Do you use a bidet?
By Fleur
@Fleura (35028)
United Kingdom
February 26, 2019 7:34am CST
Or would you, if you had one?
Our new(ish) house has one of these and I’m happy, I wanted one. In contrast when some friends bought a new house which had a bidet in the bathroom the first thing they did was rip it out.
Here (in the UK) they are fairly unusual though not unheard of. Are they more common in other countries? I know my mother always regarded them as ‘foreign’ and the first time she encountered one, on holiday in Italy back in the 1950s, she thought it was for washing her feet.
All rights reserved. © Text and image copyright Fleur 2019.
26 people like this
25 responses
@Fleura (35028)
• United Kingdom
27 Feb 19
It's pretty much just a wash-basin for your lower body, you sit astride it. I don't think it matters which way around. Of course if you are facing the taps that might be a bit easier, but in our bathroom there isn't really enough space for your legs if you try that!
2 people like this
@MarshaMusselman (38865)
• Midland, Michigan
27 Feb 19
@Fleura That's what I noticed if the picture is of your bathroom. Not much room for one's legs nor for cleaning around the back at the floor area. I wasn't 100% sure how to use one either, although I guessed, so thanks for the explanation.
2 people like this
@Fleura (35028)
• United Kingdom
27 Feb 19
@MarshaMusselman Yes it is our bathroom. It's funny, the people who adapted this house (they didn't build it, but they vastly remodelled it) had a bit of a 'thing' for bathrooms it seems, and in each one they had to pack in as many pieces of sanitaryware as possible!
2 people like this
@Poppylicious (11134)
• United Kingdom
26 Feb 19
I would definitely use it if we had one!
I remember my auntie having one in her huge bathroom when I was little. It always intrigued me.
3 people like this
@Fleura (35028)
• United Kingdom
27 Feb 19
@Poppylicious I didn't mean that 
just speculating as to why they are not popular over here.
just speculating as to why they are not popular over here.1 person likes this
@Poppylicious (11134)
• United Kingdom
27 Feb 19
@Fleura Hmmm, I don't think my auntie was a loose woman ... *ponders* :)
2 people like this
@JohnRoberts (109841)
• Los Angeles, California
26 Feb 19
I have only seen a bidet in France.
3 people like this
@Porcospino (31365)
• Denmark
26 Feb 19
I once lived in a house where there was a bidet in the bathroom. It was there when we moved in, but none of us used it. One of my friends once saw it and she asked me what it was, she had never seen them before.
2 people like this
@Porcospino (31365)
• Denmark
26 Feb 19
@Fleura I once told a friend what their purpose is, and she didn't believe me. She thought I was joking. They exist in some of the old bathrooms in my country, but they are not that common.
2 people like this
@changjiangzhibin89 (17239)
• China
27 Feb 19
I would mistake the bidet for a basin for washing feet, if I didn't read your post.
1 person likes this
@changjiangzhibin89 (17239)
• China
28 Feb 19
@Fleura That figures ! Who would have thought it was a bidet !
1 person likes this
@Fleura (35028)
• United Kingdom
27 Feb 19
That's what my mother did! She used it to wash sand from her feet after visiting the beach. Then when the attendant came to check the room, her expression when she saw dirt (sand) left in the bidet made my mother realise that that was not the correct use!
1 person likes this
@FourWalls (86698)
• United States
26 Feb 19
I don't know that I've ever seen one in the U.S.
2 people like this
Of course I use it, I am Italian, I felt so bad in the United States, using the shower at mid-day was not exactly the same. I feel "dirty" not using it.@LadyDuck (502478)
• Italy
27 Feb 19
@Fleura In Portugal, Spain, France (everywhere in France), Italy and Switzerland all the houses had a bidet. I do not know if they do not put one in the modern buildings to spare a little money. Here it would be hard to sell your house if it's not installed.
1 person likes this
@MarshaMusselman (38865)
• Midland, Michigan
27 Feb 19
There's a family in town that we've cleaned windows for, for the last fifteen or twenty years and they have one in their upstairs bathroom. I would guess they bought the house with it there already. The area of town is one of the oldest here and we had an architect that studied with Frank lloyd Wright, so possibly the builder was familiar with them for that reason.
1 person likes this
@MarshaMusselman (38865)
• Midland, Michigan
27 Feb 19
@Fleura the architect is from the Dow family. Some of his houses have tours and his ideas are interesting and fun. My sister's try to stay in some of the homes done by Wright from time to time. I have yet to be able to join them.
And yes, I get to see a lot of interesting homes and designs and storage options just from washing their inside windows.
1 person likes this
@Fleura (35028)
• United Kingdom
27 Feb 19
@MarshaMusselman Makes me think of this!
Formby singing "When I'm cleaning windows" with his uke
1 person likes this
@scarlet_woman (23463)
• United States
28 Feb 19
they're rare in america.although,i wish i had one when i still had periods.
you always felt nasty.
1 person likes this
@marguicha (230350)
• Chile
25 Apr 19
I had one most of my life. I took it away a couple of years ago to install some shelves in the bathroom.
1 person likes this
@BelleStarr (61463)
• United States
6 Mar 19
They are extremely unusual in the US and no,I would not use it
1 person likes this
@ThreeTeddies (2038)
• United Kingdom
28 Feb 19
Don't see the point of a bidet. Surely it's better to have a bath/shower every day than just wash bits of yourself every so often
1 person likes this
