Walk into any washroom in Japan, and you’ll likely find something you probably won’t see often in North American: a bidet. Trying to break into the market with fun and playful marketing is the company TUSHY, who produces bidets that are easy to install and use with existing plumbing features in your home. But why are bidets so uncommon in the first place?
Bidets were invented in France in the late 1600s. Traditionally, they were a bowl designed to be sat in for self-cleaning, and while that design is still prevalent, there are now also spray gun style bidets or those that attach to the toilet itself, like TUSHY. Those are actually the main reasons that the bidet never caught on in North American society: people associated the device with sex and sin.
Bidets were originally used as a form of contraception and as a way of keeping clean while menstruating. They were also used by sex workers in Europe during the Second World War, and their association with sex, periods and birth control made them virtually unmarketable in the West.
Even as more liberal ideas spread, the use of the bidet did not. However, this has recently started to change. It is estimated that the bidet market in the United States alone will grow 15 percent annually through 2021. One of the leaders in the market for accessible, affordable bidets is TUSHY, whose beginner cost for a bidet attachment is currently on sale for only $89 USD.
TUSHY has a lot of reasons they think you should switch to a bidet. Let’s look at the health side of things. While you may think the benefits of a bidet begin down there, there is also a significant case to be made for the thing you’ve been hearing so much about lately: hand hygiene.
Since using a bidet washes away a lot of the fecal bacteria that toilet paper leaves, your hands end up touching and spreading far less bacteria. There is also research that points to bidets being helpful in preventing hemorrhoids and have an overall positive effect on genital health.
There are also a lot of environmental reasons to switch to a bidet. TUSHY’s bidets use about a pint of water per wash, while it takes 37 gallons of water to produce a single roll of toilet paper, not to mention the bleach and one and a half pounds of wood involved. Then the toilet paper is wrapped in plastic packaging and shipped worldwide.
The annual production of toilet paper takes about 17 billion Kilowatt-hours of electricity and has been having a devastating effect on Canada’s boreal forest.
Most of the wood pulp used in US production of toilet paper comes from Canada, and we collectively lose about seven NHL sized hockey rinks of forest every minute due to the immense demand. Not to mention the frenzy that occurred during the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic where many people scrambled to buy toilet paper in bulk. Because of this, wildlife habitats and nature as a whole is gradually destroyed. Switching to a bidet like the TUSHY not only creates less waste but also has a benefit on electricity and resource consumption.
TUSHY has some specific benefits. If their cheeky, shameless marketing doesn’t get you, the sleek, stylish design will. You have several different style combinations to choose from, including bamboo and a variety of metal options.
There are two bidets TUSHY offers, the TUSHY Classic and the TUSHY Spa. The main difference is that the TUSHY Spa has a heated water option, while the TUSHY Classic keeps it cool. The Classic model takes 10 minutes to install, only requiring you to pop off your toilet seat, place the TUSHY, and attach it to a water source. The Spa model only has one more step, requiring you to also hook it to a warm water source, and that’s it!
The simplicity of the TUSHY makes it a great option for those looking to get a bidet but are afraid of all the installation requirements.
TUSHY sells a variety of other products to make your bidet journey more comfortable such as a travel bidet that conveniently folds smaller if you’re caught outside your house but need to go.
They also sell both bamboo toilet paper and bamboo towels in varying sizes, both of which can be used to dry off after using the TUSHY Classic or Spa, and a TUSHY Ottoman, designed to make the pooping experience that much easier.
Finally, they sell a variety of T-shirts with bold and funny phrases and illustrations so that you can tell the world about your switch to the bidet and all its glory.
To learn more about TUSHY, visit their website.
All images in this article are courtesy of TUSHY.
