Four years after the toilet paper shortage of 2020, bidet converts say they’re never going back
While the toilet paper shortages that hit the United States during pandemic lockdowns in the spring of 2020 ultimately eased up, they’ve had a lasting impact on one industry: the bidet business.
“The industry here in the U.S. just blew up. You couldn’t get a bidet if you wanted to,” says James Lin, founder of BidetKing.com, an online marketplace for all varieties of the bathroom appliance. “We all sold out. … There was a huge scramble to get more.”
I’ve had a bidet for years, before covid even. It really is a game changer. You’d be surprised how much more clean you feel.
They have relatively cheap and easy to install ones that just go under your toilet seat and connect to the toilet’s water supply. That’s what I use.
Is it not chilly as fuck during the winter, when tap water is like 4°c?
It’s not nearly as bad as I’d expected. You’re only doing short bursts of water, so you’re not getting brain freeze on your butthole or anything.
The little bit of water needed is usually already in the house and relatively heated by ambient warming. Its enough.
And when it’s hot out, it’s INCREDIBLE
the MOST REFRESHING
Can be. But really adds another wakeup jolt to the morning coffee ritual XD
No, its not bad at all and our cold water is usually in 50s Fahrenheit in the winter.
It’s definitely not bad at all. My wife resisted to getting a bidet for years but then we got one and now she can’t live without.
Many pre-heat the water. I have one lux one that has a heated seat, heated water, and a warm air blow-dryer. $300? $600? I don’t remember, I’ve had it for a decade; it was cheap at whatever price and 100% worth the investment.
I wish the dryers were better. The rest of the features are sick.
Yeah, I think it’s just physics. You’d need the equivalent of a bathroom hand dryer on the toilet to improve the drying. Or, god forbid, a Dyson. I shudder at the thought.
Oh gawd. Like the inverse of one of those clit-succ devices. I’ll stick with my two slices of TP, thank you.
This isn’t as bad as you might think it would be.
Yes, definitely. But it’s like jumping into a chilly lake: you might not want to stay there long, but god damn is it refreshing.
Nope. Many are plugged in and it will keep the seat and water warm. It further warms the seat when it detects someone is sitting on it. Kinda depends on budget, features, manufacturers.
NGL, middle of the night visits are still a bit jarring because the heating logic tries to conserve energy at night so it tends to me room temperature. But whatevs.
Honestly, worth it. Absolutely no regrets other than maybe not spending more 😂. At a couple hundred dollar Costco Toto model, it was already a risky purchase that at the time I simply wasn’t sure about. But yeah, it’s awesome 😎.
It’s a dollar more to install the ones onto the hot and cold taps, then you can set and forget the temp of the water, so it’s always the right temp.
And obviously they have the tech on-demand heated ones, but you can buy the sprayer and taps version for 15 bucks with stainless steel parts.
I’m lazy so I use the kind you can screw directly into the sink tap itself, find the right temp in the regular sink faucet handle, set and forget.
30 second installation, adjustable water temp, switch adjustable nozzle to use bidet or sink faucet, easy.
I just went with the basic cold water ones because I don’t have a hot water tap at my toilet and didn’t want to go through the trouble of installing hot water due to finished walls.
These screw into the hot and cold water lines going straight up to your sink, not the toilet line.
Like this:
And then this one takes less than a minute to install:
This is the simplest way to get a hot water one though, you just screw right into the faucet itself.
Probably why my mother-in-law doesn’t have a bidet, no hot water. Yes, I offered to buy her a water heater and pay for it to be installed she turned it down
That would make it tough in colder climates, but still worth it for 6 months out of the year, in my opinion.
It’s just such an obvious equation to me now haha, like do you want to touch any of that?
No, I don’t want to touch any of that and I want to be perfectly clean.
Okay then there’s this option that saves on toilet paper, feels better for your skin and is far more hygienic.
There’s just no comparison, although I perfectly understand how conservative and resistant to change people can be.
I worked with some old folks once and there was this old man who refused to buy a mouse for his laptop cuz he was like look this is the trackpad. I don’t need a mouse, that’s just newfangled b*******.
She lives in a part of the world where you can die from the heat 12 months of the year.
Whatever, I tried. Pretty much every year I can get her to accept at most one improvement to her situation. Last year I got her to let me and some workers I hired to clean up her backyard. So at least she some nice plants to look at instead of a motorcycle parts graveyard.
There you go, take the wins where you can
Mine, sadly, doesn’t hit me in the right spots and I constantly have to move around the seat. Then my undercarriage is wet and takes time drying.
Same, but that’s an installation error. If yours isn’t absolute ass, it’s adjustable.
Mine is, I’ve just been too lazy for two years to fix it. I should do that.
I have the cheapest of the cheap lol. It has an adjuster that doesn’t work. Need to invest into something better.
Ahhh that makes sense then. Mine was like 70USD and goes back and forward, but I’ve got it too far back. The vaj wash hits my bum so I gotta lean REEEEALLLY FAR forward to clean everything off. I could fix it but like… ehhhh… lazy.
You’ve just convinced me to try again!
Ughhhhh maybe I will too then. I even have another toilet seat for it but when I got it, it seemed too complicated to install. I should like… do that.
Pshaw! Need. Should. Someone give us some adderall
I have one that has its own seat lid. The one my son has is the type you mentioned that just slips under the standard seat.
We had ours during the pandemic. While my friends and coworkers griped about toilet paper shortages, it was like having a hidden superpower.
It took me using my friend’s bidet just once to convert. I ordered one that night, from BidetKing. Now I really hate using the toilet in public.
It feels so barbaric going to the bathroom at work or in public now
That is the downside. Going on vacation, like, ehhhhh this sucks.
Portable bidet.
Shower time.
🙋♂️ - count me in that camp. I feel like a peasant if I have to shit on anything else. Splurge for the heated seat and heated water if you can afford it and prepare to be spoiled.
I already had a Bidet when Deadpool II came out and that scene about toilet paper… I fully thought they were gonna go the bidet route… Nope, a shitty ad for shitty wipes that clog your pipes and city pipes and don’t biodegrade in septic systems.
Bidet is the clear winner. Deadpool should know better.
I was sad to learn it would cost so much to add power near my toilet, that I might as well fully remodel my bathroom… if money were no object.
Nope, it just attaches to your current setup. No power needed. By default people think it has to be warm water but everyone eventually decides the water is fine without. Plus it’s cheaper. Like 30 bucks to change your life for the better!
BioBidet BB-2000 is the only way to go.
In some countries we use a bidet ‘wand’ which is like a small handheld sprayer connected to the sink. No need for heating the seat or waiting for some computer to squirt water at me. It’s clean, efficient. I use a small amount of toilet paper to dry the area/confirm cleanliness. 🙈
Question from someone interested. Do you let the water do all the work, or is there hand involvement as well?
I let the water do the work, but mine specifically has something called “turbo mode”. It has the highest water pressure and seems to do the best job cleaning.
Edit: I forgot to mention my model also has a fan for the drying function. It runs for about 4 mins - so it takes a bit to dry.
I got a bidet, unrelated to COVID and I never want to go back. ~~~~
Same. I got one after a trip to Japan. Life changing.
i took it a step further and bought a peri bottle for when i travel.
Truly the headline we all needed.
That being said, yes, use a bidet!
Everyone I’ve known who has a bidet says they will never go back to using paper. I’m waiting to get enough cash to get an electric one with heat and install a separate outlet for it.
While hot water is definitely better, cold water is still a huge upgrade over tp.
If you have 2 toilets in your house you could consider getting cold water now and then moving it to s spare bathroom. Start converting your friends.
That’s a good idea. We have a half bath that is mostly for guests. Would be a good place to try it out.
You have the right plan my friend! Funny enough I’ve had mine for almost 4 years now. I just got around to installing an outlet in the bathroom just for this purpose. I’ve had it powered via an extension cord for a while with some creative hiding.
I have a bidet. I use paper almost every time, honestly.
The powered ones are totally worth it. I had a super cheap unpowered one for 10 years and was happy with it. This Christmas we splurged on a Toto that has the heated seat, heated water, blow dryer, auto-opening lid, air filter fan for smell, etc. It’s so much nicer. Not having to touch the toilet lid to lift it up is a benefit I didn’t consider but I love it. The heated seat is nice for late night trips to the toilet.
All these comments are amusing for me as an asian
On a trip to a very rural part of South East Asia once the “bidet” was a garden hose and you had to sort it out yourself.
I’m super confused as a Spaniard because we have actual bidets here, an appliance that’s separate from the toilet, where you can also clean you feet and stuff. It’s so hard to guess if people are referring to that bidet or the toilet add-on bidets.
The bidet as a reference: https://www.wikihow.com/images_en/thumb/2/28/Use-a-Bidet-Step-2-Version-3.jpg/v4-460px-Use-a-Bidet-Step-2-Version-3.jpg.webp
Help me understand. You spray your butthole to clean it. Your butt is now wet. How do you dry yourself?
I have the ghetto 35$ version that just blasts your ass with cold water. Even that is heavenly compared to wiping.
But to answer question, your butt is wett and you dry it with toilet paper. The difference is that it’s almost always 2 sheets of paper and there is no real rubbing as you’re just drying the water off. With paper it can be tons of sheets and I still might not be convinced I’m clean.
You accidentally place your hand in poop. You wipe it with dry paper until it doesn’t smear any more. Why does that count as clean for your butt and not your hand?
Because you don’t handle things with your butt and your hand doesn’t have the poop door on it. Hope this helps.
Yeah, that’s what I also never got. If you have dirt in the kitchen, that’s semifluid, no one in their right mind would clean it without wetting it. But for the butt that does not count. I do not have a bidet, but I can reach the faucet from my toilet. So I just wet the toilet paper and produce far less toilet paper waste thanks to this.
Only poop goes in the butt. I’m not putting it near my mouth like I wood my hands. If I am going to eat ass I want it washed first.
So a little dab, the toilet paper gets wet and you’re all clean. But without the bidet, there is just so much more to clean.
Mine have warm air blowers. You can either sit for an admittedly longish while whilst the dryer blows you dry, or you can dab with a couple of squares and then let it blow dry you fairly quickly. It’s the difference between a roll a week, and a roll every month or two. Or, none, of you’re really patient.
You dab with toilet paper afterwards to dry. Bidets do still require toilet paper, but significantly less and they leave you significantly cleaner.
Some fancier bidets have blow driers.
press the “dry” button
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It’s not like your soaked. I usually do a “safety wipe” and that’s all I need.
I just moved into a camper trailer, and one of my favorite things is the tiny showerhead is close to the toilet, and even has a little valve lever at the spray end to turn it on and off, just like it was designed to be a bidet. I don’t care if it was designed that way, it is one now.
Holy fuck, are you me? That’s what I’ve done when I go to my camper at the river. And I can actually adjust the temperature instead of the cold water I get out of the home one.
I hope not, no offense. I was just getting myself figured out and that’d be a whole new thing.
It me. I got a Tushy. Love it.
Cold Bum Gun Crew, representin’
Nah, I dropped that crew and joined the Heated Butt Water gang. Though I occasionally slum it with the CBGC if my girl is using the good toilet.
I told my partner that if the pan wasn’t gonna make us USA folks switch to bidets, nothing will. We suck. Lemme smash shit all over my asshole and pretend it’s clean.
If that’s your technique no wonder you need a bidet lmao
I don’t have a bidet but toilet paper is objectively insufficient. As an illustration consider your response if you spilled peanut butter on the carpet. Are you reaching for a dry paper towel?
Your skin is not a carpet. You could remove toilet paper from, for example, a granite countertop with a dry paper towel. If you also regularly sponge down your kitchen surfaces it works perfectly well.
A granite countertop does not have hair.
Maybe yours doesn’t
Imagine you got dog shit on your arm. Would you just rub it with a piece of toilet paper and call it a day? Of course not. If all you had was a hose, wouldn’t you at least rinse it off?
Other people’s shit isn’t usually in my buttcrack
Well, yeah, duh. I wasn’t making that claim, I was demonstrating a point to you where even you find using just paper to be insufficient and not merely a matter of poor technique.
I just try to do a sales pitch of playing asteroids. Would you rather smear shit between your cheeks or surgically blow asteroids out of orbit?
For my Australian counterparts here, don’t get too excited just yet: https://www.productsafety.gov.au/news/covid-19-supplying-and-installing-bidet-products#:~:text=While many housebound Australians may,risk%2C and it’s also illegal.
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Bum gun is superior to bidet. Change my mind.
Pooper Soaker.
