Hacker News new | past | comments | ask | show | jobs | submit login

I have addressed this issue with a simple hardware innovation: the Facespoon.

Find a clean object with a well-defined handle. Use the non-handle end of the object to touch/scratch/adjust/manipulate your face. Clean the object regularly.

Working from home, I've designated a kitchen cooking spoon on my desk for this dedicated task. Plastic appears to better than wood, as it is more-readily cleaned and does not absorb facial oils.




> Plastic appears to better than wood //

Do your own due diligence on this one, but a few years ago I think it was reported that, surprisingly, wooden chopping boards are better than plastic ones (which had been assumed to be better as they're less absorbent, etc.) and actually combat bacteria.

Given Covid19 is reported to - unusually for a virus - last up to a week [check a proper source!] or so on hard surfaces then maybe in this situation wood might also be better???

>"A study by the Food Research Institute in Wisconsin (Ak et al. 1994a and b) compared wooden and plastic boards and came to the surprising result that wood possesses substantially better hygienic characteristics than plastic. After contaminating different cutting boards with bacteria, significantly fewer viable bacteria could regularly be recovered from wooden boards than from plastic boards. These results were confirmed by Gehrig et al. (2000) in a recent study investigating hygienic aspects of wooden and plastic boards regarding the risk of food contamination. Previous studies assumed that the detected reduction in bacterial numbers on the wood surfaces is caused by an antibacterial effect of wood based on several physical and chemical properties of wood. The porous structure and hygroscopic characteristics of wood could remove the water needed by the bacteria for their vital functions and multiplication and thus kill them (Kampelmacher et al. 1971, Schulz 1995). In addition, substances present in wood (e.g. polyphenoles) could be responsible for an antibacterial effect (Willaman 1955, Biswas et al. 1981, Laks and McKaig 1988, Field et al. 1989, Schra¨gle and Mu¨ller 1990, Scalbert 1991, Mu¨ller et al. 1995)"

>from DOI 10.1007/s00107-002-0300-6, "Wooden boards affecting the survival of bacteria?"


The presumptive mechanism (dehydration due to the hygroscopic action of wood) may not apply consistently to viruses.

Viruses have a lipid outer layer, but no metabolism of their own. Sometimes dehydration will break the capsule, sometimes it won't.

Soap is usually quite effective due to saponification physically destroying the virus's capsule, fwiw.


The difference is that plastic cutting boards get cut all the time, with the knife jamming the cooties into the grooves. So they are hard to clean well. (although if you clean with bleach they are fine, and that's what you usually have to do in restaurants....wood cutting boards are discouraged by health departments)

A plastic spoon is probably pretty smooth so easy to clean.


I am aware of that study -- my experience with a wooden Facespoon is that it can actually absorb some facial oil, at which time I suspect the wood is more problematic.


Even better: get a copper spoon as copper is naturally antimicrobial

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Antimicrobial_properties_of_co...


Looks like it may be effective against at least some viruses, too. Interesting.


Yeah, that's why I'm glad the door handles in my building are brass.


If they are lacquered, the copper will not be at the surface.


I don't think the problem is when working from home. When you are out and about and touching various things is the real problem.




Consider applying for YC's Spring batch! Applications are open till Feb 11.

Guidelines | FAQ | Lists | API | Security | Legal | Apply to YC | Contact

Search: