to me even a bigger mystery then the Dutch system!
Even if you have a mixed tap they only use the icy cold water. But when after swimming I go under the cold shower everyone looks at me like I’m insane.
and speaking of temperature, don’t get me started about the thermostat wars with my roommates!
I jate this too, especcially that the sinks are always so tiny that you can’t even wash you hands without getting half the icy water on your pants! Therefor I refuse to use them. Problem solved. I always just walk to the kitchen and use happy warm water
It is an odd one, and very difficult to explain (to myself) and to visitors. But it probably comes from when there was no warm water at all in houses and sort of just stayed on (as it usually doesn’t get too cold here anyway). I like to see it from an environmental perspective but don’t think that is the reason (then we should be able to seperate our garbage too…).
What you also find in older houses, is the complete lack of a sink. Or if there is a sink it’s often filled with baby wipes, kids toys and the news paper. Thus not used for wasing hands. Many would wash their hands in the kitchen (non heard of in Sweden) or not at all.. something I often see at work and at the gym…
“as it usually doesn’t get too cold here anyway”
Are you talking about the Netherlands ?!
Hi, First off let me apologize for my spelling and grammar errors (i’m dutch after all). Let me try and explain this little sink with only cold water, it’s not because it costs les (though for some dutch people it could be the main motivation), but it’s more because of the limited space…
As I am thinking about this we are probably one of the few countries that have separate toilets itn tiny cupboard like rooms… this mean that in many cases there is simply no room for a full-blown sink with hot and cold water… The other option would be to leave it out all together though i personally find it a refreshing idea to be able to wash my hands after i’ve used the porcelain throne even if it is only one finger at the time.
As for the hygiene part… no the cold water is not enough that’s why we got these “zeep pompjes” we can buy in every supermarket…
I think it’s a combination of
1) cheaper plumming
2) you save water waiting for it to heat up
3) you save gas used for heating up a lot of water (of which you only use a little)
4) you save time when you use only cold water
and the most important
5) if the water is too cold for your delicate hands you are “een watje”
For your enjoyment: a Dutch song about sinks that are too small.
What would a Dutch person say to this subject; “Lekker belangrijk….” (important?…. NOT). I live in England as a cloggy and we changed two bathrooms from seperate hot and cold taps to mixing systems. That was odd. On top of that, often you see a bathtub without a (hand)shower…. How on earth do people wash their hair here?
Love your Blog!
Haha, that must be very Dutch indeed, because to me the notion of putting a warm water tap in a sink that is exclusively used for washing your hands is just plain rediculous. Just… A completely unnecesarry luxury.
Anyway, I love your site! Everything here is just SO true!
I grew up in Holland washing my hands with cold water 99% of the time. When I came to the U.S., I was surprised to have warm water available to wash my hands. To this day, I still typically don’t even turn on the warm water faucet when washing my hands in a restroom here in the U.S. and just use cold water.
I don’t think older houses in Holland had a central hot water supply (a water heater) like houses here in the U.S. have. I remember that in our house where i grew up we had the small “on demand” water heater in the kitchen that provided hot water to the kitchen sink and the shower & sink in the bathroom (badkamer) upstairs. That was it. Everywhere else you had cold water. We didn’t even -have- a sink in the restroom; As traditionally restrooms in Dutch houses are quite small (think small closet size), there just was no room for it.
Also interesting to note is perhaps the differences between “bathroom” and “badkamer”:
In Holland, the “badkamer” is typically a room where you bathe / wash etc. It may or may not have a toilet. Most houses have a room that is just the toilet (without bathing / washing facilities) and is called the “WC” (water closet), and is typically small, literally like a small closet.
Houses in the U.S. have what are referred to as “full” or “half” bathrooms. The “full” bathroom has a toilet, sink and shower in it, where the “half” bathroom has a toilet and a sink. They seem to always have both warm and cold water. There is typically no equivalent to the “WC” room that I’ve seen.
So the word “bathroom” may cayuse some confusion – when a Dutch person not familiar with the American setup reads “bathroom”, they may think of “badkamer”, when the American person is really talking about a “restroom” / “WC”. Of course the “badkamer” always has hot water, because that’s where you bathe!
Hence my use of the word “restroom”, which is what is generally used to refer to the room where you go to use the toilet, which is closest to the term “WC” in Dutch that I can think of.
When I lived in in Nederland & België in the 1960′s the usual home had only 1 on-demand water heater on the wall above the kitchen sink called a GEISER. No full bath room or shower, thus necessitating a trip to the bath house once a week. No central heating. No oven (a daily trip to the bakery).
I haven’t been back since then, so I assume that things have changed, but the cost of retrofitting the older homes would have been prohibitably expensive.
On-demand water heaters are much “greener” than tank water heaters for several reasons and are available in the US, though more expensive ( supply and demand).
I think thetefore that the Dutch cold water-only toilet room is technological/historical not cultural.
We didn’t even have a geiser in our 200 year old house. Boil the kettle half a dozen times and fill up a zinc tub in front of the fireplace if you really needed a bath. Washing yourself was done with the only tap, cold of course, in the kitchen. My grandma lived in a newish flat and had a shower, sheer luxury. Then we wen’t overseas and discoverd how primitive Holland was in some respects.
I didn’t know that it was unusual to have only cold water in the toiletsink..made me think just one thing: why would you want warm water to wash your hands?
). No, wouldn’t even want a sink with a hot water tap in my toilet….
Okay, hygiene. But other than that? No, don’t understand it.
I even don’t like places where you do have (only) warm water out of the tap, feels un-natural somehow. Maybe because we aren’t used to warm water? The cold water on your hands is so lovely, a cooldown moment (i’m always wearing t-shirts
This! And what about the fact that the toilet is usually in a totally unheated entryway (you have to walk through another door to enter the heated part of the house, where the living room, kitchen etc. are)? It’s so unfriendly (not to mention un-gezellig) to make your guests do their business in a tiny closet of a room on an icy toilet seat and not even warm water to wash one’s hands afterwards.
–Not Dutch but have wondered about this many a time when visiting my husband’s friends & relatives
But I am very uncomfortable even when I have to use a WC next to the living room, because everyone will be able to hear my ‘sounds’ through the walls… I am really happy that we have separate hallways with separate toilets! And usually (I think) there is heating in the hallway of most houses, but why would you heat a room you only use 3 times a day? That’s a huge waste…
What I don’t understand is that some have the assumption that washing your hands with warm water is better against germs. If you want to wash your hands comfortably the water is around 37 degrees celsius. This is a temperature your germs enjoy the most. I think it is really really disgusting to, on top of this, heat your toilet up to 25 degrees celsius. A temperature germs love to live in. So I’m quite happy with the cold Dutch toilets, helps against nasty odors.
All the other points have been mentioned. Cheaper on gas, water, plumbing etc.
Cheesehead, you mentioned something very well worth noting: the temperature needed to kill germs.
/ “Adult skin can begin to scald at 120 degrees Fahrenheit (49 degrees Celsius), but studies have shown that hands washed using water up to that temperature still don’t remove bacteria .” /
No way I’m gonna wash my hands in that! But I do prefer warm water for handwashing. That’s where the soap comes in. And the disinfectants. Lysol, Dettol, Pinesol anyone?
/ “The second [reason] is that many modern soaps are designed to be most effective in warm water [sources: Hand Washing for Life, Christophersen].” /
And then, again:
” Another reason to avoid using hot water is that it can remove natural oils from the skin. This loss of oils can lead to dryness or even cracking of the skin. In some cases, people may even begin washing their hands less to avoid making these symptoms worse . In other words, it’s important to use water that is warm but not uncomfortable.
It’s worth mentioning that modern soaps are still effective at colder temperatures; so, if you don’t have access to heated water, it’s still better to wash with cold water and soap than with no soap at all .”
Handwashing 101:
http://health.howstuffworks.com/skin-care/cleansing/basics/hand-washing2.htm
Lynn removing bacteria from your skin isn’t healthy at all. They form a first line of defense against the nasty bacteria. Normal soap therefor won’t wash away (m)any bacteria but only the dirt and grease. Although disinfectant soap isn’t actually effective, you’d have to wash way longer then people usually do. (for surgeons it is effective but then again they wash for a long time with a stronger desinfectant soap).
—
btw love your blog
I love this blog – as an English girlfriend of a Dutch man I have been despairing of innumerable idiosyncrasies but am delighted to find out that many, many other people find the Dutch just as weird as I do. Thank you.
I am afraid they are not used to washing their hands after toilette at all (well, to avoid being judgmental I must say not the great number of them I’ve seen in ladies’ room at the university at least!)
It was disgusting at first. Now I am slowly getting used to the fact that they are not the cleanest of all people.
My bathroom sink is bigger as it has a shower there too and stuff, so it has hot and cold water. I always use only the cold when washing my hands… Why would you need warm water to wash your hands? It only takes a few seconds and it’s just your hands! What a waste to wait for the water to warm up… is that really the norm in other countries?
Hi there, love your work! When you wrote about this cold water business I was thinking about a story a friend of mine told me a few years back. He couldn’t figure out why the older style toilets in Holland had some sort of ‘ledge’ inside it, as he called it. I knew straight away what he was talking about, as would most Dutch people, and laughed my head off at the memory. Maybe worth another post?
Ah, you silly Americans and your over the top hygiene issues… Don’t worry, live a little. A little dirt on your fingers doesn’t make you die instantly, it’s good for you, if I may be so blunt. The sink in my bathroom is used as a table to hold my comics and magazine which I read when I’m on the loo. It hasn’t been turned on for months. When I need to wash my hands the kitchen is only some meters away, with a huge sink so I have all the room I need. And yes, I use cold water, of course. I agree with all the people above me who said that it is a waste of pipe and energy to be able to use a little hot water.
Even then, your own (and beloved by me) George Carlin had this to say about the matter: “I only wash my hands when there’s shit on my fingers!” (I’ve no idea from what show that was or I would’ve posted a youtube-video, which i’m sure there is)
now i’m the silly one, and google is my friend…
enjoy
Love this blog, as a Dutchman I recognise a lot of our typical behaviour.
Although concerning this topic I wouldn’t really see the big issue on the cold water thing, rather I cant seem to understand how it is possible other countries find it completely normal to use the bathroom (including where you take a shower/bath etc) to do lets say the ‘smelly thing’. To have a toilet in the room where you shower… ok and for the ‘small visit’……hmm ok, but the long visit??? I am still completely puzzeled. (that you do in a seperate room
)
Ah cultural differences always nice for discussions!
How in the world would you refill your water bottle in an 8cm deep sink? Or are you using your toilet-germed hand as a funnel or scoop? Talk about wasting water for little gain!! I’ll carry hand sanitizer or something for when my hands get actually dirty, fine. But why bother putting in a sink and plumbing when a shelf or a few cm of knee-room would serve you better?
I grew up in Kansas. We have mixing taps anywhere we have a sink. I prefer the ones I can control myself, because when the temp is pre-set it’s usually cooler than I prefer, but occasionally scalding. At home, I turn on the hot tap, which warms up just enough to wash my hands in the time it runs. I don’t “wait” but it’s nice to finish warmer than I started. I have high tolerance for heat, but never for cold. My in-laws loved the “brisk and refreshing winter” here while I was buried in blankets with hot tea, but they begged me to “come in before you get heat stroke!” during a lovely, balmy (90F/32C) summer.
Bass, for the long visits, other countries have better toilets. The stuff is left below water, not on a plate where you get to look at it (and smell it) while it flushes.
I never got how people can have problems with the hygiene of washing their hands but find it no issue at all that the stuff tey produce just splatters back on their behind while sitting on the toilet. I have to admin that I find plunging toilets extremely goce…
I love your blog. I only had to read the title this time and busted up laughing. Unfortunately, as mentioned, many people(not just the Dutch!) don’t wash their hands. To respond to the plethora of comments saying it only takes a few seconds: if you are expecting to actually succeed at washing your hands, the CDC says you have to do it for at least 15 seconds. Not 2. Not 10. And if you want to reduce bacteria by a factor of ten, they say do it for a full 30 seconds. Maybe more people would wash their hands properly if the water was warmer?
In our downstairs toilet there is only cold water available to wash your hands. Especially in the winter I prefer to use the toilet upstairs, in the bathroom, where you can not only choose at which temperature you want to wash your hands, but there is central heating as well.
It doesn’t take “a few seconds” to WASH your hands. It should take at least a minute. You need to fully wet your hands, soap them, scrub for 30 seconds, and fully rinse. Cold water will not rinse soap off, certainly not in a few seconds. At 2 or 3 degrees, the soap just turns into lard on your hands and slides around. Germany frequently has only cold water in public bathrooms. At
LOL yes, if you’re a surgeon =P
This behaviour reminds me of a rant by my favorite comedian George Carlin.
A must read, although listening to his voice is even better: http://www.summerofdan.net/dunit/2008/07/swimming-in-raw.html
Not to be rude or anything, i really enjoy reading your blog, but I dont think a lot
Of people care about this subject, dutch people arent hygiene freaks and most often they wash
Their hands in the kitchen . Last year I was in the us and my college only had mixed taps and a lot ans I mean A LOT of girls do not was their hands at all. And you cant drink out of taps here because the water is not that clean. I rather wash my hands with cold water than not washing my hands at all
Looking forward to your next post
Gotta love your blog!
Anyway, i don’t really think the Dutch are botherd with warm water in the sink, maybe just a handfull. It’s just embedded in our system to wash our hands with cold water
. But thinking about it, it can really be inconvenient for foreigners =D
Tough luck!
And why do the Dutch have tiny cupboard-sized toilets next to the bathroom. Why not just HAVE the toilet in the bathroom like pretty much every other country does, then you wouldn’t need the 2nd sink at all, plus your bathroom would be bigger.
This has the reason that the bathroom is considered more private. So when guests come, they will see only the toilet and not scoop through your medicine/condoms/make-up in the bathroom. This separation is actually considered something very important in the Netherlands. When your house doesn’t have a separate toilet, this is really a disadvantage when e.g. selling it.
I watch a lot of housing programs on the BBC, and it’s becoming more and more of a thing to have a separate loo in England as well. It’s considered a real bonus there (probably because there, most bathrooms are upstairs. But still, when they do install a separate loo, it’s the same size as it is in Holland, and apparently they sell the same tiny sinks there too).
You knowhow what’s worse! Those tiny fountains in the toilet make the prices for the rent, buying and even housetaxes higher! Crazy Dutch!
Haha, nice post. Never thought about this subject, and never noticed that it is common in other countries to have warm water on the toilet. As far as I can figure I can come up with two possible explanations:
- Isn’t it very unhygienic to use warm water after using the toilet? I think this will greatly boost the reproducive capacity of the bacteria on your hands. Okay, washing your hands swiftly as most people do isn’t that hygienic at all, especially in public places but if you choose to do so it might be a good idea to limit the damash by not providing those bacteria with the one thing they love: warmth. Then again, I’m not a virologist.
- In any case using cold water to wash your hands can prevent serious mistakes from being made. At least you always know, even if you’ve had a couple of drinks, you’re holding your hands under the applicate stream of liquid. If it’s warm, you’ve definitely made a mistake.
Yes, that’s what I thought (the bacteria thing). As they only die in very high temperatures, the water should be scalding hot when washing your hands…
I don’t think washing with cold water is unhygienic at all, and when you use liquid soap, you can rinse it just as easily with cold as with warm water. Liquid soap is also more hygienic than bars of soap that everyone holds in their dirty hands…
I’m so happy I found this blog. The comments are just as much fun as the posts themselves. Hilarious! To add to the fun: I live in a rented appartment. The government has set rules for calculating appropriate rent, like sq. meters but also number of sinks. The owner of the appartment states that my supertiny-cold-water-toilet-sink counts the same as the full fledged one. Inbelievable.
As a taller, larger Dutch woman, I tend to be very warm. All the time. Washing my hands in cold water cools my hands down, reducing the amount of sweatiness on my hands and allowing me to feel more refreshed and clean. I’m a cold-hand-washer all the way.
Do your hands even both fit in the typical tiny WC sink? Mine don’t.
im used to cold water, washing my hands in warm water would feel like brushing my theeth with warm water, its just wrong.
Cold water will NOT get your hands or anything else clean. It can’t dissolve soap properly.
I wonder what the incidence of Hepatis A and other food-handling caused diseases is in the Netherlands. Not to mention the stomach flu. I live in a house where warm/hot tap water takes too long to reach the bathroom tap, so I already wash my hands in the kitchen. Calvinists also believe that cleanliness is a virtue. I suppose thrift trumps cleanliness? Your curtainless windows are getting better treatment than your hands!
what is this bullshit about cold water not dissolving soap properly? Why the heck not? The thing with soap is that is has molecules that are hydrophylic on one side and hydrophobid on the other – this is purely the molecular structure of H2O and has NOTHING to do with the temperature of the water.
and then I realised that that may sound kind of aggresive, which is wasn’t meant to be, I’m just confused as multiple people have said this.
To all those dutchies who think washing hands in warm water is for wimps (watjes): try to imagine someone with artritis washing their hands in our ice-water.
When I have to wash my hands in ice-water I don’t even bother soaping, I just rinse it quickly cause otherwise it will start to hurt like hell. How hygienic is that?
I didn’t read all the comments so it’s possible someone else wrote the same. I think that the reason we use only cold water in our toilets is the killing off the bacterium on your hands after using toiletpaper. Warm water keeps them alive or worse. A second raeson could be the space in our toilets. It’s not big enough for 2 watertabs. You can’t use only a hot watertab. Than you will burn your hands. Yes it will kill the bacteriums
Simple : why warm water and why a large bathtub for just clean your hand.
by the way it is better to clean hands in cold water for example if you had to eat Haring or other fish warm water is activating the smelly fish Oder on your hand cold water is eliminating that. in a restaurant they give you also a cup of cold water with some lemon to clean your hands. Ha-ha you ever that of how we Dutch looking to the North America’s you al ex Europeans who lost their culture
Other thing great blog you have and to be honest some time even we don’t understand our country.
Groetjes,
Patrick
Hey doll,
For me that would feel just odd and wrong, si i’ll stick to using cold water LOL. However i do understand the point about how small the sinks are. I’m not a large girl (1.65m) But i also found them small. I always prefer the big sink upstairs. Let’s stand with large hands to wash.
I never knew it was common in other countries to wash your hands in warm water, i think i agree with Daan, who said it’s like brushing your teeth with warm water
I think it doesn’t have anything to do with the money though, however we Dutch people keep an eye on or money. I think we’re just used to it.
Btw i love your site, it is really lovely.
Warm water encourages bacteria to grow. So it is more clean to wash with cold water.
In holland the radiator for warm water usually takes a while to get up and running, even in modern houses they cope with this problem (and the dutch are quite impatient, so they do not want to wait for it). What you could do is that you buy a cooker which provides instant warm water but if you do not have one, then its back to basics! =)
To all the people talking about warm water causing BACTERIUMS TO BREED or whatever else, oh god oh god oh god please go back to science class you are embarassing the hell out of your nation. Seriously.
Warm water is believed NOT to kill germs (nor make them breed…omfg really) but to remove more of the oils from your skin which can harbor bacteria. However, counter to this there are studies that show that it MAKES NO DIFFERENCE whether you use warm or cold water. Friction (how vigorously you wash) is the main contributing factor.
Finally, with antibacterial soaps, a higher temperature can possibly make them work a little better, but the difference is very marginal.
Bacteria will not survive the cold, it’s a extra sink in the smallest space of the house..because we like the hall to be larger
I’ll tell you what my mother-in-law says: it is nonsense to wash your hands with warm water. Because that means that a lot of energy is necessary to warm the water. Imagine that the kettle has to start up only for that 1 minute that you need to wash your hands. It’s like you warm up the strike iron in order to iron just one shirt. Absolutely non sense. With other words: yes they are cheap. Maybe not literally cheap but they have grown up learning how they can save money. It is a peculiar culture, what do you think about how they learn their children to flush the toilet?:):):)
greetings from a Romanian girl!
@sdpl: the picture you used for this article shows a nice ‘mengkraan’, typically used for mixing cold and hot water
Naah, don’t use these taps and sinks. Besides, the towels don’t fit your hands to top it off.
The setback of using these toilet furnitures could be opening the tap, find that the water is more pressured then you thought, spraying the water from your hands, directly on your zipper.
Makes you feel more then embarresed. My advice would be, before you even go? Bring a pen with you, write a friends name on the ever present birthday calender on the date of his actual birthday, make sure they also don’t know the person. Finishing the call of mother nature, wash you hands in the kitchen. You can walk away after the visit to these people, beeing fully aware that the lord of the house doing a big job, flipping the calender to the next month, thinking, who the f*ck is John Doe????
A cold encounter of the third kind is “the hybrid”, or FOP-warmwaterwasbak, which I’ve come across several times.
Normal sink, normal hot and cold taps, but even the Hot tap only dispenses Cold water.
Double cold. GRRRRR!
i mean come on F*** bacteria, were all getting wimpsy with washing our hands for around a minute, man that is crazy, i just wash my hands for the smell, if we all just wash our hands after everything we do, we would be sick in no tiem because our imunesystem wont work properly anymore, i rarely thoroughly wash my hands, and guess what, i never get really sick. all these people talking about bacteria while they should worry about their own imunesystem. its proven that dettol for example is actually pretty bad for you on a day to day basis, it keeps the bacteria away but once they get you, you will have a harder time fighting back.
I so agree with you. These days, we are being made into wimps who aren’t used to anything. Kids can’t play in the zandbak anymore, we have to wash our hands 20 times a day, preferably with Dettol which kills all bacteria, even the ones we need…
It’s horrible. I mean, we, our parents and grandparents all grew up without a hitch without all these weird new ‘rules’, so why all the hysteria?
Untill the early sixties most common rental houses (council flats?) didn’t have a sink in the toilet.
There were at that time still houses without a inside toilet.
De “grote boodschap” was dropped in a wooden box, in a wooden shed in the garden!!
That same houses didn’t have a boiler or a “Geiser” .
If you want hot water you have to boiled it on a stove or furness.
And my mother told me often: Cold water is good for your health (specially in wintertime)
Love your website.
So true and so hilarious.
Since the pandemic on the H1n2-or-something virus a couple of years ago, I’ve been taught that to wash your hands properly to kill those pesky germs it will take water, sudsy soap and about so many minutes, roughly the time it takes to sing that internationally known bestseller hit song “Happy Birthday” twice. That should give the water form the boiler inthe attic plenty enough time to reach your hands for delisiously warm rinsing.
P.S.
I live in the Caribbean
Except for the ocassional cold spell I could pop in my bathroom @ 2.a.m. or any other time during THE NIGHT and have a nice warm shower. No, I don’t have any boilers or other warm-water-producing hardware.
At 2 .p.m. it’s a totally diferent story though, then I’d give a lief thing voor some refreshing cold water because what comes out of the pipes is ussually scorching hot. And no, I don’t have any boilers or other scorching-water-producing hardware.
This is due to (filthy) rich Dutch farmers in them olden days.
There are many tricks they used to ensure that their workers worked as much and as hard as possible, cold water makes for a quick and cheap handwash.
Same as “organized” competitions amongst famers who could drink the hottest tea, this of course was no macho competition as the workers thought, but a way to reduce their breaktime so they could go back to work quicker.
I know farmers who still use the saucer to drink from instead of the cup so the tea or coffee cools down faster.
The staff that worked for the farmer mostly lived on the premises and also paid rent, to their employer, the little money they earned was mostly spent in bars, owned by (guess what) their employer.
If there was a way for the farmer to keep the money in his pocket, he would exploit it to the fullest.
Dutch mentality is about spending as little as you can, therefore, when you look around in this beautiful country, do you know anyone who has a creditcard?
From these filthy rich farmers (who were actually businessmen) we derived a saying: “hij boert goed”
tranlates to: “he farms well”.
Well as a Dutch person i have this to say.
At my home its normal to wash hands (with soap) at the kitchen sink.
Or in the bathroom by that sink.
The can be both cold and warm and hot.
This is because of practical use.
Plus after a time people can buy different taps for it.
The toilet sink a ridiculous smal and cold because it is build that way.
Complain to the people who design houses.
And be glad that you can at least drink this water from the sink and taste good.
(try not france tap water its disguisting and paris smels filty)
This was my opinion and rant
(the artical makes me laugh good positive)
I’m afraid this IS rooted in our legendary thriftiness… imagine if someone just left the tap running!
Waste not, want not.
We also hate it when there’s ONLY warm water in the toilets, because that means we cannot quench our thirst in the cheapest possible way.
My Dutch wife is always so confused why I go into the kitchen to wash my hands when there is a sink next to the toilet. I always answer the same way, “Because there is “bloody warm water there.”
In my house it takes a long time for the water to get warm… maybe that’s the reason.
The UK format is worse if you ask me, the hot tap is just like a tease there .. best they didnt even have it
Haha, I never even thought about the possible strangeness of this…
(as a Dutch girl…)
This is not generally true. Indeed it is small and has only one tab, but MY (Dutch) toilet sink IS providing our guests (and ourselves) with hot as well as cold water
It feels wrong to wash my hands with warm water. In my gym I actually have this option and always turn the tap to cold… habit I guess.
Nope, it´s the being cheap option, nothing more nothing less!
And come on Dutch people stop the excuses…… environment friendly….. hmmmm what was that company called again….. SHELL????
LOVE this place!!!
OK, Maybe it’s more environmentally friendly to have just cold water in the WC, but having lived here for nearly 40 years? I cannnot believe that the idea of having only cold water coming out of the tap in the WC is rooted in helping the environment! When I moved here the word “environment” did not have the same connotation as it does now, and I never heard one single word about the “environment” when I moaned and groaned about washing my hands in that weeny sink with only the ice cold water option. I was told to “man up” and get used to it.
Well, I personally think it is because one tap saves space for the washing basin which is indeed small. You have probably noticed how the toilets are very small in dutch homes so they do not allow for massive luxurious washing basins
Also, for example when you wash your hands in the kitchen with warm tap water, I find the feeling horrific on an icy winter day because as soon as you take them out of the water your hands freeze! So by washing them in cold tap water there is less temperature difference when washing them and then taking them out into the cold air.
Cold water is definitive more hygienic. We eve had some deaths because of less cold water in public places.
My boyfriend is Dutch and it is really funny to read your blog! great information!
Dutch people generally do not wash their hands.
They are under the belief that you get more germs from touching the taps and doorknob than you do from touching your nether regions when going to the toilet.
This belief probably came from a TV show and is widespread.
But is IS true, really!
Bc: everyone touches those doorknobs with their UNWASHED hands, of course it’s the mother of all orgies for the germs on those doorknobs!
I ask my Dutch boyfriend this question all the time! New places all have this tiny cold water sink too. Why?! I thought the best way to wash your hands was with warm/hot water and soap but he told me that’s a myth and cold water does the same job… hmm. There really is no explanation for this!
Here is my honest opinion: Dutch people actually do not wash their hands at home. Haven’t you noticed that there often is neither any soap nor a towel to dry your hands with? When you comment on the fact that there was no soap everyone actually looks puzzled and surprised. It is not that they are out of it: it was never there! That is why the sink does not have to be large: it is not used anyway. I am Dutch, but live in the States. Every time I visit family and friends I cannot wash my hands because there is nothing to wash my hands with besides the just cold water. I therefore have wondered if the sink is just there for decor.
As a Dutchie living in the UK, I’ve actually always wondered why sinks by toilets have hot and cold water taps? What on earth is the point? Who washes their hands with warm water? What a waste! So this post of yours made me laugh as you’re wondering the exact opposite. I think it all has something to do with the majority of Brits being used to hot-water-tanks with hot water on supply. Most Dutch are used to combination boilers where it would have to kick in to get some hot water.
Also, the absence of a hot water tap leaves very useful space for a soap dispenser….;-)
Use of cold water when washing hands – It lets us grow taller
As a dutch woman myself I have to agree with my fellow dutchies, I want my water to be COLD. At work, there’s a mixtap and I’m always abhorred when I turn on the tap and first gush of water is warm. It’s as unnatural as brushing your teeth with (luke)warm water.
Btw I love your site, it’s “een feest van herkenning”.
Perhaps to distract a person from the hideous toilets with the “observation deck”? lol When we first moved here, I tried to hold it all day so I wouldn’t have to use that monstrosity any more often than medically necessary
I think this is part of the Dutch ‘fly by the seat of their pants’ objection to health and safety. According to the health and safety advice regarding hand washing, you should use warm water. The Dutch are very ‘eigen wiijze’ (don’t know if I’ve spelt that right, I speak/read Dutch but I don’t write it – it means ‘own wisdom’ I’m sure you’ve heard it) when it comes to health and safety. This is much more sensible alot of the time; kids playgrounds are better in Holland especially in the cities – all sand and water etc. I find England over the top for safety after 10 years in Holland.
One for your Blog; common Dutch childhood injuries – getting their 3 year old’s feet caught in the spokes of the back wheel. I love that the Dutch cycle everywhere – I have a Dutch bike where I live in England for the school run but I do have a proper kiddie seat and dress guard so my kid’s feet don’t go in the wheel! Oh and bike helmets! they’ll never take on in NL!!!
After you washed your hands in cold water, the towl feels soft and warm. That’s why we just use cold water in those sinks.
Actually, it is more hygienic, bacteria thrive in warmer temperatures, so unless you want to wash your hands in boiling water….cold water actually eradicates more bacteria. ( if you use soap that’s beside the point though
, but maybe using cold water instead is cheaper? 
I’m loving reading through this blog! My grandparents on my mother’s side immigrated from the Netherlands and this blog explains so many of the things that I thought were weird, family quirks–they’re Dutch quirks! My mother taught my sisters and I to always wash our hands and brush our teeth in cold water, and I found it extremely weird when I found out that most Americans prefer it warm. It still bugs me when I use bathrooms with motion-sensor faucets that spit out hot water D:
I also remember my dad telling us to only wash our faces/hands and brush our teeth with cold water, because it was “healthier” (to avoid bleeding gums, was the argument for the teeth). And I stuck to that, even though, on some cold days, I grant myself the luxury of using hot water…
People! It’s not just the cold water….it’s also the ridiculously small size of the sink. The water goes everywhere! On the floor, on the toilet itself, on your clothes….and normally there is also this hole in the back of the porcelain, and I cannot tell you how many nails I have broken on that stupid hole!!! I am a small person and in the toilet I feel like a complete giant. I can’t imagine how an average sized man must feel in there.
SDPL….I likely is due to the fact that we could consider the hallway bathroom in a dutch house the guest bathroom, in many cases it only has a small sink with only cold water…due to it being a very small space usually in the entry hall of the house. The “main” badkamer usually has a hot/cold water wasbak.
So there you have it: sinks are small because there is no room for them. They are low so you can place your newspaper or phone in them. And they are cold because if the Almighty wanted the Dutch to wash their hands with warm water, then He would not have kicked them out of Indonesia.
As any surgeon will concur, the most essential part of washing your hands is actually drying them firmly with a towel, often abundantly present in Dutch homes. These are very small so that you can throw them in a dedicated bin, which is not to be used for litter! And when you pick a fresh wrapped towel from a pile that is ominously close to the bowl, be careful not to drop them. If you are too challenged, intimidated or prefer to look for warm water without touching any doorknobs, then you will at least train your elbowing.
How funny!,
This made my day, I had a discussion this weekend with my band mates about washing your hands with warm water, I cannot stand it! I need to wash my hands and my face with ice cold water and living in the UK that is often impossible. I had no idea this has to do with the fact that I am Dutch I thought I was just a freak!!
We really enjoyed your article, but we think you’re wrong on this one. We both have cold and hot water in our sinks
Still, it wouldn’t surprise us if a lot of people here don’t have that.
Personally, I think that washing in cold water will actually make your hands feel warmer. After washing your hands, the air will be relatively warm and when you wash your hands with warm water, it will be the other way around
So, wash your hands in cold water and afterwards, it will feel better. (and it’s cheaper)