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In almost all of SE Asia, especially Thailand, Vietnam, Malaysia, all of the toilets come with a hand-held sprayer. They also had this in the Doha airport and I
by unhappy_meaning 1y ago
In almost all of SE Asia, especially Thailand, Vietnam, Malaysia, all of the toilets come with a hand-held sprayer. They also had this in the Doha airport and I'm not sure how common this style is outside of SE Asia but I'm guessing it's common. Japanese style bidets are very common in Korean households as well and I'm sure its easily a billion dollar business.
It is nice but the functionality is quite difficult for a person who's not used to this whatsoever. After you're done sh*ing, you grab the handheld sprayer and turn it upside down and reach behind you toward your butt and try as best as you can to aim it into your anus to wash as best as you can. People who have been doing this their whole lives can probably aim with a precision of a Marine Corp Sniper but to us, we look at it as alien technology. It's is quite difficult to use for a first timer and there are factors that worry us.
If its not aimed correctly, where does the splash go? If you're lucky it stays in the toilet boil. However if your aim is off, you can completely miss your anus and either shoot to much under or over which will shoot the water outside of the toilet bowl.
Also when I was using the bathroom in the Doha airport, the handheld sprayer had a soap dispenser next to it. I was curious what it was for so I YouTube'd and searched for instructions on what the soap dispenser was for and (kind-of) to my surprise it was soap to lather and clean your anus with your other free hand. After you lather and clean, you basically rinse your hand with the hose as well.
- socalgal2 1y agoThose hand sprayers are an Muslim thing aren't they? That's what I was told by locals in SE Asia. Searching, it comes up
- mtalantikite 1y agoNot always — I was pretty surprised they didn’t have them in every bathroom when visiting Morocco. My family is Algerian and they’re standard there, and I always assumed it would be common in other Muslim countries considering how much emphasis there is on cleanliness, but I didn’t encounter a single one the entire time I was in Morocco, across four cities.
- halpow 1y agoNo, they're everywhere in Thailand, Vietnam and Philippines, none of which are majority muslims.
- socalgal2 1y agothat doesn't make them non-muslim things. Plently of things in those countries that are not from those countries
- illiac786 1y agoI feel it’s weird defining them by the main religion of the country it is (maybe) mostly used. No one says the numbers used in English are Muslim, they are generally referred to as Arabic. I wouldn’t say printing is a “catholic thing”, but it definitely came from a super catholic part of the world.
- radlad 1y ago> After defecating, the anus must be washed with water using the left hand, or an odd number of smooth stones or pebbles called jamrah or hijaarah (Sahih Al-Bukhari 161, Book 4, Hadith 27). https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Islamic_toilet_etiquette https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Islamic_toilet_etiquette
- illiac786 1y agoThe Talmudic requirements say to wash your hands after going to the bathroom. Is it a Jew thing because of that?
- erklik 1y agoI think it makes sense specifically in this case. Mainly because Islam has jurisprudence around hygiene in a sense. Ritual purification is an actual religious principle. Islam requires Muslims to pray 5 times a day, and for those prayers, one has to be ritually clean. That involves washing the hands, rinsing the mouth and nose, washing the face, forearms, head, ears, and then the feet. That's effectively all the major parts of the body that are generally not covered by clothes. Your "cleanliness" is invalided if you use the toilet, pass flatulence, vomit, sleep and so on. More so, for using the toilet, there are rules. You have to find a place that is away from standing water, people's pathways, shade etc ; granted, this generally doesn't apply in today's age. You have to be quiet on the toilet, and not look at anyone. Not allowed to eat any food while defecating. Lastly and most relevant in this case, you have to use water to wash yourself using the left hand, and then afterwards, you need to do the same for washing the front if you've urinated. The reason why the "bidet spray" thing exists, is largely because of the rules in the religion around that practice. Calling them Arabic wouldn't make any sense because Indonesia, with the largest Muslim population, has similar tools in their facilities. Again, because they're mostly Muslims. Printing isn't a catholic thing because the religious doctrine didn't emphasis "printing" itself. Arabic numbers aren't "islamic numbers" because the religious doctrine didn't emphasise the numbers in some way.
- tazjin 1y agoThey're pretty common in Russia, too. In Muslim countries they're basically everywhere. When you're used to them it's very annoying to end up in a country that doesn't have them. Especially the US, which in addition has strange toilets that fill up with a lot of water during normal operation and bathroom stall privacy that begins 30cm above the ground.
- socalgal2 1y agoAgreed. USA public restrooms are the worst as are USA public restroom manners.
- someotherperson 1y agoNot even close. Try to travel in Latin America or something and go to a bathroom. You won't find toilet paper or a toilet seat, or even free bathrooms in many cases.
- chgs 1y agoThe USA is the only country I’ve been to where you get massive gaps around the doors
- DonHopkins 1y ago[flagged]
- eloisant 1y agoWell at least they're usually somewhat clean. Can't say the same of French public toilets.
- rayiner 1y agoWhat’s weird about it. I assume you do clean down there with soap periodically … right?
- mulmen 1y agoYes but typically I’m not wearing clothes when I do that.
- fallinghawks 1y agoWhen you're doing your business I hope your pants are down
- DonHopkins 1y agoAfter you only wipe with paper, you're literally wearing shit the rest of the day. Barbaric!
- deleted 1y ago[deleted]
- 0x073 1y agoDont use soap down there. Water is enough normally.
- 1y ago
- marcusb 1y agoI bought $25 versions of this on Amazon during COVID... We did not anticipate or have any of problems you described.
- kappi 1y agomost bidets starts leaking after 6-12 months. It is a flood hazard if the hose breaks.
- EliRivers 1y ago"most bidets starts leaking after 6-12 months." Well that just doesn't sound true at all. I would definitely remember if it leaked every year. Do you have any evidence for this? A bidet is pretty basic plumbing, and basic plumbing can go decades without leaking. I guess if someone goes out and buys cheap parts that fail fast, and always does that, then you'll get some people whose plumbing fails every six months and everyone else goes years or decades without problems.
- marcusb 1y ago> Well that just doesn't sound true at all. That would be because it is not true.
- marcusb 1y agoI must be the luckiest person in the world, then. The three I purchased have been installed for five years now, with zero leaks.
- barbazoo 1y agoAlong with me. So lucky.
- rickyc091 1y agoI've been using the $20-25 ones since covid as well, so that's been six years without any issues. Knock on wood that something doesn't happen shortly.
- scotty79 1y ago> you grab the handheld sprayer and turn it upside down and reach behind you Why not from the front? It makes way more sense. Easier to aim and your butt seals against the back edge of bowl hole so the water doesn't splash out.
- n1b0m 1y agoThis is the way to do it
- LoganDark 1y agoBalls
- nhod 1y agoYour butt does not do that. If you are relatively fit, there often is a butt crack gap on top of the bowl. Butt much worse, there is also a bigger gap between the seat and the bowl. If you go from the back there is more toilet bowl in front of you to error in.
- gruez 1y ago>If its not aimed correctly, where does the splash go? If you're lucky it stays in the toilet boil. However if your aim is off, you can completely miss your anus and either shoot to much under or over which will shoot the water outside of the toilet bowl. so slowly squeeze the trigger to confirm the aim is correct, rather than going full blast at the start?
- mixmastamyk 1y agoYeah this overstates the problem. Sure there’s a learning curve but spraying all over didn’t happen for me.
- deleted 1y ago[deleted]
- latchkey 1y agoit is often all or nothing.
- firejake308 1y agoYeah, depends on how sensitive the trigger is, which is something you can't always control at a public restroom
- zdc1 1y agoThe triggers can be quite stiff. If you're unfamiliar it's easy to try to incrementally add pressure and still go from 0-100 with them. Another option is to adjust the water connection valve at the start of the host so its not fully open, but by the time you notice the valve, you're probably already familiar enough to aim straight. The water pressure can also be startlingly strong, but you also get used to that.
- colonial 1y agoWhen I interned abroad in Singapore at a small-time IT firm, the office was in an industrial building that had, uh, less than stellar communal facilities. I at least had the foresight to test the sprayer before use, but I swear it was binary on/off. There wasn't a pressure control knob or anything upstream either. I eventually got used to blasting myself clean, but I still prefer TP.
- raincom 1y agoThose hand sprayer versions are bad to use and unhygienic too, because fecal matter gets sprayed beyond the toilet bowl. I know why Arabic countries prefer hand sprayer versions: istinja practices of Islam.
- viksit 1y agothis is also the most common thing in india fwiw so it’s not all religious.
- deleted 1y ago[deleted]
- raincom 1y agoWell, Indians have learned this technology from abroad--mostly Middle East, thats where many Indians work. Of course, now Indian companies make those sprayer bidets.
- saagarjha 1y agoPeople have been using water to clean themselves for hundreds if not thousands of years.
- raincom 1y agoSquat toils + bidet attachment is better than squat toilet and a jug for water. No dispute about that. Sit down toilet + hand held bidet attachment is worse than sit down toilet + bidet inside in the toilet without using hand. My answer was about sit down toilet with hand held bidet attachments; how Indians discovered these hand held bidet attachments.
- zdc1 1y agoThey are also very, very cheap to install and replace (US$1 or less in low cost of living countries). So for some it's better-than-nothing.
- aatd86 1y agocomputer vision will solve this and direct the waterjet in yer bullseye. :D ai...ai everywhere.
- jfoster 1y agoYou probably don't want a bullseye. Many of the ones in Japan will actually move the spray around a bit if you press the おしり button twice.
- eastbound 1y agoAnyone to volunteer to feed image categorization for AI? PTSD might be severe and tenure shorter than at Facebook.
- seanmcdirmid 1y agoIt’s not like Japanese toilets don’t have a lot of tech in them already. A sprayer that sprays only in the right place seems very feasible.
- dzhiurgis 1y agoYou just position your area of interest over where the stream is (if you don’t like massage feature)
- whycome 1y agoOr a camera. Thats what they do on the international space station to help the astronauts “aim”
- martin-t 1y agoOff-topic but can we please stop censoring words such as shitting? It disgusts me but at least I understand it on platforms like YouTube which penalize those who don't self-censor but it has no purpose here. I find it worrying how easily people accept this newspeak and spread it of their own free will.
- viraptor 1y agoIt also became a weird cargo cult thing. Only one platform had issues with killing, but now videos everywhere are captioned with unaliving. We can say shit and ass!
- thrwwy451 1y ago[flagged]
- BugsJustFindMe 1y agoThe two aren't equivalent at all though.
- Freak_NL 1y agoOr use 'pooping' or 'defecating'. It never ceases to amaze me people do that without any prompting. Why? What is gained? We are meat puppets who occasionally shit, piss, fuck, bleed, and die. Use a thesaurus if you must, but leave the asterisks out of it.
- seb1204 1y agoAlso very common in Finland.
- mtalantikite 1y ago> … but the functionality is quite difficult for a person who's not used to this whatsoever. I guess for some definition of difficult? Honestly it takes about 5 seconds to get used to and then you can never go back to using just toilet paper.
- saagarjha 1y agoNo, they're actually miserable and I strongly prefer toilet paper (yes, I have read all the comments about whether you'd use toilet paper if it touched any other part of your body, etc.) Most parts of the world literally just spray cold water at you; some of them also require you to aim. Toilet paper is a lot neater than this.
- stavros 1y agoIt's neater in its application, not neater at its result. As you (and the article) mention, there's no way I'd trust wiping off with toilet paper if I got some paint on my hands, even though it's simpler than washing.
- apwell23 1y agoyou prbly have gut inflammation if you are having messy poops that get all over your anus
- saagarjha 1y agoWhile I don't completely disagree with the argument, I do think it is worth pointing out that your hands touch other people. People often live with sweaty armpits, which is obviously a lesser version of the problem, but I think still worth considering: we put up with things that go in covered, mostly hidden places.
- stavros 1y agoMaybe I'm a bit extra in this, but I do have a mental bit for how clean my hands are. If I've just washed them, they're "clean" (clean enough to put in my mouth). If I've touched anything, or any person's hands, they aren't.
- NuclearPM 1y ago[flagged]
- jfoster 1y agoIn Thailand anywhere luxury will typically use the Japanese style washlets. I wouldn't be surprised to see that trickle-down to eventually become standard.
- FabHK 1y agoSome of the more upmarket shopping malls in Bangkok have Totos.
- killerdhmo 1y ago[flagged]
- Brajeshwar 1y agoAt home, combine this with the western paper and now you have a dry body as you walk out. So, you can clean with the spray, and you get wet, and dry with the paper for an end-to-end solution.
- elevaet 1y agoThese are almost universal in Indonesia too
- deleted 1y ago[deleted]
- tambeb 1y agoVery common in the Middle East too.
- aaron695 1y ago[dead]
- maxglute 1y agoI am always surprised those sprayers don't splatter shit everywhere, maybe there's some self selection bias going on in that only pros hose in public facilities. Or they're just well maintained. I was expecting to see more wet pants, but then again everything in MENA dries right away. Same with toto style bidets though, but I've mostly seen them in fancy establishments and assume someone is doing the frequent upkeep.
- 2dvisio 1y agoOr commonly referred to as “bum guns” in the UK. We have three toilets in our house and have one in each. They’re so good I can’t even explain. I find it so inconvenient whenever I travel that these don’t come with every toilet.
- yubblegum 1y agoSimple instructions: 1 - wipe with tissue 2 - wash with water. Traditionally, use left hand. 3 - dry hand with tissue. 4 - flush 5 - wash hands at sink
- apwell23 1y agotissue paper is not designed for drying water
- pixelbro 1y ago> try as best as you can to aim it into your anus to wash as best as you can This seems like a great way to spray shit everywhere and is not at all how I learned to use those. What I do is soap one hand, aim the jet into the toilet past the anus with the other hand (jet vector orthogonal to the anus's normal vector), then go to town on it with soap and water. It's foolproof and you get very clean. How has nobody mentioned this? I feel like I'm on crazy pills, is everyone seriously blasting a jet directly at their chocolate starfish?
- narratives1 1y agoYet here I am on the other side surprised to hear you and others saying you’re lathering your poopy butt with your hands in a restaurant bathroom We all gotta wash our butts, but it just seems more civilized to do it in the shower as you can get everything clean, you didn’t just crap, and you’re not eating with those same hands immediately afterwards. Toilet paper + wet wipes are 100x more sanitary than what you describe
- Gud 1y agoYou don't use these the first time at an airport, is my advice.
- apwell23 1y agoI have a question for bidet users. After you powerwash your anus, do you have a towel nearby to wipeoff ? In india you can just put your clothes on after powerwash because it so hot and dries fast. I am guessing you don't want that in chicago winter.
- tguvot 1y agoProper bidet has dryer fan
- apwell23 1y ago[flagged]
- retrochameleon 1y agoNo, I just use (literally) 1-2 square of toilet paper. That's all that's needed to dry off. Because of the incredibly low TP usage, I splurge on nicer TP since having a bidet. A single large pack of TP can easily last many many months, if not an entire year.
- michaelsbradley 1y agoAfter experiencing these hand sprayers during international travel, I installed them next to all of the toilets in our house. My wife grew up with something similar but had done without since living in the US, and hadn’t thought to suggest them to me. My Asian in-laws were/are happy about it, and our household toilet paper usage has plummeted.
- olivierestsage 1y agoThis is a candidate for one of the all-time greatest HackerNews comments, IMO
- throw0101b 1y ago> I was curious what it was for so I YouTube'd and searched for instructions on what the soap dispenser was for and (kind-of) to my surprise it was soap to lather and clean your anus with your other free hand. After you lather and clean, you basically rinse your hand with the hose as well. There seems to be two kinds of cultures in the world: those that use water / their hands for post-business cleansing, and those that use paper or some other medium. * https://www.bbc.com/future/article/20191004-the-peculiar-bathroom-habits-of-westerners https://www.bbc.com/future/article/20191004-the-peculiar-bat... * https://www.sterillium.info/en/stories-hub/hygiene-customs-around-the-world https://www.sterillium.info/en/stories-hub/hygiene-customs-a... For the hands folks, you then need to clean one's hands: * https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lota_(vessel)#Cleansing https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lota_(vessel)#Cleansing * https://www.pocketbidet.com/blogs/our-blog/what-is-a-lota-a-brief-history https://www.pocketbidet.com/blogs/our-blog/what-is-a-lota-a-... * https://hellotushy.com/blogs/bidets/what-is-a-lota-muslim-hygiene https://hellotushy.com/blogs/bidets/what-is-a-lota-muslim-hy...
- albrewer 1y ago> People who have been doing this their whole lives can probably aim with a precision of a Marine Corp Sniper but to us I bought these sprayers for my house when people lost their minds hoarding toilet paper during the initial COVID lockdowns in the US. It only took a few days to start getting it right the first time, every time.
- polygloty 1y agoIf you get from up and behind all risks are eliminated. You have to tilt forward a bit but everything else becomes easier
- Fire-Dragon-DoL 1y agoCould you do like Italians do with bidet? Aim the sprayer down into the toilet, let the water go on your dominant hand (hold the washer without the dominant), so no water gets out, use the hand with soap to put soap/water on your anus, wash kinda like you would do when washing the body except you repeatedly rinse the hand in the water and bring more water to the anus. Done I used a Japanese style bidet and managed to ruin a painting, because the spray crossed through a door slightly open and into the wall on the other side, with a painting on it. A funny event actually