If you want to stay fresh after each bathroom use, there’s more to using tissue paper and a soft towel for wiping your hands – you’ll love what a bidet can do! You see, a bidet will let you step out of the bathroom smelling and feeling fresher than when you went in. This hygiene bowl is a French invention that captures the hearts of all first-time users.
A thorough look at a bidet and its uses will help you see whether you should have a bidet as an addition to your home or not.
So, what is a bidet toilet seat, and how is it used? Let’s take a look:
What is a Bidet Toilet
A bidet is a fixture found in the bathroom used for washing the human genitalia. It is next to the toilet and it looks like a low sink with a faucet. However, Modern toilets have inbuilt bidets mostly for lack of space. A standalone bidet needs a bigger bathroom so that it fits well without the bathroom looking too crowded.
How to Use a Bidet Seat
Using a bidet doesn’t require you to use sophisticated tools. How you use a bidet depends on the type. When you travel to different places, you will find three main types of bidets, they are:
- The stand-alone bidet
- The toilet seat bidet
- The hand-held bidets
Types of a Bidet
Let’s take a look at some of the types of bidets we have today:
Stand-alone bidets
Bidets in the European countries have a separate plumbing system. Thus, you will mostly find stand-alone bidets because they build bigger bathrooms. This is because it is a requirement for each home to have a bidet.
To use a stand-alone bidet, you can either straddle the bidet to wash your genitalia or wash your nether regions by facing away from the bidet fixtures the same way you sit when using a toilet. When facing away, position yourself over the jet and turn the knobs for water to start running. These faucets produce hot and cold water which you can adjust to your desired temperature.
There are two types of stand-alone bidets, one has a jet spray, the other is just a basin. For a jet spray, you can let the water force do the cleaning from the spraying, but when using a basin, you will need to wash your rear and your genitals using your hands. And then wash your hands with soap and water afterward.
A toilet seat bidet
Toilet seat bidets are mostly remote-controlled, the remote control has the water function to wash your private parts after doing your do. It has a stop button you can press to stop the water when you are clean.
Some toilet seat bidets have a dry button you can press to dry your private parts after washing. This type of bidet is very convenient for those that are disabled or old.
For a Bidet that doesn’t have the dry button, Pat yourself dry with toilet paper and dispose of the used toilet paper in the toilet. When you see a towel placed on a ring next to a bidet, you should not be quick to use it to dry off your genitals as others may use it for mopping water splashes around the trim.
A vertical spray bidet
This bidet shoots water to cleanse your nether regions, and it cleanses itself after you finish using the bidet. This cleansing is to ensure that there is no debris in the spray. This vertical spray bidet provides relief to those with hemorrhoids and women who have given birth.
How Does a Bidet Work
A stand-alone bidet works by jetting water to your private parts using a faucet. The toilet seat bidet is an inbuilt bidet with a control panel that enables the user to control the bidet. When you are done with your “business”, use the remote control to press the wash button and warm water will come out of a nozzle to wash your private parts.
Once done, press the stop button. You will find a hand-held bidet or a bidet sprayer near the toilet. To use it, you will need to turn the lever, pull the strings or turn on the valves for water to come out. You can manually control how you position the nozzle streaming water.
Advantages of a Bidet
- Convenient: A bidet is very convenient for those suffering from incontinence to freshen up as often as they need. Bidets are also convenient for pregnant women as they will freshen up without struggling much.
- Hygienic: A bidet promotes hygiene because you can wash your private parts after defecation and urination. Bidet allows you to clean your nether region more thoroughly than a toilet paper would
- Privacy: It also helps arthritis sufferers, and the disabled to clean themselves without requiring help from family members.
- Dignity: The caregivers find bidets to be a more dignified way of cleaning their patients after they use the toilet.
- Confidence: This is especially true when a couple washes their genitals before sex and after sex.
- Save money: You will actually save money as you will buy fewer toilet papers
- Cleaner undergarments: Your undergarments will stay cleaner for longer because of washing your nether regions after using the toilet.
Disadvantages of a Bidet
- Space: A bidet may take up more space in your bathroom. This is especially true if you want to install a stand-alone bidet and you have a small bathroom. You may however opt for bidet add-ons.
- Cleaning: Clean your bidet the same way you clean your toilet. Bidets require a very thorough cleaning. This will prevent contamination from one person to the other.
- Harboring microbes: You should properly disinfect A bidet that dispenses warm water to prevent harboring dangerous microbes which are not safe for you.
- Wetting floors: Bidets tend to spray or flush on the floor. When not opened slowly or carefully you may end up with a wet shirt from the bidet’s jet spray.
- Inconvenient: you may need to completely remove your lower clothes in order to effectively use a bidet. This is true if your clothing won’t allow you to straddle a bidet or to sit sideways.
When more people embrace the use of bidets, there will be a decrease in using toilet paper, therefore, many trees will be saved. Ideally, less water will be used for washing people’s private parts than it would take to cut down trees and manufacture toilet paper. Bidets are also hygienic and are great for those who are ill or sick. Do you think a bidet is useful? Let us know in the comment section.
