Four years after the toilet paper shortage of 2020, bidet converts say they’re never going back

While the toilet paper shortages that hit the United States during pandemic lockdowns in the spring of 2020 ultimately eased up, they’ve had a lasting impact on one industry: the bidet business.

“The industry here in the U.S. just blew up. You couldn’t get a bidet if you wanted to,” says James Lin, founder of BidetKing.com, an online marketplace for all varieties of the bathroom appliance. “We all sold out. … There was a huge scramble to get more.”

  • Varyk@sh.itjust.works
    32·
    8 months ago

    It’s a dollar more to install the ones onto the hot and cold taps, then you can set and forget the temp of the water, so it’s always the right temp.

    And obviously they have the tech on-demand heated ones, but you can buy the sprayer and taps version for 15 bucks with stainless steel parts.

    I’m lazy so I use the kind you can screw directly into the sink tap itself, find the right temp in the regular sink faucet handle, set and forget.

    30 second installation, adjustable water temp, switch adjustable nozzle to use bidet or sink faucet, easy.

    • afraid_of_zombies@lemmy.world
      1·
      8 months ago

      Probably why my mother-in-law doesn’t have a bidet, no hot water. Yes, I offered to buy her a water heater and pay for it to be installed she turned it down

      • Varyk@sh.itjust.works
        4·
        8 months ago

        That would make it tough in colder climates, but still worth it for 6 months out of the year, in my opinion.

        It’s just such an obvious equation to me now haha, like do you want to touch any of that?

        No, I don’t want to touch any of that and I want to be perfectly clean.

        Okay then there’s this option that saves on toilet paper, feels better for your skin and is far more hygienic.

        There’s just no comparison, although I perfectly understand how conservative and resistant to change people can be.

        I worked with some old folks once and there was this old man who refused to buy a mouse for his laptop cuz he was like look this is the trackpad. I don’t need a mouse, that’s just newfangled b*******.

        • afraid_of_zombies@lemmy.world
          5·
          8 months ago

          She lives in a part of the world where you can die from the heat 12 months of the year.

          Whatever, I tried. Pretty much every year I can get her to accept at most one improvement to her situation. Last year I got her to let me and some workers I hired to clean up her backyard. So at least she some nice plants to look at instead of a motorcycle parts graveyard.