There is a moment many of us have as adults when we recall some action we used to take when we were younger that now fills us with horror and shame. From atrocious creative work to downright disgusting habits, we all have a few things that we hope remain in the past.
So someone asked “What have you always done, but later found out was gross?” and these brave netizens spilled their guts. So make sure you have already satiated your appetite because you are about to lose it. Get comfortable as you scroll through, upvote your favorites, and comment your own gross habits, if you are brave enough.
#1
When I was like 5 or 6 years old I would love going to the grocery store with my mom because the vegetable and fruit and meat tables always had the best ice to chew on....
Image credits: campio_s_a
#2
I pick my nose (privately then wash my hands). I just can’t deal with a clogged nose & my fingers work better than a tissue ever could
Image credits: harleybruuuh
#3
All my life I wiped my toothbrush on the hand towel to dry it up until my sister asked what the f**k I was doing
Image credits: Sark_Doul
#4
I love to eat the crispy, crunchy white yucca flowers from my yard.I ate them for years before discovering there are tiny little white waxy worms that live in the flowers and blend in.
I eat other bugs and worms and stuff, but not raw, so I started to wash them out of the flowers before I ate them.
I learned the flowers are nowhere near as nutty and crunchy and delicious without the worms, so now I leave them in.
Image credits: Mushrooming247
#5
Teen years… Getting in bed with *outside clothes* on. Sitting on my bed with outside clothes on. Keeping my shoes on while sitting on my bed, might put my legs on the bed with the covers on but that’s f*****g disgusting and it bothers me when anyone does it in movies or my house (because anyone else in the world can do whatever they want — just not in my house).I’ve made it a rule to change out of your outside clothes before getting into a bed.
Image credits: tharealmouse
#6
As a dude, standing up to pee. Seriously, the stuff sprays everywhere. We got one of those flashlights made for highlighting pet urine on carpet, and out of curiosity I shined around in the bathroom. It’s everywhere. Gentlemen, it’s really gross what we’re exposing the women in our lives to. We’re not talking about truck stops or rest areas, but the bathrooms of those we know and love. Sit down, it won’t emasculate you.
Image credits: ZiggyEarthDust
#7
Used to pluck my eyebrows on public transport.So sorry to anyone who got those sticky little living hair follicles stuck to their clothes and skin.
Image credits: Nannyhirer
#8
I was in my late teens before I learned you're supposed to wipe front to back not back to front. I was like damn and started doing it the right way. I could never get a good clean front to back. I figured I just needed practice but I did it for 6 months and it never improved. I went back to the way I've always done it. I've never had a yeast infection or UTI. Idk how far you guys are wiping but I don't have an issue
Image credits: asexualrhino
#9
I used to take s***s, would wipe for a bit, but if it was taking to long I would just stuff a wad of TP in my crack and deal with it later.
Image credits: Lanky-Blueberry5782
#10
Not brushing my teeth when I wake up. I would only brush my teeth after breakfast, and I would rarely eat breakfast. So most days I would only brush my teeth at night. I figured “Well I brushed last night and haven’t eaten anything since, so why should I brush again?” Then I learned about all the bacteria that feed on the tiny bits of food left in your teeth and they literally expel gas and feces in your mouth as they consume it. And this is what causes awful morning breath. So I have this mental image of bacteria poop and farts coating my mouth and have brushed every morning since regardless of eating breakfast or not.
Image credits: scatteredwardrobe
#11
I always had dry hands as a kid and it didn't like how it felt so I'd spit on my hands all the time
Image credits: MetalFenris
#12
I casually use cat whiskers as toothpicks when I find them laying around. I still do but not in public after I was sitting on a bus next to a stranger and got a bit happy when I found a whisker in my scarf. Poor stranger got discussed and surprised at the same time.
Image credits: southlagoon
#13
I flushed my tampons my whole life until I was about 30. No one had taught me they weren’t flushable. I stupidly thought they were like toilet paper.One expensive and embarrassing plumbing problem later, I never did it again.
Image credits: Ew_fine
#14
Never take out my contact lenses.#15
Showered in a dirty tub. Once I discovered how gross it really was, my hoarder mother didn’t like it when I cleaned the bathroom, so I just lived with it til I was able to get a place.
Image credits: TrustIsOverrated
#16
Walking barefoot. My kid freaks out if I step outside without shoes. I don't think they'll survive an apocalypse.#17
As a child I would dig up bits of clay from the local sandbox. It wasn’t as good as play-doh, so I would cast it aside and continue digging.Maybe I didn’t have a very good sense of smell at that age, because I was well into adulthood before I realized it was probably cat s**t.
Image credits: Blue_Moon_Rabbit
#18
I was taught to wash my sheets once a month. Realized you’re supposed to do it way more.
Image credits: NoUsername817226
#19
I am 66yo and only learned a week ago that you are supposed to FLOSS FIRST & THEN BRUSH your teeth! I saw something on Reddit about this & I asked my family (3 adult kids & husband). They ALL knew to floss first, brush second - WHY DIDN’T ANYONE TELL ME??? They just thought what I did was weird but never mentioned it.
Image credits: Makitsew
#20
I used to really like those self service lollies/candy buckets with the scoops. They were in most big box stores in Australia, like Kmart, Target, Big W. So much fun mixing and matching.But then one day I started working at Target. Every single day I caught old people and kids with their hands directly inside grabbing them out and munching down all slobbery like. Turned me off forever.
Though not too long after they started disappearing from businesses so obviously someone got the unsanitary message.
Image credits: blahblahrasputan
#21
I use my earring to scrape out the muck from under my nails then put the earring back in my ear
Image credits: bettyswollocks22
#22
Chewing on fingernails. Haven’t done it in decades but once upon a time…
Image credits: JulesSherlock
#23
Not really gross but as a kid I used to drink a raw egg with sugar every now and then. I once talked about it at elementary, thinking everyone knows this drink. They all acted really disgusted and stayed away from me, so I stopped drinking it.
Image credits: ShieKassy
#24
Not washing behind ears
Image credits: sheesh-papa
#25
Omg this isn't something for me personal, but men?? Not washing their hands after they pee?? I seen this statistic during covid and asked my male friends and I couldn't believe how many said this was true. It's stayed with me ever since lol.#26
As a young child, I didn't understand that as a female, we *have* to wipe for sanitary reasons. I felt that it was just another unfair stipulation imposed on my gender at the ripe age of maybe 5? So I refused to wipe when I peed because boys didn't have to.#27
Left dishes out in my room. Until I got freaked out at seeing ants everywhere, then I always put away dishes after finishing.#28
Only using one spatula throughout the cooking process. Apparently after meat is cooked past a safe temperature your supposed to get a clean utensils to finish and serve. If not, then you're serving with raw meat germs.#29
Double dipping snacks. Pretty logical but only found out recently that’s very bad etiquette#30
That meme where they guy is scrubbing his crack with the bar of soap? I did that until a girlfriend caught me in my late-20s.#31
Spitting in public(on the sidewalk, streets, etc.)Growing up in a smaller Texas Town, spitting whenever and wherever was a p common thing. It was totally acceptable to be walking down the street, and just kinda spit if you felt the need to. Never really thought anything of it. I didn't realize people found spitting on sidewalks offensive until was about 30 or so. I still to this day don't understand why. I try not to do it as much anymore. But.. if there ain't anybody around bet'chur a*s I'ma spit tho.
EDIT: It has been brought to my attention that spitting can be a factor in spreading specific diseases/viruses. After doing some quick research on it, I have found this to be factual. Moving forward, I will be even *more* mindful of my spitting habits.
Image credits: NuggleBuggins
#32
I sit on my couch naked when I’m alone watching TV at night. I mean I’m relatively clean but I feel sorry for anyone else that sits there
Image credits: Rich-Abbreviations25
#33
Wait until a towel smelled weird to swap it out
Image credits: DrippyFlames
#34
Not washing newly purchased clothing items
Image credits: MysteryGoomba
#35
I didn’t use to close the lid on the toilet before flushing. Oh the sharticles.
Image credits: Standard-Guarantee94
#36
as an asian i was always taught growing up to throw used toilet paper in the trash bin. it wasnt until i went on a school trip to italy the chaperone mentioned to everyone “the plumbing system here isnt as good as the USA so you guys are just gonna have to throw it in the trash bin” and everyone went “ew”. and thats when i learned that it was gross to throw toilet paper in the trash bin since the issue was youre basically having s**t bits sitting around in a bin.
Image credits: stigma_numgus
#37
Put eggshells back in the carton. Didn’t know it was gross because I saw my mother always do it. I can’t believe it took my until last year to realize the error of my ways.
Image credits: coykoi314
#38
Eating snow, just take the same handful of snow you might see a kid stuff in their mouth and let it melt in a glass. Bet you wouldn’t willingly drink it!
Image credits: Affectionate_Cloud86
#39
I’m surprised to not see this here: wearing shoes inside. My family was not a shoes off family and they always wore outside shoes inside. I remember a few friends homes were strict shoes-off homes, but I thought that was the minority. I was about 27 years old before I realized it was disgusting and people were definitely judging my etiquette.
Image credits: MyDogAteYourPancakes
#40
I'm suffering from hair loss at the moment (51f) and I'm often absent-mindedly raking a hand through my long hair, glancing at what comes out and then dropping the strands on the floor.Just read on another sub that that's pretty disgusting to other people. I my own defence, I work exclusively from home in my own small office and would never do it in public, but even so - maybe my husband thinks I'm gross.
Image credits: RadioDorothy
#41
Not me, but my ex would always flush mid pee. I never understood it and found it repulsive. If his pee lasted longer than the flush, he would just flush again. Whenever I would ask why he does that, he just said he’s always done it…. All I could think of is how much stuff would fly up on his hands and genitals. Even after showing him countless studies about what flies up when a toilet flushes, he would never stop that weird habit.#42
I chewed with my mouth open for decades#43
not brushing my teeth every day.i struggle with life-long dysthymia (basically chronic mild depression), and during the covid lockdown it got pretty bad and i'd straight up brush my teeth every other week, at best. i didn't see the point because i didn't leave my room.
i forced myself to get a thorough professional clean after about a year of this and it felt amazing. i've miraculously never had a cavity, though.
#44
Pee in the shower, shave over the toilet, let my dogs sleep in the bed with me.I still do it, but I’ve been told those are all gross.
#45
using the air drier in public bathrooms.#46
Re wearing a pair of socks for a few times before washing them.I didn’t have very many pair and sat in a chair all day at school so I figured they weren’t dirty enough to need washing every single time I wore them.
Got absolutely destroyed when I mentioned it out loud ?
Definitely don’t do it any more!
#47
Holding on to makeup way too long, and not washing my face before applying makeup.#48
When I was a kid, I had pinworms. That’s no big deal, kids have them often from playing in dirt and putting their fingers in their mouth. However I was too embarrassed to tell my parents I had them, so I just…left it alone. I had recurrent bouts of worms on and off until I was in my late teens, and then at that point I developed a serious eating disorder for unrelated reasons and they all sort of died off because I wasn’t eating and pinworms feed on sugars in your intestines.#49
I never washed my hands after coming home for most of my life#50
I would eat scabs or anything I could scrape off my scalp ?#51
I still do this, but removing my ingrown toenails at home and giving them a whiff. Exhilarating and exhausting at the same time.#52
Hey you. Yeah, you, reading this.When’s the last time you cleaned your phone?
Yeah…
#53
Sip the little bit of coke on top of coke can after pouring into glass - the top of that can is not really clean.#54
Using a loofah because you don’t wash it like washcloths#55
Put my luggage on the bed#56
Sharing a bar of soap with my husband. I thought it was normal until it came up in my mom group. If we are going to bump uglies, we can definitely share soap. I don’t care if it’s gross, we only have one soap holder. ?#57
Used to keep festival wristbands on for months after they had happened and they got so manky. Always had multiple bands on too. Now I take them off the Monday/Tuesday after as they are just really a nuisance, especially after a shower!#58
Checking a book out from the library and then settling into bed for a good read. I later worked in a library for approximately a decade and holy s**t. Never again.#59
Eating rice without washing it twice#60
I never put on deodorant till high schoolfrom Bored Panda https://ift.tt/hfStqKw
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