Tips on how to deal with community bathrooms in dorms

[Saraha1736]

I'm an incoming freshman to college this fall and my dorm has community style bathrooms. Does anyone have any advice for them? It can really be anything because I am kind of getting nervous for it.

[Saraha1736]

Thanks to everyone for all the advice! It really makes me a little less anxious 🙂

[greeneyedgirl107]

@Saraha1736 I think the other BICers gave great information!  The only thing I have to add is that many of the girls will be feeling the same way as you are.  Once you are in the swing of things (like three weeks in) you all will pretty much forget about any anxieties you have.

And if worse comes to worse, I knew girls who would occasionally use a bathroom on another floor if one was too occupied or if they were nervous around their friends.  It'll be fine!

Have fun!

[SilverBeet]

I lived in this situation when I was in the military.  Same age group as college. 

1.  Always wear footwear.  You don't know what could be on the floor.

2.  Always look at the toilet seat before you sit down. 

3.  Buy wipes if you don't feel comfortable sitting on the seat. We didn't have toilet seat liners in the bathroom.

4.  For TTOTM  It may be a good idea to buy a bag to carry your feminine supplies.  It's a pain to have to go back to the room because you forgot something, especially if you need to go in the middle of the night.

[infinitise]

I worried about the same things when I was becoming a freshmen. 

I didn't have an OCD or anything but I was a clean freak, and someone who valued personal space. I worried more about the thought of using a community bathroom and having to share a room with a roommate. 

but once you're actually in the situation, its not as bad - you barely even care, you just do whatever you need to do and leave. The cleaning ladies were also very good at keeping the bathroom clean for how much mess students made especially when they were drunk. 

[Kim888]

@Saraha1736 Congrats on starting college! There's no reason to be nervous almost every college/university has community bathrooms freshman years and we all survived it. They cleaned our community bathroom like every day or every other day so it was never super gross or anything.

There are really three things I probably could not have done without freshman year: 

1. shower flip flops---it's a community shower, you don't want to put your feet on the ground, people are gross haha. 

2. a shower caddy--since you can't leave your stuff in a community bathroom you will be carrying all your stuff back and forth. Get one with a handle and one that has holes in the bottom - your stuff is always wet when it goes back in there and if there's no where for the water to drain it will get gross. 

3. a bathrobe / one of those towels that had the Velcro to hold it up - no one actually got undressed in the shower stalls so you'll be walking down a potentially mixed company hallway in your towel. I liked having a secured towels because I felt a little more covered plus you are holding a lot of stuff don't need an accidental slip. Plus it's inevitable that someone will be in the shower when a fire drill happens and if it's you it's better to be the person outside in a bathrobe than in a towel (this totally happened to my friend, we had a good laugh about it).  

I also reccomend getting one of those desk top mini mirrors for your room because you are not going to be dragging make up back and forth to do the bathroom so it will be easier to sit at your desk and do it. 

[spadersgirl]

My first week in a dorm there were 5 fire drills and I was in the shower during 3 of them! I was so mad lol.