AIBU to wonder why bidets are common in Italy but not England?

[Tonyritundo]

Why are bidets mandatory in Italy but barely any English people have them?

The weather in Northern Italy is not like England in the winter. Please come to Manchester, Liverpool or Hull in December or January no way is that the same as Florence.

Never knew that! Not that I have investigated the topic 😂 but now I’m wondering why!?

We don’t have a bidet, but all but one of our toilets has a hose, with one having a Japanese toilet seat instead. I do find it off that bidets and hoses are unusual in the UK, but I also find it odd that until fairly recently it wasn’t unusual for their not to be a sink in with the toilet in a lot of UK bathrooms, surely a sink in the loo is more useful than a sink by the bath.

You still use toilet roll beforehand.

Same. Do you hover or sit your weight on it? Do you fill it with water like a sitz bath? And the bum guns, how does it not spray water everywhere? I am hugely in favour of good hygiene

agreed on proper shower hoses though. When I moved in with exH his shower had a loose head and hose that was clipped to the wall / shower structure so it couldn’t be used freely. I hacksawed the clip off after a while.

They're extremely common in Finland, which is a much colder climate than the UK. But we heat our homes properly so our bathrooms aren't actually cold and damp.

How does it work with bidets?

Do you skooosh your bum every time or is it just after poos?

Do you have a wet bum afterwards? So you need bum towels? Do you share bum towels or does everybody have their own personal bum towel.

If you have visitors, do you give them a bum towel?

What I am finding bizarre about some of the responses on this thread is the belief that using a bidet is somehow more dirty than just using toilet paper. So:

1. Do you all use the same towel? No. Why do so many people assume this?

2. You will get poo on your hand/in the water. No. You use toilet paper first. Granted your hand does then touch your bum/bits but I assume that you wash your arse properly in the shower which involves your hand touching your bum.

3. You will create a bacterial breeding ground unless you use soap. No. Europeans do use soap with a bidet. Anyway, even if not used (cf Japanese toilet which squirts water but not soap up there) it still gets your bum cleaner than using toilet paper.

4. Miscellaneous fear of developing some sort of bum flu due to cold water on the arse in winter. No. Bidets have hot and cold water…

You can get showers that have both a rainfall and a detachable shower head. They are not that expensive. I like the rainfall for washing my hair.

When I moved in with exH his shower had a loose head and hose that was clipped to the wall / shower structure so it couldn’t be used freely. I hacksawed the clip off after a while.

The shower in our en suite was like that, and I did the same.

Oh really. Have you ever actually been to Bergamo, Milan, or Bolzano? They’re very similar to Hull or Manchester in winter where I’ve been many times. Please stop generalising if your only reference is a short holiday in Florence. I’ve lived for years in different cities in both countries. The way some people in England talk about the weather here, using it as an excuse for everything, including still having carpet everywhere as if it were still the 80s as if it’s unbearably cold, is just exaggerated. You’re not living in Siberia.

Yes of course I have been to Milan ot is honestly fuck all like Hull.

Do you mean bidets are common or bum guns are common?
I'm going to assume PP means bidet not bum gun. I've only seen bum guns in hot countries and no towel available, expected or required.

Ok so the Finnish (home) bathroom is heated, but then you have to pull on clothes to go back to an office or even outside which isn't heated. Having nethers wet for prolonged period is not good. So how does one dry the nethers? PP say use a towel and it's never reused... so a family of 3 could get thru I dunno, maybe 30-50 bum towels a day? Do you all have tumble dryers to get them dry and then have about 150 in supply at any one time?

And that doesn't cover the situation where you need a poo in a public toilet.

On MN we hear a lot from people who only ever poo in a private toilet, but the same people also get upset about discovering many people poo in public toilets. So ... in Finland do public toilets all have usual toilet paper (& no bidets or bum guns)?

My own (home) toilet room measures approx 80 cm x 1.3 m, by the way. I could install a bum gun but not a bidet, lol. I don't like the house enough to spend many thousands redesigning house and moving soil pipes and losing a bedroom, etc.

You might want to look at actual climate numbers before doubling down. Milan’s winter nights are colder than Hull’s. Your language doesn’t make your argument any stronger, by the way. And going back to my original point: the weather in Hull is never so cold inside your house that you couldn’t have a bidet.

Your family of 3 poo 30-50 times a day?

People with noro can each poo 10x/day...
Are PP saying toilet tissue is fine if only a wee?
Long thread, I admit I'm not keeping up!

Bum guns not bidets, and you just dry yourself with toilet paper, you don't go back out damp! They're very common in public toilets (along with toilet paper!) and in schools and businesses and hospitals and suchlike. In fact in hospitals and health centres if you're giving a urine sample you are instructed to clean yourself first with the bum gun before weeing in the sample pot.

I can understand why some people might want a bidet or sprayer of some sort at home... But public toilets? 🤢

The idea of picking up something that other people have touched with dirty hands, and then using it to spray water on my genitals after others have done the same thing without it being cleaned in between, seems so unclean. With splashback, people being careless etc, I feel like there could be fecal matter on the nozzle that gets sprayed onto the next person.

Sweatier arse cracks in Italy, maybe? On a sweltering hot day I think a bidet would be nice. Sweaty arse cracks are uncomfortable (only ever experienced this on holiday!).

🤣

I was feeling all lighthearted and silly until I read this and now feel a bit nauseous 🤣

ok this is a stupid question... why can you fill it up like a bath? Is it like having. A shower vs a bath? If you have more time you fill it up and sit on it. OR if you are in a rush use the hose?

are you supposed to use it after peeing? Or just poo? Doesn't it's the like 3x a long as just wiping?

Maybe because it's too cold here? Historically at least. The idea of freezing water going up your backside isn't very appealing. But in a warmer climate it could feel quite pleasant as the water wouldn't be as cold?

I find them bizarre. Like it's essentially as dirty as a toilet but can't be used as one. So it's almost like having a urinal in your house?!

The 'fun gun' is a popular alternative in SE Asia. It took me ages to work out you can flush a toilet by pouring water down it from a bucket though!

Do you touch the toilet flush handle or the handle of the cubicle or the taps when you use a public loo? Because if you do you are touching something that in the UK people will have touched after wiping their bums.

Whereas if you touch a bum gun you will be touching something people have used before touching their bums at all (if they spray and then dry off) or after wiping (if they wipe then spray then dry off). I’m at a loss to understand how this is somehow worse than touching a tap when someone’s been careless
how they wipe.

In a public toilet, I try to touch as few things as possible!! I generally use a bit of toilet paper to turn the bolt on the cubicle, so up until I wipe, I've only touched the seat with my thighs (and if the toilet looks dodgy, I put down a couple of strips of toilet paper as a barrier).

Then I pull out the visible bit of toilet paper and discard that, and use fresh toilet paper to wipe, before standing, dressing, flushing, and leaving the toilet. Then I wash my hands thoroughly with soap and water.

So at no point do I touch something that another person has touched after they defecated/urinated, and then my own genital region, risking cross-contamination. But that would happen if I used a bum gun - plus what I have to think would be at least a small risk of splashback etc. The idea of a communal bum wash sprayer, knowing how grotty people can be, makes me feel sick.

I was just jet washing my car. Next time I might pull down my pants and give my bum a go with it.
I remember bidets being a trendy thing in about the 70s. Probably because people started going on package holidays and saw them abroad.