this post was submitted on 30 Jan 2026
106 points (99.1% liked)

Ask Lemmy

37175 readers
2168 users here now

A Fediverse community for open-ended, thought provoking questions


Rules: (interactive)


1) Be nice and; have funDoxxing, trolling, sealioning, racism, and toxicity are not welcomed in AskLemmy. Remember what your mother said: if you can't say something nice, don't say anything at all. In addition, the site-wide Lemmy.world terms of service also apply here. Please familiarize yourself with them


2) All posts must end with a '?'This is sort of like Jeopardy. Please phrase all post titles in the form of a proper question ending with ?


3) No spamPlease do not flood the community with nonsense. Actual suspected spammers will be banned on site. No astroturfing.


4) NSFW is okay, within reasonJust remember to tag posts with either a content warning or a [NSFW] tag. Overtly sexual posts are not allowed, please direct them to either !asklemmyafterdark@lemmy.world or !asklemmynsfw@lemmynsfw.com. NSFW comments should be restricted to posts tagged [NSFW].


5) This is not a support community.
It is not a place for 'how do I?', type questions. If you have any questions regarding the site itself or would like to report a community, please direct them to Lemmy.world Support or email info@lemmy.world. For other questions check our partnered communities list, or use the search function.


6) No US Politics.
Please don't post about current US Politics. If you need to do this, try !politicaldiscussion@lemmy.world or !askusa@discuss.online


Reminder: The terms of service apply here too.

Partnered Communities:

Tech Support

No Stupid Questions

You Should Know

Reddit

Jokes

Ask Ouija


Logo design credit goes to: tubbadu


founded 2 years ago
MODERATORS
you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments
[–] TauZero@mander.xyz 61 points 2 days ago (7 children)

Bidet - don't need any fancy standalone appliance, just a $50 nozzle that goes under the toilet seat and plugs into the water hose. Haven't paid a penny for toilet paper in 6 years.

[–] BarneyPiccolo@lemmy.today 2 points 9 hours ago

Mine was less than $30, installed easily in 20 minutes with a single wrench, and has worked flawlessly for years. Changes your life for the better every single day.

[–] klymilark@herbicide.fallcounty.omg.lol 33 points 2 days ago (1 children)

I mean. When I had a bidet I still used paper to dry off, just less of it

[–] FaceDeer@fedia.io 17 points 2 days ago

I call toilet paper "quality control" now.

[–] MissJinx@lemmy.world 10 points 1 day ago

the fact that this is not the norm around the world is crazy to me

[–] Soulphite@reddthat.com 28 points 2 days ago (5 children)

You just walk around with a wet asshole? That sounds uncomfortable.

[–] BurgerBaron@piefed.social 2 points 15 hours ago (1 children)

I use a small amount of toilet paper to pat dry myself.

Wiping shitty ass with dry paper leads to micro tears and hemorrhoids.

[–] WoodScientist@lemmy.world 1 points 6 hours ago

One further benefit is that it allows you to optimize what little toilet paper you do buy towards strength. Normally there's a tradeoff. Softer and less abrasive toilet paper is nicer on the bum, but it comes apart more easily. It can leave bits of toilet paper dust around and even tear at the most inopportune time. But if you're only using a little to dry off, you can buy the strongest stuff you can find, regardless of how harsh it might be to use as regular dry wiping paper. Who cares if it feels like sandpaper if you're just using it to pat yourself dry?

[–] TauZero@mander.xyz 20 points 2 days ago (3 children)

You'd think so! right? But instead it is the idea of smearing shit on your ass with your fingers and a piece of paper that now sounds uncomfortable to me. This is the "completely changed your life" element of it. I've been using paper for decades no problem, but now I hate pooping outside of home because there is no bidet there. Beware!

[–] JoeBigelow@lemmy.ca 1 points 7 hours ago

You... you didn't refute walking around with an undried bum...

[–] VibeSurgeon@piefed.social 6 points 1 day ago

I have a bidet as well, but I use a very small amount of paper to dry up - and verify that the bidet has done its job well.

I don't think I would want to use it without any way of drying up.

[–] defuse959@lemmy.dbzer0.com 15 points 2 days ago (4 children)
[–] BarneyPiccolo@lemmy.today 2 points 9 hours ago

Getting one for my road trips.

[–] SeductiveTortoise@piefed.social 9 points 1 day ago* (last edited 1 day ago) (1 children)

The product name alone is worth the price, I love it! 💕

Bought four, three will be presents 😂

[–] defuse959@lemmy.dbzer0.com 4 points 1 day ago

I had the exact same response when I found out about them!

They are great gifts.

[–] Mac@mander.xyz 5 points 2 days ago

I bet i could print this for cheaper than $10 and also not have to visit Amazon to purchase.

[–] snek_boi@lemmy.ml 2 points 2 days ago
[–] thermal_shock@lemmy.world 10 points 2 days ago* (last edited 2 days ago)

Do some research man, you let the dog lick it until it's dry enough. If not, clap them cheeks dry.

[–] paranoid@lemmy.world 11 points 2 days ago

I still use a bit of toilet paper to dry off and as a make-sure

[–] bamboo@lemmy.blahaj.zone 9 points 2 days ago

Maybe they have a fancy bidet with a blower? Or they horded toilet paper during COVID and are working through the surplus? You do pretty much have to dry somehow, but the amount of TP needed to dry a wet asshole is significantly less than cleaning a shitty asshole.

[–] TheAlbatross@lemmy.blahaj.zone 18 points 2 days ago

Here to second bidet.

I still dry with toilet paper tho

[–] MotoAsh@piefed.social 8 points 2 days ago* (last edited 1 day ago) (1 children)

You definitely still need to wipe to be properly clean. Not only is it possible to miss spots with a bidet for uh ... messier movements, but the water retains some particles. You're not using soap, and water will not perfectly remove everything.

The tell is in the smell. If your ass still smells like an ass, it's not fully clean.

[–] TauZero@mander.xyz 2 points 1 day ago (1 children)

Yes, the water perfectly removes everything and does not splash. I refused to believe it myself. TMI warning: for the first year in my disbelief I would test it personally, for science, by sticking a finger in for "first-hand" comparison. When using paper, no matter how much you wipe, afterwards, even if the finger looks clean, it still has a whiff of ass. Only a full shower after use would remove the whiff entirely. But after using the bidet, the finger looks clean and smells clean, so much so as if there isn't even a need to wash the finger afterwards (though of course I did anyway). In summary: paper = never fully clean, bidet = fully clean.

I think the difference in our bidet experiences is the water pressure. Mine is plugged directly into the water supply, and I have good water pressure, so the pressurized stream coming out is tight and powerful like a water pik. It took some getting used to. But it's easy now and it scours everything. I fear a gabo-style bidet that pours instead of powerwashes (or a spraybottle like the one linked in this thread) would not be as thorough and might indeed require a follow-up wipe. But mine doesn't.

[–] MotoAsh@piefed.social 3 points 1 day ago (1 children)

Nope, mine is also directly hooked up and not one of those stupid misting types. Frigging power washer.

Maybe you have way less hair down there, or you somehow manage to eat enough fiber, or maybe you just don't know what a truly clean asshole is, but let me tell you, water is NOT enough for many, many kinds of less than perfectly healthy movements.

Also, the tell isn't necessarily in the immediate smell. I should've specified a lot better: Water can trap particles that otherwise would get in the air. The real tell is later, after everything's dry and your ass has been rubbing on your underpants for a while. If you can peel off your underpants and only smell normal sweat smell, that's clean.

As an analogy, think of how scientists test for the presence of bacteria. It's not sampling a surface and taking a whiff. They let that shit grow in a petri dish first. That's what you're doing with your ass at all times. Sniffing it right after is akin to sniffing the raw sample, when your ass is going to be the petri dish either way.

[–] KombatWombat@lemmy.world 2 points 15 hours ago

Yeah, a bidet alone isn't enough to get you clean. It does most of the work, but it's going to leave remnants that need to be wiped. It's not a matter of water pressure either. Mine has a stream that will reach the other side of the bathroom at full power, but there's still going to be debris.

[–] FaceDeer@fedia.io 5 points 2 days ago (1 children)

Heh, thirding bidet. I'm still working through the stock of toilet paper I bought as a joke when Covid first hit and everyone was panicking about toilet paper, I bought the bidet right after that and realized I'd be taking a looong time getting through that.

It's handy for lots of other stuff too, if I ever need to quickly rinse something the bathtub's right next to the toilet so I can hold it there and give it a blast.

[–] datavoid@sh.itjust.works 6 points 2 days ago (1 children)

I remember back when people were posting pictures to shame the idiots at Costco who were panicking and buying all the toilet paper before anyone else could...

What I'm trying to say is that's a "hilarious" joke!

[–] FaceDeer@fedia.io 1 points 2 days ago

Toilet paper doesn't go bad.