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Comment by hbarka | Hacker News Reader

Using water to cleanse your ass instead of smearing it off with pulp sandpaper is a real definition of a paradigm shift.

Toilet paper is sign of a developed country /sarcasm

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Swedish people used to have them but decided that using soap to clean yourself wasn't a priority any more. So grandparents had them, but the technology has been lost.

Then why have they mainly been used in developing countries?

I don't think hygiene is necessarily associated to country development. E.g. people in South America tend to shower more often than people in some parts of Europe [1].

[1] https://worldpopulationreview.com/country-rankings/bathing-h...

Cultural differences?

America is very backwards and hilariously underdeveloped in some areas especially in day to day life. The fact that the parent comment calls toilet paper "sandpaper" is another example.

> hilariously underdeveloped

That seems quite hyperbolic. It's not as though you can't buy or find a bidet in the US...

You can, but that doesn't mean everyone gets to enjoy it. And I'm not specifically talking about bidets. There are many convenient things used daily in Europe and Asia that are extremely rare in USA.

Can you provide some examples of what you have in mind?

Developing countries like France, where the word bidet comes from? (although to be fair my generation didn't use them, until recently when the Japanese-style bidet started picking up)

The other 2 countries I know of where bidets are widely common are the ultra-modern Korea and Japan.

It's illegal in italy for homes to not have a bidet.

That's not true. It is widely used in developed countries in western Europe and Asia.

It’s a French word?

They haven't

Not really? They're a French invention, Japan and Korea have been using them for ages, and they are fairly popular in Western Europe. All of the above are highly developed.

I've never seen a bidet in France

>French invention

[citation needed]

I think they meant the piece of furniture, cleaning with water however, been there for centuries before, I think all cultures and civilizations did it when they can, and only fall back to papers if water wasn’t available.

https://www.brondell.com/healthy-living-blog/who-invented-th...

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bidet#Etymology

Being an American who never used a bidet until my 30s, but having now tried it out, it really does seem barbaric wiping your ass with toilet paper after experiencing the advancements of civilization.

That said, water isn't always effective at cleansing for all people, in every situation. Sometimes you do need the ability to apply a little more force than what a jet of water can do without causing discomfort. We probably need a product that complements the bidet approach but still allows you to dig in there with some targeted and managed pressure when you need to.

Some bidets have different functions but, ummm, if you’re going there it might be time to look into fiber. Inulin or psyllium helps.

You are forgetting… soap is involved in the process.

I'm ignorant on this aspect, and would appreciate enlightenment. Is soap used in most?

I've never seen anywhere to put soap, and no controls for it's usage, and I would imagine this would need controls to ensure adequate rinsing, but my exposure has mostly been hotel rooms. I imagine that is something that would need to be refilled?

I know I use it. I am italian so we normally have a bidet, not a little shower thingy that gets called (improperly) a bidet.

In any house you go, you will see soap on the bidet… So I'm probably not an outlier in using soap.

Argentine here. Italian bidets are just a sink you can sit on, with a faucet on the rear. You clean yourself using your hands. Argentine bidets are also a sink you can sit on, but they have a shower pointing up to your rear. There's basically two ways to go: don't use your hands down there and let the water pressure do its thing, then go back to the toilet and dry with TP; or use your hands and soap and dry with a towel.

I imagine toilet paper may have been traditionally more practical in colder climates.

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