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Comment by ginko | Hacker News Reader

I also got to try those when visiting Japan, but I have to say it didn't seem like a significantly better experience than just cleaning with toilet paper to me. Maybe I'm completely mistaken, but I do think I do a reasonable job cleaning myself with just paper so I didn't feel significantly cleaner.

But IMO the worst problem was that you now have a wet bottom, which you again need paper to dry. Combine that with the not-so-great quality of toilet paper in Japan and now you have small pieces of dissolved paper all over you.

Maybe I did something wrong, I guess some of the fancier washlets have a dryer, but that didn't really work all that great for me.

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In defense of Japanese toilet papers, some of them aren't solid because they prefer softness than strength.

Personally I occasionally use bidets even though it's available in most places because I don't strongly needed it (but not hated it, just no reason to use or not to use it)

When your hand is full of lets say chocolate... do you feel you can do a "reasonable" job cleaning your hands with dry paper towels?

Think about it for second...

That's why bidet seats ( and the often overlooked spray bidets ), are vital to good bum hygiene :)

I don’t really understand in what scenario a bum needs to be the level of clean a jet of water provides vs the level of clean a towel provides.

I mean in both cases it’s not being disinfected but you’re getting enough off to prevent underwear stains.

Convenience makes sense as a selling point, but I’m not really convinced the cleanliness difference matters in a practical way.

I guess you need me to list them. ( this is just getting funny.. telling people that cleaning their bum after number two is a positive thing.. i thought we covered this in pre-school, next up.. why you should use a washcloth or equivalent and not stick the bar of soap up your... crevices )

- smells

- dirty laundry

- Comfort (not wallowing in your own filth)

- sweat does tend to flow.. bringing with it.. you guessed it.

But onto your point about "disinfection". I don't know which alcohol baths you take, but full disinfection isn't the goal. But since you need evidence.. "How effective is soap over plain old water? It works, but all else being equal, water has a greater marginal effect. " [1]

[1] https://www.theatlantic.com/health/archive/2012/06/soap-how-...

If you actually cared about hygiene you'd be using something like wet-naps, since bidet nozzles aren't sanitary (would you rinse your mouth with a bidet nozzle?)

Just no. I really don't understand this irrational, baseless fear. Water does clean.

- Fatbergs ( danger in flushing them )

- Hands touching excrement, then you touching other surfaces.

- No, an active nozzle can't get soiled the way you think. This is almost akin to thinking that a faucet can get dirty. The force of flow is a LOT larger than projectile acceleration no matter how bad those tacos where. In any case, most bidets have self cleaning, and anti microbial surfaces.

But sure, keep on smelling. it's your choice after all.

You're calling me irrational, but you're using folk pseudoscience to justify using bidets over wet-naps, which are superior to bidets. You can even get the scented ones that make your asshole actually smell nice.

Why are creating an artificial either/or straw man situation and arguing it so vehemently?

Well, the bidet discourse isn't actually about hygiene, as you can see. It's a bad faith culture war discourse used to establish cultural superiority over other people. There's no point engaging with bad faith discourse and treating it as if it's in good faith.

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