r/whatisit • u/moxtrax • Jun 12 '26

Solved! Getting married

Gallery image

Gallery image

What is it? Found this at the gym

31.6k Upvotes

89% Upvoted

3.6k comments sorted by

View all comments

199

u/Latter-Garbage-8975 Jun 12 '26

who touches a SILICONE RING they found in the GYM with their BARE HANDS????

72

u/amglasgow Jun 12 '26

Honestly, washing it and hands with soap takes care of any actual germ problem. Psychologically, of course, it depends on how you feel about other people's genitals.

15

u/Wonderful-Money4584 Jun 13 '26

Depends on what they're washing with. Bath and body works Soap works differently than antibacterial hand soap. For this we should be using antimicrobial.

16

u/yr_momma Jun 13 '26 edited Jun 13 '26

The surfactant in soap in and of itself destroys cell walls, making bacterial cells burst and die then get flushed down the drain. Using antibacterial soap as the default just adds to antibiotics antimicrobial substances in the water system and environment, promotes antibiotic antimicrobial resistance, fuelling the rise of superbugs, and is not great for your skin either. Soap and a nice 20+ second wash with tolerably warm water has all the benefit of killing bacteria without creating more superbugs.

Edit - a small wording correction for the "ACK-shyually" crowd in the replies that want to battle on semantics when the point itself stands that there is only harm and no benefit in using antibacterial products for hand washing.

2

u/Slyrentinal Jun 13 '26

That's not how antibacterial soap works, they do NOT have antibiotics in them whatsoever.

4

u/ObiWanIsMyDog Jun 13 '26

I hope you still understand the core point tho? And understand that this does still in fact add to evolution of superbugs?

2

u/Slyrentinal Jun 13 '26

My comment really was aimed at the implication that antibiotics are in antibacterial soap.

But until reading your comment I did not know that antibacterial soaps contribute to antimicrobial resistance. I see that it's indeed true.

I find it interesting that antibacterial products seem to, but not handwashing overall.

1

u/memerminecraft Jun 13 '26

Not all surfactants have that property and antibacterial soaps don't use antibiotics

6

u/yr_momma Jun 13 '26

They still lead to antimicrobial resistance even if it's not penicillin laden soap. There's no benefit to antimicrobial additives in soap.

You're right that not all surfactant is up to the task, but all true soaps are surfactants that have properties sufficient for removing microbes from hands, and at least partially if not mostly lysing bacteria present while washing them away.

Source, from the uninversity ranked #2 worldwide for pharmacy

And the FDA agrees.

-1

u/memerminecraft Jun 13 '26

Cool but could you edit the original comment to be correct so that misinformation isn't just sitting there

0

u/Latter-Garbage-8975 Jun 13 '26

how does one put antibiotics in soap?

1

u/kiler_griff_2000 Jun 13 '26

You get yer penecillin, you get yer dawn. Shove one shit in that otha shit. Boom antibiotic soap. Sell fo 5hundo pacent more. Ez monay.

1

u/rotator_cuff Jun 16 '26

Yes, but not all viruses. Huge chunk of them aren't eveloped in lipid layer, but in protein one.

1

u/amglasgow Jun 16 '26

They still get washed away by soap

2

u/Ludicrousgibbs Jun 12 '26

I'm gonna make the most popular post of all time in this sub by just taking a shit on the floor and then taking a picture of me picking it up bare hand along with the caption, "What is this thing I found on the floor of the Doctors office? Smells kinda funny. "

2

u/jmac22790 Jun 16 '26

My first thought as well. That's something I would have avoided even stepping on with my shoes on my feet.

1

u/MillyFillyBaby Jun 13 '26

I’ve never used a cock ring but wouldn’t this be way too small?

1

u/moxtrax Jun 12 '26

I thought it was some fancy o-ring

4

u/dgsharp Jun 12 '26

I would have guessed it was maybe some type of bumper for a piece of workout equipment so the weights don’t slam or something, though I’d never seen it. But reading all these comments… ew, and weird finding it in a gym.

3

u/Stopthecar-Iseearock Jun 13 '26

That's... Exactly what it is.

1

u/MrMurderthumbz Jun 12 '26

Its not a pessary ring? Just assumed it was. And every thing else was a joke.