If so, why?

What if the water is just luke warm? Is that the same as washing with cold?

How hot does the water have to get to kill bacteria on your hands? Would you really be able to wash your hands in that temperature without burning your skin?

Hot water I avoid- for the obvious exception of it killing the fuck out of my upper dermi layer on my handz- ...it is quite drying!! I feel more refreshed in warm weather to use cold water and comforted in colder monthz by luke warm to tepid!

I just feel like my hands aren't as clean when I use cold water, but sometimes I don't have a choice, like in public sinks where they only have cold water. I mean you don't wanna scald your hands trying to kill germs.....and this is coming from a germaphobe. I just use warm water....as long as I have some kind of anti bacterial soap, then I'm good. I use that Olay Quench lotion too to prevent my hands from drying out....it's good for this time of the year and if you wash your hands or use santizers a lot.

I think it doesn't matter so much about the temperature, but it IS important to rub your hands vigorously under running water for at least one minute (?) to scramble up the bacteria enough. Using anti-bacterial soap is no more effective than ordinary soap.

jthad1129 said:

It all depends on how dirty your hands are.
...or another way to put it,

just where have your hands been?

luke warm or hot water along with the antibacterial soap kill the germs better then the cold water and antibacterial soap.

Illustrator said:

Is there a degree of germs, or are germs just germs?

If you poop or pee drops, or snot or sneezed on your hand?

The temperature of the water doesn't matter. Water hot enough to actually kill germs would burn your skin off. Anti-bacterial soap is kinda silly too. It's the amount of scrubbing, rubbing and rinsing you do that counts. Every soap is anti-bacterial in that if you scrub long enough, you'll get everything off of your hands.
That said, I prefer very warm water, but just as a matter of comfort. My hands tend to be cold most of the time and it feels good to warm them up periodically throughout the day.

I'm using warm water cuz that's what's comfortable!