Let's think about where your handbag has been today: your apartment floor, the crook of your arm, your lap on the subway, and now the floor by your desk. It will inevitably chill on a bar somewhere tonight during happy hour before returning to your hand and back to your apartment. In the course of a day, your carryall collects more bacteria than you realize, and you're carrying it all with you whereever you go. Fun!
A study by UK's Initial Washroom Hygiene company revealed that the handles of your handbag carry more than three times the bacteria on them than a toilet flush. Swab tests on company workers' handbags and various items within them showed one in five handles carried enough bacteria to risk cross-contamination between the items in your bag, your keyboard, phone (which is already dirtier than a toilet), and everything else you'll come into contact with through the course of the day.
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The leather of the latest It bag is basically a petri dish for bacteria growth. Although they can easily be wiped down with a sanitizing cloth, many of us don't do it as often as we should — until now. The sobering fact that Initial's test showed items such as face and hand cream carried more bacteria than a toilet seat after being jostled around will have you cleaning out your bag lickety-split.
As far as stopping the germs from getting on the bag in the first place, no, you don't have to wrap your new Céline in plastic. Just keep the bag clean and wash your hands (duh). Your carryall doesn't have to literally carry everything. Just keep it off the floor as much as possible, and you won't have to resort to living in a bubble. (StyleList)
Photo: Courtesy of Céline