Perception of Cleanliness

It turns out that it was just our varying notions of cleanliness.  I was used to a somewhat looser cleaning regime.  My home would get a once over every week.  Every fortnight my sheets would get a wash (unless I recognised I would entertain).  By bachelor standards, my house was clean.  The contrast was that she hoped the house would remain slightly cleaner than I expected.  Not that my standards are low, far from it, but hers are higher than mine.  We learned this when I advised her to leave it.  It took a lot of strength for her to do but she realised that I would get to it about a day after she felt that I should.  So, why the difference?

It is down to biology and our desire to find a mate to continue our line.  Women have, for the sake of weeding out potential suitors, a far stronger sense of smell than men.  In fact, women have nearly double the cells in their olfactory bulb (the bit that does the smelling).  Apart from finding a suitable mate, it also serves another purpose of ensuring hygiene in the family unit.  Not to say that men don’t possess a keen sense of smell but it just works differently.  Offending scents are more readily identified in a heavily scented environment by women than men.

Either way, both sexes use smell as a guide.  Studies show that pairing scents with experiences can produce an effect on a person’s attitude.  Some scents will help people feel generous, some will help people buy a specific item, some will help people relax.  It all depends on what your goal is.  For the sake of this article let’s stick with the goal of a user leaving a washroom environment feeling positive.

Touch and sight are covered by adequate provision of washroom supplies, regular cleaning and visible washroom cleaning checklists.  Sound is an interesting, and much neglected, sense.  We all know the sounds our body makes when we are using a stall.  Many of us get very self conscious (not the man I heard singing a happy song one time!) when we are using a stall.  I often wonder whether just having the radio playing would help soothe some performance anxiety!?  With smell we have some useful options.

First would be air purification systems.  These work by cleaning the air on a regular cycle.  This option removes bacteria and mould which allows the air to smell cleaner, without added fragrance, and also helps keep surfaces clean to touch.  Secondly we have metered air care systems.  These are a more traditional implementation which provides options for using scents to influence.  They also keep the regular user aware of the cleanliness of their environment by regularly cycling their scent options as part of the service cycle.

Zenith Washrooms ensure your environments provide a positive experience for your users.  Our carefully curated solutions provide healthy and well managed environments for your customers.  This will support your business in guiding their key decisions and ensure your staff remain happy and motivated.  Contact Zenith Washrooms today to find out more about how washrooms can have a positive effect on your organisation’s bottom line.