I’ve never tried one, in the UK these do exist but are quite uncommon with paper being the “normal” method of cleaning down there, which still doesn’t seem to be a great method when you think about it.
1. How are these considered hygienic in a shared setting, does it not all kinda spray dirty juice everywhere?
2. Do you still use paper towels to dry afterwards, or do you walk around with a wet bum.
3. Are there any other methods around the world that are different to these two? Japanese toilet seems like a superior bidet that can dry and self clean etc.
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>How are these considered hygienic in a shared setting, does it not all kinda spray dirty juice everywhere?
So there are various types of bidet. Most have a water jet that sprays you with clean water, which then falls into the pan of the bidet and drains away. There are various different types with the spray nozzle in different places, but ultimately they all work pretty much the same and the only things that touch you are the jet of (clean) water and the rim of the bidet (which you straddle).
Old-school bidets might not have a spray jet, but are instead simply basins of water that you fill up and then straddle to wash yourself. In this case the bidet should be rinsed between uses, but ultimately your basin of “clean” water previously held someone else’s used water and TBH I find that pretty gross.
>Do you still use paper towels to dry afterwards, or do you walk around with a wet bum.
Yes, you dry yourself. Normally this is with toilet paper, but it does tend to disintegrate when it gets wet (as it’s designed to – so that it can be flushed). In a home setting, you’d maybe just use a small towel – as someone else pointed out, at the point of drying your body is clean: it’s like drying off after a shower.
>Are there any other methods around the world that are different to these two? Japanese toilet seems like a superior bidet that can dry and self clean etc.
Japanese toilets are just combination toilets and bidets with some extra features like blowing warm air to dry you. There are other types as well.
In some countries you won’t ever see a standalone bidet but instead you’ll find a “bidet shower” (it has various names) will be present in virtually all toilets, including those in officers, public toilets. etc. This is a small showerhead on a flexible pipe that is mounted close to the toilet: you remain sat on the toilet and holding the showerhead in your hand you use it to shower your bum until it’s clean. Used properly, all the dirty water should fall back into the toilet bowel and the showerhead should remain clean.
In countries where bidets are common but not ubiquitous then you’ll often see people take a bottle of water into the toilet with them. Used with or without a plastic nozzle that screws onto the lid, these are used as an impromptu bidet shower. I once lived in a student hall of residence in France (where bidets are standard) where the communal toilets did not have bidets – every time I went to the toilet I was perplexed by the number of water bottles people had left behind and wondered why they were taking a drink into the stalls with them, but of course they were being used as bidets.
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