There’s that feeling again. You wipe over and over again after finishing your business, yet you can’t shake that eerie sense of uncleanliness. You reach out for one last clump of toilet paper, but much to your despair, there’s not even a square to spare.

Bathroom catastrophes like this happen every day, but a quick switch to a bidet could be the solution to all of your toilet terrors.

A bidet is a toilet attachment that gently sprays a stream of water onto your undercarriage from below. At the push of a button, your behind can automatically be rinsed and dried, leaving toilet paper almost obsolete.

Mounting evidence suggests that bidets are the superior bathroom cleaner. 

A bidet offers a far more gentle and thorough clean. Using toilet paper alone often leads to over-wiping, a habit that can result in irritation or even tearing in sensitive areas. This can be especially harmful to those inflicted with hemorrhoids, which leaves the area especially tender.

One study found that after consistent bidet use, the bacterial content of patients’ urine was observably lower, a key indicator of a more thorough clean. Bidets also mitigate the risk of spreading fecal bacteria from hand-to-hand contact as they don’t require the same hands-on approach to cleaning that toilet paper does.

The elevated level of personal hygiene that bidets provide is more crucial than ever in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic. Americans are now hyperaware of their personal hygiene in many contexts. 

Welcoming a bidet into your home is a terrific first step toward keeping your backside out of harm’s way.

Installing a bidet on your toilet isn’t just beneficial to your personal health, but also the health of our planet.

The production of toilet paper is of great harm to the environment. Making just one roll of toilet paper requires approximately 37 gallons of water, 1.5 pounds of wood and 1.3 kilowatt/hours of electricity. With the ever-increasing prevalence of deforestation and the need for usable water, we must take action in our personal lives to protect the environment we depend on. 

Switching to a bidet can cut down an individual’s toilet paper use by up to 75%. This in turn saves hundreds of trees and thousands of gallons of water throughout someone’s lifetime.

While many may believe bidets are trivial, for those facing physical limitations, a bidet ensures restroom accessibility.

For individuals unable to properly clean themselves after using the restroom, a bidet is an invaluable asset. Because they do not require the same level of dexterity as wiping with toilet paper alone, many with mobility challenges find bidets smoother and simpler to operate on a regular basis.

This ease of operation aids in keeping users’ hygiene satisfactory and grants them a wider range of freedom and dignity in their day-to-day lives.

In 2005, researchers conducted a study at a nursing home to see how bidets would affect residents’ quality of life and the results were very positive.

Residents who used the bidet reported feeling a greater sense of privacy and cleanliness compared to their counterparts using traditional toilets. The same study also discovered that over time, urine bacterial content decreased in bidet-using residents.

The improved hygiene due to bidets is vital for the elderly and disabled, who are at significantly higher risks of being immunocompromised, making potential urogenital infections a grave affair.

Despite all of the apparent benefits of bidet use, they have yet to take off in America. A lack of information and strong tradition is keeping Americans from squeaky clean behinds, a true misfortune.

If you want to buck this trend of unsatisfactory bottom hygiene, don’t be afraid to buy a bidet today.

Adam is a sophomore in LAS.

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