After the great COVID toilet paper shortage of 2020, more and more American households are installing bidets to help lessen their dependence on toilet paper once and for all. A staple in European and Asian households, the bidet boasts cleaner behinds, quicker bathroom trips, and a staggering 75% reduction in toilet paper costs!
Even with these awesome benefits, a lot of Americans are still hesitant about switching up their bathroom game. After all, the idea of shooting water up your butt isn’t exactly a calming one! What does a bidet feel like?
A bidet will feel like washing yourself with a focused stream of water directly on your anus. If the bidet is cold water only, it can feel unpleasant, but with a warm water bidet you can anticipate a nice, comforting cleansing experience.
The feeling can be shocking at first, since water isn’t usually sprayed directly on the anus during a regular shower session and may seem unfamiliar, but with time using the bidet will become second nature.
Let’s go a little more in depth about bidets and the whole bidet experience!
Do Bidets Feel Weird?
Whether a bidet feels weird or not is all up to personal opinion. For someone in a foregin country that has used bidets all their life, it will feel much more strange to wipe without a bidet cleansing first.
If you’ve never used a bidet before, or if you are new to bidets, it is going to feel weird. With time, using the bidet won’t feel weird anymore as long as you stick with it.
There are a few things that you can do to lessen the weirdness of bidet usage:
- Be aware of settings
Different bidets will have different pressure settings. Just like a preferred car seat position, the preferred pressure for the bidet will differ from person to person.
If you’re visiting somewhere with a bidet that you haven’t used before, it might be worth checking out what setting the bidet is on so you don’t get a high-pressured surprise when you least expect it.
- Use preferred temperatures
Maybe the most important condition for bidet comfort is the temperature of the water spray. The most basic models of bidet will only spray cold water, and if you’re used to a warm bidet or no bidet at all, a rush of cold water can be quite the shock!
Higher-range bidets will have the option for warm water, making for an overall more comfortable experience.
- Finish with high quality toilet paper
Just because you splurge on quilted toilet paper at home doesn’t mean that every household does. Using 1 ply toilet paper combined with a bidet can be a disaster, leaving behind degraded, soggy toilet paper.
To avoid an unpleasant final act of your bidet experience, check the toilet paper situation before choosing to use the bidet. Only high quality toilet paper can hold up to being wet, and if only the cheap stuff is available, you may want to skip the bidet for the time being.
Does a Bidet Feel Good?
Some bidet users report really enjoying the feeling of cleanliness they get after using their bidet, while others say they have gotten used to their bidet, but they still don’t particularly enjoy the sensation of using it.
From these experiences, we can gather that a bidet will feel good to most long-time users, but a few never enjoy the sensation. A bidet is much more likely to feel good if it uses heated water.
Comfort really is important when it comes to bidet usage. It’s tempting to choose the cheapest bidet if you’ve never used one before, because if you don’t enjoy the bidet at least you didn’t spend a ton of money on it.
This mindset actually can hinder your chances of liking bidets altogether, because if all you’ve ever used is a cold, harsh bidet, then of course you’re not going to want to own one! Instead, give the bidet a fair shake and purchase a higher quality model that can provide a warm spray.
Is a Bidet Supposed to Hurt?
No! A bidet should never hurt.
If your bidet is causing you pain, it means one of two things. Either you have an injury around your anus, or something is malfunctioning on the bidet itself.
Medical issues like hemorrhoids can make using a bidet painful. If you experience any sort of pain when using the restroom, contact your doctor immediately.
If your bidet is malfunctioning, the water could become too hot or the pressure of the water too high. Either of these malfunctions could make using your bidet uncomfortable, or even painful. Always check the warranty on your bidet when you purchase it, so if anything goes wrong it can be replaced.
Don’t continue to use a malfunctioning bidet. What may seem like a small problem at first could cause an injury or burn if left unfixed for too long. If you believe your bidet to be malfunctioning, remove it right away.
Do Bidets Get Poop on Them?
No. Because a bidet never comes in contact with your behind, there is zero reason for it to ever have poop on it. Bidets stay quite clean.
There are two different types of bidets: Handheld bidets and hands-free bidets. Neither of them require skin-to-bidet contact, besides having to hold the hand held variety. If used correctly, the bidet will never get feces on it.
Even though a bidet should never get poop on them, accidents do happen. If your bidet comes into contact with feces, it’s important to wash it with antibacterial soap immediately. A bidet contaminated with feces could give users a urinary tract infection if not cleaned properly.
Bidets should also be cleaned regularly just like any other part of your toilet. Make sure any cleaning agents you use on the bidet don’t get into the nozzle, as many cleaners can cause irritation when they come into contact with skin. If there is a cleaning agent in the nozzle, there is the risk of it spraying out the next time someone uses the bidet.
Related Questions
What are the disadvantages of a bidet?
There aren’t many disadvantages to a bidet, but it will cause a slight rise in the water bill month to month. That being said, the money saved in toilet paper costs more than make up for the higher water bill.
Do you wipe before using a bidet?
Most bidet users wipe or pat themselves dry with toilet paper after use, so they don’t get their undergarments wet.
What is a bidet used for?
A bidet is a useful toilet accessory for any household, but they are especially beneficial to handicapped or immobile users that may have a hard time cleaning themselves in the traditional way. Bidets provide a thorough clean without much work from the user.
How does a bidet work for a woman?
Depending on the model, some bidets will have a second setting for a feminine wash. This will clean a woman after she urinates, but women should exert caution when using this setting. Women are much more likely to receive a bladder infection if bacteria gets into the urethra than men are, and an incorrectly aimed feminine wash could cause a dreaded UTI.
See Also:
Review Of The BioBidet ELITE 3 Toilet Seat Attachment
Review Of The BioBidet A3
Does Poop Really Get Everywhere?: Banishing Bidet Myths
Do You Wipe Before Using A Bidet
