Washing hands is something we all do on a daily basis. Whether you are at work, at home or when you are out and about, you are bound to wash your hands at least once in a day - I hope! So, what do you do after you finish washing your hands? Well, you have to dry them of course! We've all been told that bacteria strives on damp surfaces, so we have to dry our hands. Question is how?

Well, according to research you don't need those fancy hand drying machines that you might find in a shopping centre or at work, all you need is disposable paper towels! In fact, paper towels work better than those high-tech hand dyers - be it the traditional ones that blow warm air, or the cool looking and insanely loud Dyson Airblade.

...the use of paper towels consistently out-performed all the other drying techniques, especially with regard to bacteria left on the palms and fingertips. —Snelling, 2010

Not only do paper towels trump everything else, the study conducted by Snelling found that if you rub your hands while drying your hands with the warm-air hand dryers you can actually increase the bacteria count. The Dyson Airblade fares better than the traditional hand dryers at drying your hands and keeping bacteria at bay; but at the end of the day, paper towels are still the most suited for the job.

So next time when you've finished washing your hand, go and grab a paper towel. Or if none are available, look for a Dyson Airblade. If that is not an option either, go for the traditional hand dryer - remember to leave you hands under it for at least 30 seconds and most importantly, don't rub your hands!