Conference turris::womannotes-v1

        I had one in my last house in UK before I emigrated, and it was
        used by both  men  and women, although the popular idea is that
        it's primarily for women.    The  set up is (usually) such that
        you can either run some  warm water into it with the drain plug
        in place, sit down and bathe,  or  set  the  valve to produce a
        sort of 'fountain' of warm water, in  which  you  again bathe -
        like a miniature inverted shower, if you see what I mean. :^)
        
        As to their worth - hard to say from a male perspective, but my
        impression is that women generally like them...
        
        FWIW,
        
        Andy

    I know I'd love to have one, if our bathroom had the room for it.
    There are many times in the winter when I feel that if I take one
    more shower my whole skin will crack and fall off.  So I don't 
    want to get soaked--but I want to get the privates clean.  I can
    stand in front of a sink with a washcloth to clean my armpits, but
    what about Down Under?
    
    Oh, for a bidet . . .
    
    And there are those delicious occasions, when after (or in the process
    of) bathing and showering for a special event one thing with your 
    SO leads to another (ahem) and afterwards you find yourself hurriedly
    flinging your clothes on and wishing you had time and/or the means
    to clean up fully again.
    
    Oh, for a bidet . . .
    
    And there are those other, miserable occasions when you wonder if
    it was something you ate or maybe it's the flu, but all you know
    is that food that goes in the mouth only stays in the lower digestive
    tract about an hour.  You huddle by the bathroom all day, scraping
    yourself raw with a whole roll of toilet paper, much the same as
    you do with a box of Kleenex when you have a runny nose.
    
    Oh, (moan) for a bidet . . .
    
    Marcia    (who-wishes-her-bathroom-could-hold-a-bidet)

    
    
    	On a similiar topic, has anyone tried those SoftKins?
    
    	Michael Sensi-tush Mahler
    
    

    The apartment I had in Geneva had a bidet.  I used it to hold my
    cosmetics, shampoo, and other stuff (kind of like a low, round medicine
    cabinet).  Very useful.  
    

       Didn't Bidet write stuff like Carmen and L'Arl�sienne?
       
       --Mr Topaz

    Yeah, Mr. Topaz. 
    
    After every opera he was flushed with success.
    
    Back to the topic: I'd like to try a bidet. It sounds a lot less
    messy and irritating than toilet paper.
    
    -bs

    I used one in a fancy hotel somewhere.  I thought that my removeable
    showerhead did the same job just as effectively and took up a lot
    less room   ;-)
    
    I do have a friend in New Hampshire who has one in her house.  If
    you want more info, call me or send me mail and I will put you in
    touch with her.
    
    Holly

    
    Can someone tell me, in a little more detail, just what a bidgit
    is?  Exactly?  I have a vague notion from the replys but my curiosity
    is peaked!
    
    Becky

    It's a device similiar in plumbing to a toilet.  You use
    the toilet [for a number 1'er] and then move to the bidet
    which looks like a urinal installed as a toilet. You sit on that and 
    a stream of water washes your tuchus whilst you scrub clean.

    Better than toilet paper, but much more expensive.  Some friends
    of mine used it as a urinal once.

    My step-mother-in-law (ugh, what a lousy term for a nice lady -
    let's call her "Joanne" instead!) had a bidet put in the new bathroom
    in the addition to their house, but I have never attempted to use
    it - only place I have ever been that has one.  (There is a real
    toilet too, of course.)
    
    I like my removable-head shower - it's also good for showering without
    getting your hair wet, and rinsing large things in the tub without
    taking a shower, etc. - and takes up very little room.

    Ever see Crocodile Dundee?  One of the funnier scenes was when he
    tried to figure out just what the bidet was for.  To tell you the
    truth, I would have been as confused as he was.
    

Speaking of literature, there is an incredibly funny scene in one
of the Henry Miller "Tropic" books concerning a bidet and a mistaken
impression of what can be done in one.

Martin.

    	This male reader is amazed at the questions presented in 512.*
    Bidets are nothing new!
    
    Douglas

    A Bidet is for ......
    
    A Bidet is ...........
    
    
    This topic came up when my wife was watching me take a "Sitz Bath"
    on wash tub, and I "thought" they were used by French prostitutes.
    
    Well, a "bidet" is a small bathtub/shower (as previously described)
    used by both men and women as a small bathtub, except its for cleaning
    the  genitals and Derrrier".
    
    Yes it was/is used by French Ladies, (as well as the others). It
    is also effectively used by women with "female problems" to soak
    their genitalia clean.
    
    I get the impression if I overhaul my bathroom, a "bidet" will be
    near the top of my wifes "wish list".
    
    Bob+3
    
    

    they were in all the hotels i stayed in while i was in isreal and
    egypt.i gave them a good hard stare everytime i went into the bathroom.
    but didnt try them cuz i was not sure how they worked.
    now that i know how(thanks to notes),i'll probably never see another
    one *sigh*
    
    kelly

    	They are in almost all modern bathrooms in France. I think it
    is a legal requirement, for hygiene reasons.
    
    	We did not have one put in the house we have had built, in spite
    of protests from the builder, and we probably broke the law, but
    then we were short of money/space.
    
    	In the house we were renting, before we had this one built,
    there were 2 of them.

    	When my baby son and I were traveling around Europe for 3 and
    	a half months during 1971, there were bidets in the hotel rooms
    	where we were staying (I remember the ones in Paris, specifically.)
    
    	Ryan was 9 months old, and was the usual height of a baby that
    	age (and could pull himself up to stand and walk around the
    	room by holding onto the furniture.)  The bidet just happened
    	to be the perfect height for a 9 month old baby to stand up
    	next to and splash the water with his hands.
    
    	For that reason, I used the bidet as a place to stack all our
    	worldly possessions (to keep my determined baby from playing
    	in the water underneath.)

    							Suzanne...

    I couldn't do without my bidet.  I would definitely recommend
    installing one if you have the room in your bathroom, and the funds
    to buy one.  
    
    Angela.

    Bidets are very common in European and South American countries.
    I'll never understand why Americans have not caught on to this method
    of personal hygiene.  
    
    Space should not be an issue.  I have a removable shower head plumbed
    next to the toilet in my small bathroom.  Same concept.
    
    My son has been using a bidet since he was toilet trained.  He is
    ten now and finds using other people's bathroom uncomfortable when
    a bidet is not available to him.  His comment as a small child was
    "Mom, these people must have dirty bums!"
    
    I'm sure he's right.

	Does this mean we have a movement to get bidets in the bathrooms
	at DEC? :*) liesl

    	Ok, can I ask a question here?  If I remember correctly, the
    	bidets I saw had a constant stream of running water going
    	through them.  Is that the way they all work (or am I remembering
    	incorrectly)?
    
    	If it's true, how much water is "lost" (translate:  "Will that
    	significantly affect my water bill?")
    
    							Suzanne...

    
    Well, geez, the last one I saw had valves and stuff, rather akin
    to a sink.
    
    This is America, where everything comes in eight or ten different
    incarnations.
    
    DFW

    	The one continuously running must have been a luxury version.
    Here you pay for water by the cubic metre, and it is expensive.
    You turn it on when you want it.

What is the cost that you folks considering installation are coming up
with?

Any chance that the use of bidets could cause vaginal yeast infections
due to being *too* clean?

    Being french, I am very familiar with bidets. By the way (RE: .18)
    they tend to disappear in the houses being built (lack of room,...).
    Personally, I use them to clean my feet ... and my wife does not
    like this.