Turns Out Our Handbags Are Full Of Bacteria

Handbag maintenance is something adult women do on the reg. The rest of us get annoyed and stressed with the shop assistant as he or she shoves a receipt at us and shrills ?NEXT?, which is why our totes etc. are transportable recycling bags. We’re all guilty of letting our make-up bags getting a little crowded and over-spilling some products to the bottom of our handbags. For some reason popcorn ends up in there. This is the way of the frazzled female world. However, we may start making more of an effort at keeping all bag-related going-ons kempt after reading about how these accessories are bacteria magnets. Yes, your bag is filthy.

A study of 145 men and women’s purses and wallets in Mauritius found that the average bag scored?a 1000 on the bacteria reading scale. The average toilet seat records a 150 reading. We are shuddering. The study, quoted in Marie Claire, says that a reading of 200 means something is considered cleanish, but that anything over 500 should be sounding alarm bells. Again, handbags equal 1000. Shuddering even more.

The reason things have reached such a, truly, disgusting stage might have something to do with the fact only 2% of women clean their bags every month, and that 80% admitted to having never empteed their bag for a proper clean out. We are all statistically proven slatterns and we think some new clean girl habits are due a developing. However, the NHS are advising us not to all freak out immediately, pointing out thatMaurituius’ tropical climate may have exacerbated matters. Also, the bacteria wasn’t particularly dangerous. They types found -?Micrococcus, Staphylococcus and Bacillus – are found on most humans’ skin and only pose a health threat if you have a weak immune system. Still, we’re going to make more of an effort when it comes to cleaning our bags…

Via Marie Claire