Eli5 If warm water is generally better for cleaning things, including our skin, then why do we use cold water to brush our teeth?
In: 14
Because the cleaning comes from the scrubbing with the brush, not the solvent properties of the water, and it is more comfortable to brush your teeth with cold water. It’s “refreshing”, and this isn’t entirely a sensation thing. Washing things in hot water does make them easier to clean, but warm water also is more ‘pleasant’ for bacteria and other microbes. So it is better to rinse things in cold water than hot water, and will reduce the smell.
If you want to prevent your dishrags from getting smelly very quickly, you should always rinse them in cold water and wring them out thoroughly every time you use them, by the way. It makes a huge difference.
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