Builder

Kenosis23, while the information about passing bad bacteria by touching hands is true, it's misleading. We touch far fewer things with our lips than we do with our hands, so the lips get less contaminated. The lips have the good bacteria in the mouth to protect them, though nothing is perfect. Very little passes through the skin (hands or otherwise). it's like having a washable rubber glove over our whole body. The problem with germs on the hands only comes into play when we put our hands into vulnerable places, especially the eyes (which have very little protection) but also in the mouth, nose or even the ears. It is more risky to kiss someone on the hands than it is on the lips. That is, unless the hands were washed well a minute before. Trust the European aristocracy of old to develop a habit that was risky. They did a lot of it.

Kenosis23

One of my favorite bits of trivia (factoid) is that we pass more germs -- the bad kind -- by shaking hands then we do by mouth kissing. If this is true it is more dangerous to kiss someone's on the hand then it is to kiss them on the lips!