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Once you've gotten used to using flowing water to clean yourself, going back to a place where there are no bidets (or equivalent middle-east style handheld toil

Once you've gotten used to using flowing water to clean yourself, going back to a place where there are no bidets (or equivalent middle-east style handheld toilet shower) and you can use toilet paper only feels like the grossest/nastiest thing. I heard someone explain it like this: "Imagine you got some shit on your hand, how would you clean it? Well you'd go to a sink and wash it off with soap and water, you wouldn't just wipe it off with some paper towels. Ok, so why do we do that with our asses?"

cassianoleal 2y ago
Because afterwards you don't go around smearing your arse on your face, mouth, nose, door handles, computer keyboard, mouse/trackpad... As long as you wipe well, there's really very little bad that can happen before your next daily shower. Note that I have nothing against bidets, but this argument is not a very strong one.
- saberience 2y ago
  Yeah so you go to the toilet in the morning, then you walk around the rest of the day smearing particles of feacal matter between your thighs and butt cheeks, messing up your underwear, smelling, irritating your skin. Hell, what happens if you go for a run after, sweaty ass combined with faecal matter and that sweat then running down your legs. Lovely stuff!
- grumple 2y ago
  This is how I feel about it: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q2Ko78NEI9A https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q2Ko78NEI9A Your poop smells. You aren't getting it perfectly clean. Some people believe they don't have to clean the lower half of their body, which is equally crazy.
  - coryfklein 2y ago
    This, compounded with the rubbing agitation you're applying to such a sensitive area, over and over and over. Why do we do this to ourselves so unnecessarily?
- coryfklein 2y ago
  Perhaps not, but without a bidet you're probably smearing it on your undergarments every time you sit, which have a tendency to aspirate the smell of fecal matter a little every time you sit, walk, etc. Over years, how much of it is accruing on your office chair? The fabric of your sofa?
  - cassianoleal 2y ago
    I did write: > As long as you wipe well If you leave that amount of fecal matter on your arse, then obviously it will smell bad and be unhygienic. My pants usually don't smell at all at the end of the day when I go shower. > Over years, how much of it is accruing on your office chair? The fabric of your sofa? Probably nothing or very close to it. There's usually 2 layers of fabric between the tiny amount left and the chair or sofa. TMy office chair of 10 years that I recently replaced because it broke had a discolouration on the headrest from smearing my head on it. The seat was pretty much pristine. My sofa doesn't smell at all after many years of use and has no weird colours.
- hoosier2gator 2y ago
  Your response ignores the fact that if you got shit anywhere else on your body (e.g., your elbow or your back), you'd likely use soap and water anyway, even if you don't touch your elbow to your face, door handles, etc. Also, the argument isn't necessarily about preventing something bad from happening, it's also about just feeling clean. People who have not tried a bidet cannot really say whether they would feel better/cleaner with TP or a bidet. It's like if you tried to explain to someone who has only ever used wet wipes to bathe that a shower makes you feel better. Sure, wet wipes may objectively clean you but those who have used a shower can speak to the subjective benefits of feeling nicer. The counterargument that "TP works well enough" is not a very strong one to my mind, if there's something that works better with no real downside.
srean 2y ago
> "Imagine ... " Exactly. Here in India we mostly use what's called a health faucet (or bidet shower https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bidet_shower https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bidet_shower). Its lesser of an installation than a bidet.
simonbw 2y ago
I always found this argument underwhelming. Using a bidet isn't the equivalent of washing your hands with soap and water as we generally do, it's the equivalent of holding your hand under the faucet. You don't get the soap or the scrubbing which are pretty important parts of hand washing. That said, I have liked my experience with bidets.
- saberience 2y ago
  You're not using a bidet right! You should wash your ass the same way you wash your hands, you turn on the bidet and then use one hand (or two) to wash your ass properly. You don't just turn on the water and wait for a while.

cassianoleal 2y ago

Because afterwards you don't go around smearing your arse on your face, mouth, nose, door handles, computer keyboard, mouse/trackpad... As long as you wipe well, there's really very little bad that can happen before your next daily shower. Note that I have nothing against bidets, but this argument is not a very strong one.

saberience 2y ago
Yeah so you go to the toilet in the morning, then you walk around the rest of the day smearing particles of feacal matter between your thighs and butt cheeks, messing up your underwear, smelling, irritating your skin. Hell, what happens if you go for a run after, sweaty ass combined with faecal matter and that sweat then running down your legs. Lovely stuff!
grumple 2y ago
This is how I feel about it: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q2Ko78NEI9A https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q2Ko78NEI9A Your poop smells. You aren't getting it perfectly clean. Some people believe they don't have to clean the lower half of their body, which is equally crazy.
- coryfklein 2y ago
  This, compounded with the rubbing agitation you're applying to such a sensitive area, over and over and over. Why do we do this to ourselves so unnecessarily?
coryfklein 2y ago
Perhaps not, but without a bidet you're probably smearing it on your undergarments every time you sit, which have a tendency to aspirate the smell of fecal matter a little every time you sit, walk, etc. Over years, how much of it is accruing on your office chair? The fabric of your sofa?
- cassianoleal 2y ago
  I did write: > As long as you wipe well If you leave that amount of fecal matter on your arse, then obviously it will smell bad and be unhygienic. My pants usually don't smell at all at the end of the day when I go shower. > Over years, how much of it is accruing on your office chair? The fabric of your sofa? Probably nothing or very close to it. There's usually 2 layers of fabric between the tiny amount left and the chair or sofa. TMy office chair of 10 years that I recently replaced because it broke had a discolouration on the headrest from smearing my head on it. The seat was pretty much pristine. My sofa doesn't smell at all after many years of use and has no weird colours.
hoosier2gator 2y ago
Your response ignores the fact that if you got shit anywhere else on your body (e.g., your elbow or your back), you'd likely use soap and water anyway, even if you don't touch your elbow to your face, door handles, etc. Also, the argument isn't necessarily about preventing something bad from happening, it's also about just feeling clean. People who have not tried a bidet cannot really say whether they would feel better/cleaner with TP or a bidet. It's like if you tried to explain to someone who has only ever used wet wipes to bathe that a shower makes you feel better. Sure, wet wipes may objectively clean you but those who have used a shower can speak to the subjective benefits of feeling nicer. The counterargument that "TP works well enough" is not a very strong one to my mind, if there's something that works better with no real downside.

srean 2y ago

> "Imagine ... " Exactly. Here in India we mostly use what's called a health faucet (or bidet shower https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bidet_shower https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bidet_shower). Its lesser of an installation than a bidet.

simonbw 2y ago

I always found this argument underwhelming. Using a bidet isn't the equivalent of washing your hands with soap and water as we generally do, it's the equivalent of holding your hand under the faucet. You don't get the soap or the scrubbing which are pretty important parts of hand washing. That said, I have liked my experience with bidets.

saberience 2y ago
You're not using a bidet right! You should wash your ass the same way you wash your hands, you turn on the bidet and then use one hand (or two) to wash your ass properly. You don't just turn on the water and wait for a while.