In the toilets (bathrooms) of restaurants, bars, some nightclubs, hotel rooms and so on the lights are often red or orange. Why is this?
I do actually know one reason, but I’ll wait to see what others are offered (and if anyone offers the one I’m thinking of) before saying what it is…
I’ve heard it’s so addicts can’t see their veins, but not sure if this is an urban myth or not.
Also makes it harder to inspect the state of a toilet.
I always thought they just made you look prettier. Maybe I appreciate that cos I’m an old git with an elephant-arse skin-type. Someone pass the moisturiser please…
The light over my desk is red, because it’s just a bulb clipped to the celing beam with one of those things that you use for tacking down phone lines and suchlike. Primitive, but effective. My lamp broke, it’s a temporary solution…
I don’t know about restaurants, but the red light in the bars? I always thought it was to match the color of my eyes…
JT
I think its just to set the mood and achieve the certain ambience.
Set the mood? In the bathroom? Set the mood for what? Unloading a hefty log or two?
siatd,
Dammit! I almost wet myself laughing! ummm, ambience is when you remember to turn on the fan? 
JT
Hello F(r)iends,
Scenario # 1
Imagine you are in a dark, seedy, club and suddenly you have to piss… You walk into the bathroom with bright, white, light… Ow, my friggin eyes!
Suddenly you look in the mirror and you realize you are drunk, you have spent a few thousand on some business associates that are utter idiots and that you dislike, and you are about to cheat on your wife with some cheap Euro slut which you will deeply regret in the morning… What a buzz kill!!!
[end scenario}
Scenario # 2
You are in your hotel with a couple of Euro sluts you picked up at the local bar… you decided to take the party back to your place. You order some champagne, you order a few mixed drinks, you order some light snacks, you turn down the lights to set the mood, you start to have a few drinks, and the girls get naked and into the bed… they start kissing, touching, groping, and teasing you and getting you hard… you walk into the restroom where you placed the condoms earlier and flick on the bright white light… Ow, my friggin’ eyes!
Suddenly you realize you are behaving like a jackass, you are about to cheat on your wife, and the hotel is going to charge you 500 Euro for the drinks and about 25 Euro for each thing you took out of the fridge… What a buzz kill!
[end scenario}
Moral of the Story:
Bright lights are bad for business and are bad for getting biz-zay…
But seriously, there’s nothing more annoying than bright lights and moral wakeup calls…
-Thirst4RedBulbs 
But it’s hardly standard to have red bulbs in club toilets. Ive been in club/bar toilets with yellow lights, blue, red, green…strobe…there’s even one club in Bangkok that has hollywood style massive mirrors with bright star bulbs all the way around the edges.
Ive heard that thing about addicts being unable to see veins but not with red but violet/blue light.
I think the light can be other colors… it just makes everyone seem a bit more attractive. You go into some brightly lit place after being out dancing with the slums incarnate and you sort of clue in as to what’s going on. In Hali we call it the ‘lights coming on’ effect because if you’re dancing with some girl and then at the end of the night the lights come it’s gut check time.
Of course… I don’t dance, but you get the idea.
So yeah, I agree with Thirst mostly.
SIATD, you never did tell us if someone else mentioned your idea…
cuz under my rock,i will never be prought up to date with social rumors,lore and stuff-without ILP.
I wanna go to the same restaurants as Thirst.
Tab4EuroSluts
Thirst is right about the lights, it is intended to keep your mood fuzzy and unclear so that you will spend more money. Bright lights means you can see better and think better.
Having been in bars when the real lights come up I rarely want to go back a second time to that place. The color of lights hide shoddy looking furniture, floors, and walls. It is quite sobering to realize you just wasted an evening in a hellhole that you thought looked upperclass. Makes you start thinking and ruins a delightful buzz.
That’s a good point Kriswest - its always a downer when you end up being ushere home by the ‘house lights’ and you see the dump you just spent 50 quid in…
Hence why you should only go to cheap clubs - you won’t be disappointed…
Hmmm, if I put red lights through out my house maybe it will save on cleaning time. Good idea? My husband and I both will look decades younger. Oh boy I won’t ever have to worry about gray hair and wrinkles. I just won’t leave the house, oooh sounds like the beginnings of a bad movie. Nevermind.
They do it just to spite me. Stupid red-cone mutations. grumble
Absolvent, orgiastic, revelrious, red is the colour of the Greek drunk lord god Dionysus.
A myth from the Trobriand Islands in Melanesia tells that at the beginning of ages, a man was revealed the secrets of magic by a crab, which was red on account of the spells he carried within itself; after he had purloined the secrets of magic from the crab, the man killed it ; this is why even to today, the crabs that are bereaved of their spells are black ; nevertheless, they die hard, for they are the once mighty sovereigns of life and death.
In Africa of the Blacks, native women and girls daub their body and face with ocre red paint, to mark the first period, marriage, or the birth of a newborn.
Native American indians oil themselves with red paint, which is thought to key up strength and arouse carnal desire.
Red is the symbol for youthful ardour and impetuousness, prone to stirring emotions and strong impulses (at least as according to my dictionary). Personally, I think that red accessories are very sexy.
On a different note, I feel I should mention that, although I am not what you might call a regular club frequenter, I have had, on different occasions, the opportunity of witnessing the dismal debauchery that today’s youth indulges itself in. In short, I’ve been in a few clubs. Now, I must say that not one of them had red lights in the, and neither have I heard of a club featuring such a thing in my country - they all have white lightbulbs. I have been in a few clubs and in a few restrooms, and the point I’m trying to make is that Kriswest and Thirst are right in their assumptions - having white, clear, illumination in bathrooms creates a gap between the proper club and it’s appendix(es). Basically what you’re experiencing when gliding through the door is the uncanny state of lucidity that makes you think whether you have any money left in your wallet or if it is safe to spend more. It also lets you have a brutally honest image of yourself in the mirror, which sometimes can be unpleasant and disheartening. Especially when you’re not so ‘fresh’ anymore. That can be a downer, considering that the reason yo’re there in the first place is to have a good time.
It just ocurred to me… what do you suppose Superman sees with that xray vision? I’ve never actually seen him in a club, but I’ve seen any number of imposters… 
JT