Over the past two years many of us have spent more time exploring our homes and thinking about how we can make them more comfortable, beautiful, and practical. If you look at TikTok any length of time you’re sure to notice how much home improvement and design interests have inspired people. From do it yourself (DIY) projects, furniture dupes, lighting, how-to hacks to make rented living spaces reflect their inhabitant’s style, to the best deals on counter-top appliances, everyone is looking for ways to bring more comfort into their homes.
If you are looking for a smaller project to tackle, can I make a suggestion? Bidets. Certainly not the sexiest part of home décor, but bidets can offer spa-like quality to your bathroom and ensure your sanitary standards are maintained in case everyone buys up the toilet paper again. Also, this one little addition can upgrade your bathroom and add a bit of luxury to your home. I know all this, because I recently got one.
My interest in bidets got serious when both toilets in my home needed to be replaced. After some research, I came away with a list of needs to ensure that I made the proper toilet purchase:
I wanted to make sure the toilets were ADA (Americans with Disabilities Act) compliant – meaning that they would be chair height making it easier for a disabled person to get on and off of them;
The toilets had to flush everything away and were resistant to clogging – unless you’ve lived with toilets that don’t do this you do not know the frustration of unclogging a toilet almost weekly;
And finally, they had to have soft close lids and be pretty – the old ones I had not only didn’t work properly they were ugly.
After a long search, I found the toilets I wanted. But in my research, I discovered I also wanted a bidet. I’d never used a bidet in the states or overseas. I’d only ever seen them in films – remember that scene in B.A.P.S.? – but I’d been curious about them for years. They seemed a little glamorous, but nothing intrigued me more than being able to easily freshen up any time of day.
I had plenty of questions about how they worked, most of them surrounding where exactly the water that cleans you comes from. Answer: directly from the water supply line, not the water from the toilet bowl.
I looked high and low to get a better understanding of the products available and found an array of options from the very basic, to smart toilets, to some very indulgent bidet seats on the Kohler website.
I indulged in the idea of buying one of the Kohler options – LED lighting, heated water, warm-air drying system, oh my! – but I ultimately decided that I didn’t want to take on additional costs to have one of the upper echelon bidets. It would have required hiring both a plumber and electrician which felt a little early for this point in my home improvement journey.
This is where the company, Tushy, comes in. The Tushy brand is very tongue-in-cheek. When you visit their website, you’ll see phrases like, “Stop wiping your butt, and start washing your tushy” and “Like snowflakes, no two buttholes are the same.” As a person who finds bathroom humor incredibly cringy, I mostly stuck to purchasing my products and moving on.
Out of all the options, the Tushy classic and Tushy spa appealed to me most. Both had an aesthetic that would complement the bathrooms and the toilets I’d already chosen. The classic was the most basic option, but would certainly do the job, and the spa version had features like water temperature control. Additionally, both could be easily installed without the help of a plumber.
When the Tushy Classic bidets arrived, I popped open the box, and started reading the little book they sent along. It’s very much on brand for Tushy, and I found myself laughing despite myself. It was full of silly drawings and toilet humor, but it also provided a little more insight into how I was saving water by using their product.
According to the accompanying Tushy booklet, This too Shall Pass,
The average American uses nearly $10 worth of toilet paper monthly. Adding up to $120 per person per year. One tree produces [about] 100lbs of toilet paper on average. One person consumes [about] 50lbs of toilet paper per year. It takes 37 gallons of water to create one roll of toilet paper.
While I understand that individual choices won’t undo the havoc that companies inflict on the planet, understanding a bit more how my choice to have bidets in my home could decrease my overall water usage made me feel a touch better.
It’s been almost a year since I had the toilets and bidets installed and it has changed my feelings about the bathrooms in my home. I don’t have to worry about whether they will work the way they are supposed to and… (ugh, I can’t believe I am ending it this way) I’m happy I stopped wiping my butt and started washing it.
Perdita Patrice is a Texas-based writer and documentary filmmaker. She enjoys live music, reading, and watching TV. You can follow her on Twitter and Instagram @perditapatrice