History of the bidet
When toilet paper was in short supply in recent months, consumers in the U.S. began looking for alternative, paper-free solutions, and bidets enjoyed a popularity boost. The traditional bidet is a small tub with a faucet at one end that’s usually placed next to the toilet. The idea is to straddle the tub to wash your private parts, although many modern versions include a seat for comfort.
Bidets have been around for a long time in other parts of the world — in fact, they’re considered a standard bathroom fixture — but they’ve never really been popular in the U.S. With products becoming less cumbersome, prices coming down, concerns for the environment rising and marketing campaigns appealing to millennials, that may be changing.
Origins of the bidet
The bidet was invented by the French in the 1600s, mainly as a means for the aristocracy and upper classes to wash themselves after using the chamber pot. The name evolved from the French word for a small horse or pony, denoting how you were meant to straddle the washbasin. Since bidets were kept in the bedroom, many earlier versions were decorative, discreetly housed in wooden stands to look like pieces of furniture.
In the 1700s, bidets began to include a water pump with a refillable tank that could spray water upwards when a handle was depressed. The advent of indoor plumbing and separate bathrooms in the 1800s led to the development of the modern bidet — a small, fillable basin with a faucet at the edge. Bidets using plumbing were mostly fixtures enjoyed by the wealthy at first, but over time came to be quite common throughout continental Europe and Asia.
Bidets in the United States
In the United States, bidets were considered a waste of space and money before their rise in popularity. They were also largely associated with their seedier function as witnessed by American GIs during the war: a way for prostitutes to practice personal hygiene and (it was thought) prevent unwanted pregnancies. The negative association prevailed for decades.
Arnold Cohen, founder of the American Bidet Company, tried to fight this stigma, and in 1964, invented the Sitz bath. Essentially a bidet with a toilet seat, the Sitz bath was created to soothe rashes and hemorrhoids in patients and negate the need for toilet paper. It was a success in hospital settings but a tough concept to sell commercially and again, the idea failed to catch on in America.
Cohen was able to sell his idea to Japanese and Korean manufacturers, however, who were happy to take his design and develop their own electronic models. By 1980, the Japanese company Toto began manufacturing a toilet/bidet hybrid, the “washlet,” which was a huge commercial success both in Japan and abroad. Now also available as a bidet seat, this “smart toilet” has a control panel, enabling users to alter water pressure, direction and temperature. It features seat-warming and deodorizing functions. Toto’s basic model came at a steep price of around $500, and the American consumer still wasn’t interested.
Bidet toilet seats
In addition to traditional standalone models and hybrid washlets which tend to be more expensive, there are numerous bidets now available that involve simply attaching a device to a standard toilet. Bidet toilet seats, with their more affordable prices, are the most popular choice in the U.S. and are a reasonable, eco-friendly addition to both owned and rental properties.
Bidet toilet seats connect to your toilet’s water supply and have a self-cleaning arm that’s housed under the toilet rim. Some are electric, which allows for additional features such as heated seats and nightlights. A high-end electronic gadget, the Omigo Luxury Bidet Toilet Seat has a slew of features, including a warm air dry system and an adjustable spray nozzle, all accessible via remote control. It comes in a standard and elongated style. The Omigo seat was rated number one in quality and value by BestReviews.
Kohler’s Novita Electric Bidet Seat is also a popular choice because it has a compact profile and comes with pampering features like an air bubble gentle wash and a warm air dryer. Adjustable nozzles in the front and back of the seat and an oscillating wash function guarantee a comprehensive cleanse. The air dryer and the seat have adjustable temperature settings.
Non-electric bidet seats are easier to install because they don’t require a power source, but they don’t offer as many temperature-control features. Brondell’s Swash Ecoseat 101 Bidet is an inexpensive bidet seat that requires no electricity or batteries. It features dual nozzles for rear and front washes, ambient water temperature and a quiet-close lid.
Bidet attachments
Several companies make an even more economical option — the bidet attachment. These attachments can be mounted underneath your existing toilet seat in a quick and simple installation. They feature a control panel that sits to the side of the toilet and a retractable, self-cleaning spray nozzle. Most attachments connect to your toilet’s water supply and allow for personalizing water pressure, and some enable water temperature adjustment, too. The very popular Tushy Classic 3.0 bidet attachment is basically a water jet that attaches to your toilet seat. It’s easy to install, easy to use and inexpensive. It’s available in several color combinations to match your bathroom aesthetic. Luxe’s Bidet Neo 120 is another customer favorite, with a strong, efficient spray and no electricity required. Omigo’s Element Bidet Attachment is also an efficient and reliable option from a reputable company.
Bryony Gilbey is a writer for BestReviews. BestReviews is a product review company with a singular mission: to help simplify your purchasing decisions and save you time and money.
BestReviews spends thousands of hours researching, analyzing and testing products to recommend the best picks for most consumers. BestReviews and its newspaper partners may earn a commission if you purchase a product through one of our links.
Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.
