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Comment by latchkey | Hacker News Reader

It really is time for the US to adopt the "bum gun" culture from SE Asia and elsewhere. I haven't bought or used TP in years. $20 off Amazon, 10-15 minutes to install and problem solved.

Pro-tip: Ikea sells a more flexible hose that works great LILLREVET.

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I finally bought one about two months ago. I was going to go all out and get the $400 one with heated water, heated seat, ass dryer and all that jazz, but just went with a $40 one from Amazon and it’s been perfectly fine.

It’s cold water but i think there just aren’t many cold nerves there or something. Definitely not the breathtaking experience of wading out into cold water.

I was kind of disappointed because I was hoping it would extinguish the morning ring of fire after a spicy dinner. It helps but not as much as i was hoping.

There’s also an adjustment period where you figure out the right pressure and get your target practice in. Now I do what I can best be described as the shaq_wiggle.gif and it’s all good.

Huge fan. Going to equip the rest of the house and save the bougie one for the hallway bathroom lol.

Free tip that took me a long time to realize: if it's dirty at all after you're done washing you're doing it wrong. You should need one or two wipes to clean the water off and nothing more. Sometimes it can take 10 seconds and a bit of dancing around to get it to really clean everything.

Oh yeah i raster blast ‘er till she sparkles.

which one were you considering ? I was looking at the fluidmaster bidet which is around that price

https://www.fluidmaster.com/soft-spa-electronic-bidet-toilet...

Toto/Brondell/Bio Bidet - I hadn't picked one exactly, the Toto C5 was where I was gravitating.

That looks like it would be a very wide spray of water, good for showers but this is a different use case.

Home Depot and Lowe's sell these on their websites - much better suited to the task https://www.homedepot.com/p/Brondell-CleanSpa-Easy-Hand-Held...

You took my comment wrong, I was just talking about the hose.

The head part that I'm talking about is like what you posted, but you can get it much cheaper elsewhere.

> Pro-tip: Ikea sells a more flexible hose that works great LILLREVET.

It'd make more sense to get something actually designed for the task:

Nice for giving the concept a try: https://www.totousa.com/travel-washlet

For the more committed (requires a power hookup): https://www.totousa.com/products/washlet

Or you can come in Italy. Here we use the toilet paper and the bidet ;) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bidet

And since we invented it (cocorico! ) it is very popular in France as well.

It is probably bring pushed away by the small shower, though.

agreed! I got used to them when I was in Thailand. Now TP alone even wet feels like living as a savage.

> It really is time for the US to adopt the "bum gun" culture from SE Asia

https://www.aliexpress.com/wholesale?SearchText=bidet

Use both! Water then TP

Or TP for the initial cleanup. Water to finish it off. And if you're not in public restrooms: use your hand with the water for a deeper clean, and then walk to the sink to wash the hand with soap. Much more hygienic than just TP.

I think it should be the other way round (ie. more optimal with water first).

Water and TP? You don't know how to use the three seashells?

Hahahaha this was the first thing I thought of too!

One of the greatest mysteries of the universe right there.

Clearly you don't either otherwise you'd know that's what the first two are and you're just grandstanding.

No thank you.

If you got poop on any other part of your body, would wiping it with some dry paper convince you that you were clean?

That is... an unexpectedly good argument.

Not a great argument for people who wash other parts of their body with soap, hot water, and scrubbing with a cloth.

Yeah, water alone does not a clean surface make. Mythbusters showed this in their "air dryer vs. paper towls" myth.

Water plus soap = clean hands no matter the drying method. Water alone, and the paper towels did better than an air dry.

This was my realization as well.

This is my question as well.

You'd also use soap elsewhere.

Absent soap, I'd rather use paper than just water. I'd bet it's strictly more hygienic too. Moving water spreads stuff everywhere.

Maybe, but it seems in practice that either option is fine hygiene-wise - there surely would be definitive proof one way or the other by now, given widespread use, of there were issues?

There's a paper about parachutes and problems with proving they prevent death that seems applicable here.

Not really relevant, given that a huge fraction of the world uses bidets. Unless you're implying that a huge portion of the world is eschewing parachutes and apparently doin' OK.

Wait, would you only squirt it with water?

Nah, I didn't say that either.

so what is the alternative?

You rinse off thoroughly with water, airdry/drip for a few seconds, and then dry/scrub with a smaller piece of TP.

If you ask a typical parent with an infant, dry paper isn't quite enough, but wet-wipes are; they're just more expensive and not flushable.

Eh, pros and cons. Not to be gross, but I can get much cleaner with TP than a bum gun. Actually, wet TP is the happy medium. Dry TP or bum gun only both have drawbacks.

Wet TP? Sounds like a recipe for dingleberries.

Never thought I'd have this conversation but here we are lol. Folded a few times, and lightly wet. If you get it soaking you're gonna get a finger where you don't want it, as well as those.

I can't see how this is cleaner, less effort or even as fun (for some of us) as an endless spray of water on your pucker, sorry.

Should we also shower with a lightly wet piece of TP?

Well, usually you'd shower with a rag or scrubbing utensil of some type, or at minimum hand scrubbing with soap.

Think of using a bum gun like taking a shower over the toilet.

There is no reason why you can't use all the same fun toys over a toilet as you do in the shower, while holding what amounts to a smaller shower head. Hands, soap, towels and even sponges!

The lack of mental creativity here is very entertaining!

As a south east asian, you don't just let only the bum gun to wash it. You also either wipe it off with a TP afterwards, or scrub it with your hands if you like it cleaner.

Ah, this makes more sense. My wife's country doesn't use TP generally, so I'd assumed it was just spray and go(no offense meant, I never asked probing questions).

*spray-and-pray

Correct. My partner keeps a small (easily washed) cotton towel on the TP hanger.

Not everyone has poop with a composition amendable to be hygienically removed with paper.

Many solutions are possible but not all of them are set to music

https://youtu.be/Vzb98tQp53I

Thank you for this.

I appreciate the link, but I really don't understand the mechanics of using a bowl (tabo) without toilet paper or such. Get your hand wet in the tabo, make a first pass at cleaning. Then what? Your hand is dirty, and if you rinse it in the tabo, that water is tainted for all future passes. Considering the first pass is probably the worst, I don't think this is negligible.

I had a friend who would bring a cup of water to the bathroom, barely dip the toilet paper in water, and use the wet paper to get cleaner. But without having (and disposing of the) paper after each pass, I don't see how it would work.

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