With being homeless, public bathrooms have become a big part of my life. I have kind of a long-ish mental list of bathrooms in the area where I live and different ones are good for different things.
Individual bathrooms without an "occupied/vacant" notice are better for grooming because when someone turns the knob, you know it is time to wrap up. With individual bathrooms that do have an "occupied/vacant" notice, you can't readily tell if someone is impatiently tapping their foot outside and a line is forming. By "individual bathroom" I mean one where you get to close and lock the door and have it to yourself, not a row of stalls with a shared sink area.
By grooming, I mean things like: Brushing teeth, flossing teeth, washing feet in the sink, washing hair in the sink, plucking eyebrows and any other thing you might want to do that would be a problem to do if someone walked in on you. Brushing teeth might not be illegal and they may not care if a more upper class person does it, but if a homeless person does it, it can get viewed as "misuse of the facilities" and get you escorted off the premises. So I try to do that in an individual bathroom or when I am alone and think I will not get walked in on immediately.*
On the other hand, a public bathroom with many stalls can be better than an individual bathroom for some things. For example, if you are constipated and expect to sit there for a while, it is less likely to create problems if there are plenty of other stalls and other patrons can come and go and not care how long you are stuck on the toilet.
I know of one individual bathroom which has paper towels and this is good for things like washing rashes in private areas. I know another with no paper towels but a hot air hand dryer. This can be good for getting damp clothes dry-ish in a pinch.
In order to not linger too long in any one place, I try to not handle more than one grooming task at a time. I try to not be at the same bathroom, at the same time, every day and I try to not stay overly long at any one bathroom. I try to look like a normal patron of the store and not call attention to myself.
* I have also learned to brush teeth in public parks and other places like that without benefit of water to rinse my mouth with. It can be done, but it works for me in part because I treat toothbrushes as disposable: I buy the cheapest ones I can get, I use them once and throw them out. So I do not need water to clean up the toothbrush. I usually wipe my mouth with a paper napkin and then clean up my hands with hand sanitizer afterwards.
Individual bathrooms without an "occupied/vacant" notice are better for grooming because when someone turns the knob, you know it is time to wrap up. With individual bathrooms that do have an "occupied/vacant" notice, you can't readily tell if someone is impatiently tapping their foot outside and a line is forming. By "individual bathroom" I mean one where you get to close and lock the door and have it to yourself, not a row of stalls with a shared sink area.
By grooming, I mean things like: Brushing teeth, flossing teeth, washing feet in the sink, washing hair in the sink, plucking eyebrows and any other thing you might want to do that would be a problem to do if someone walked in on you. Brushing teeth might not be illegal and they may not care if a more upper class person does it, but if a homeless person does it, it can get viewed as "misuse of the facilities" and get you escorted off the premises. So I try to do that in an individual bathroom or when I am alone and think I will not get walked in on immediately.*
On the other hand, a public bathroom with many stalls can be better than an individual bathroom for some things. For example, if you are constipated and expect to sit there for a while, it is less likely to create problems if there are plenty of other stalls and other patrons can come and go and not care how long you are stuck on the toilet.
I know of one individual bathroom which has paper towels and this is good for things like washing rashes in private areas. I know another with no paper towels but a hot air hand dryer. This can be good for getting damp clothes dry-ish in a pinch.
In order to not linger too long in any one place, I try to not handle more than one grooming task at a time. I try to not be at the same bathroom, at the same time, every day and I try to not stay overly long at any one bathroom. I try to look like a normal patron of the store and not call attention to myself.
* I have also learned to brush teeth in public parks and other places like that without benefit of water to rinse my mouth with. It can be done, but it works for me in part because I treat toothbrushes as disposable: I buy the cheapest ones I can get, I use them once and throw them out. So I do not need water to clean up the toothbrush. I usually wipe my mouth with a paper napkin and then clean up my hands with hand sanitizer afterwards.