Soap dispensers are simple step up from the standard filthy bar of soap taking up a slippery space beside the sink at home or at work. Speaking from personal experience, and with reference to what is, admittedly, something that resembles an obsessive-compulsive disorder, I absolutely refuse to touch a wet bar of soap that has heaven-knows-what diseases lingering upon its surface, ready to infect unsuspecting passersby. It is bad enough that most restroom sinks require me to touch the handles of the faucet to turn on the water, water which is rarely if ever warm or hot, even after being left to run for ten or more minutes; touching the door, doorknob, stall door handle, urinal handle, paper towel dispenser or any other noxious object within the confines of the petri dish which constitutes most contemporary restrooms is also completely out of the question.

In moments when I feel rather conspiratorial, I will show co-workers and even random strangers the half-dozen packets of hotel soap, still safely in its wrappers that I keep secreted about my person for just these situations. Being without soap can be a crippling disability, prompting me to avoid restrooms altogether. Thankfully, my dismay is occasionally subjected to considerable relief by the simple presence of a soap dispenser mounted securely to the wall, well away from the sink and its considerable weight of infection and contamination, and foam soap dispensers are my absolute favorites.

Foam soap dispensers are inexpensive and easy to install in almost any restroom or to accompany any quality hand-washing station. For me, having worked in the health and human services career field and industry for almost twelve years, finding myself inhabiting any restroom that eschews soap dispensers in favor of some festering bar of rancid soap prompts me to pull contracts, skip coordinating services, and remove my beloved clients from what is obviously a less than savory and sanitary environment.

It seems so terribly simple to me, yet, taste is ultimately subjective: soap dispensers suggest that a person is clean. They suggest that a business puts cleanliness on a pedestal. It suggests that, having my blood drawn at this particular laboratory, I am not at particular or peculiar risk for blood-borne pathogens. Small things, to many minds, but to professionals working within the health and human services career fields, these small things mean everything when it comes to the health, care, safety and hygienic standards visited upon our clients.

Foam soap dispensers are just cleaner than their counterparts of ill repute. I like to be clean. Many other individuals’ value being clean. Further, signaling to other businesses and professionals that sanitation and hygiene are important can never be considered a negative. No one has ever lost business for being overly-clean. In that light, purchasing new foam soap dispensers for the restroom or hand-washing station is simply good business.

Dwayne Hunter is the author of this article on Foam Soap Dispensers. Find more information on Foam Soap Dispensers here.