Dear Lifehacker, I recently went on a week-log camping trip where I had mistakenly forgotten to pack my toothbrush and toothpaste. It has been a couple days since I returned to civilisation, but I can't help noticing that despite the numerous amount of teeth brushing and mouth washing, the taste of bad breath is still lingering in my mouth. Is this normal? Thanks, Lingering Halitosis
If you've ever suffered gastrointestinal distress after a barbecue, it might not have been the potato salad — it might have been someone's terrible food safety practices. Specifically, they probably didn't wash their hands.
Good afternoon, here's a story about my butthole. Years ago, it was itching constantly, and I couldn't figure out why. I assumed it was dirty, so when I went to the bathroom, I always made sure to wipe extra hard. Finally a doctor had to tell me to stop that, and give my butthole a break. I did, and I stopped itching.
I tell you this humiliating story for a good reason: According to Mental Floss, a lot of you are wiping too hard as well.
The world is filled with disgusting toilets. You might personally prefer toilets that smell OK and aren't covered in filth, but try telling that to whichever organs are involved in making you really need to use the bathroom. It has happened before, and it will happen again: you'll be at a bus stop, or a music festival, or the apartment of a man under the age of 26, and you'll realise, suddenly, that you no longer have any choice.
Whether you're trying to coerce an energetic toddler into the bath or a less-than-energetic preteen into taking their (much-needed) daily shower, you may be facing what feels like an uphill battle to get your kids clean.
OK look, this is news to me, and even though I got roasted by my editors for only just learning this, I bet it's news to some of you too: You can leave a glass of water out for months, and so long as it was properly cleaned, it's not going to make you sick.
There's a whole market for aluminium-free deodorants. They're marketed as natural or vaguely better for you. But hold up a sec: why are you avoiding aluminium, which (unlike those natural deodorants) can actually stop you from sweating? It's fine.
This is something I see way too often: some guy uses the toilet, walks up to the sink, trickles some water onto his fingers, shakes them off, then walks out of the restroom. Yuck. That does almost nothing, you impatient, gross monster.
Today's burning question is a collection of dental quandaries that grew out of a discussion among Lifehacker staffers, where it turned out that each of us -- and some of our dentists -- have very strong opinions on the right time and order for the various steps of dental hygiene. The more we chatted, the more confused we became.
Is your home always stocked with the cushiest brand of tissues, toilet paper, paper towels and napkins? Good, stop reading. Everyone else: This is a remedial course in how to fill your home with paper hygiene products like an adult. I realised the importance of this course when discovering that several of my younger friends don't buy tissues. Before you send another guest to the bathroom to blow their nose, please read.
The lemon wedge in your drink has a bad reputation, and the evidence for it seems obvious: No one at a restaurant washes the outside of a lemon, but then they throw that wedge onto your glass, sometimes letting the rind soak right in the drink. And according to HuffPost, several studies found all kinds of germs on lemon wedges from bars and restaurants.
So should your drink order always include "No lemon, please"?
Clipping nails, especially thick toenails, often leads to an unwanted acrobatic performance. Nail bits go flying everywhere, never to be seen again. Here's how you can stop that.
We spend a good portion of the day using our sense of hearing, but we know very little about how to maintain our ears properly. There's a lot of confusion out there about how to properly take care of our ears and maintain earwax, so let's set the record straight.
Stifling a sneeze may be the purest, simplest body hack. We've posted a couple of methods before (pull on your nose, put a finger under it, or bite your lip), but I've always relied instead on pressing my tongue on the roof of my mouth. (You can also tickle instead of pressing.)
Some people squat over a public toilet, because they have quads of steel. Some people just sit their bare tushies right down on the rubella-covered seat, because evidently they have no fear of germs as sensible people should. For the rest of us there are toilet-seat covers. Yeah, you can cover the seat with TP, but the careful tearing, angling and placing of lengths of paper for perfect coverage can get a little tedious when you really need to go -- what is this, macramé?
People who don't have hand towels in your bathrooms: What do you think your guests dry their hands on?
No one can get away with white, flaky beard dandruff -- not even Santa Claus. It's itchy, unsightly, and can turn a dark-coloured shirt into a warning sign for those who might otherwise be attracted to you.
I hate going more than 10 seconds with nothing but my own thoughts to entertain me. When I walk three blocks, I listen to a podcast. I read Twitter while I pee. What I hate the most is brushing and flossing. I can't hold my phone, I can't talk, I can't admire myself in the mirror because I'm foaming at the mouth. I can't stand it as an adult, so imagine how hard it is for a child.
The human nose can detect more than one trillion distinct scents, but it isn't so great at picking up your own odours. There's always a chance you reek something foul and just don't realise it. If that's a fear of yours, here's how you can find out for sure.
