Bidet the Earth Stood Still
These last few weeks are creating a new normal in the U.S, from businesses, to the lives of its citizens and even how people use the bathroom. In this hectic time all people can do is toi-let things run their course.
Bidet toilets (pronounced bih-day) are a specialized bathroom fixture for washing your buttocks. Hello TUSHY, an online bidet store, has felt the effects of this toilet paper shortage with sales going up “ten times what they were since word spread of toilet paper shortages,” according to the CEO Jason Ojalvo.
Bidets are a common way developed countries around the world clean themselves after using the toilet. Traditionally it is a separate porcelain fixture next to a toilet, where one would have to move over to squat or sit on the bidet for cleaning. Modern bidets spray a targeted stream of water exactly where needed, cleaning up your worst messes quickly and gently. In times where toilet paper is scarce and ultimately proven to be wasteful, people and their rear ends are looking for alternatives. Hello Tushy, founded in 2015 with a mission statement rallying “for clean bums and reduced global wastefulness” has done research that has found, on average, Americans use 57 sheets of toilet paper every single day. This adds up to about 36 billion rolls of toilet paper every year.
Normally bidet toilets would have to be installed like another toilet, where it is connected to the plumbing. To acquire one, folks would have to shell out hundreds of dollars, with higher tech ones reaching thousands. For example, a bidet seat sold on the Target website sells for $449.99 and a more high tech one sold on Amazon goes for $1,099. Recently however, bidet toilet seats like those made by Hello Tushy have made it possible for renters and people on budgets to acquire them. The toilet seats’ main difference is that it does not require plumbing installation, allowing them to go for a much lower cost.
Americans have been rather resistant to bidets for a number of reasons. “I feel that a lot of Americans are reluctant to try it because they fear that the water might be dirty since it’s coming from the toilet, or because of the water pressure,” said Isabel Evangelista, a Cinema/Television Arts major at California State University of Northridge.
Hurdles like these have crossed the mind of Miki Agrawal, Founder & Chief Creative Officer of TUSHY, who believes that while recent toilet paper scares "could be the tipping point that finally gets Americans to adopt the bidet, TUSHY has been saying since 2015 that bidets will replace toilet paper and that TUSHY was going to be the brand to make bidets mainstream in America -- bidets are cheaper, healthier, and better for the planet.”
“I’ve been highly considering using a bidet,” said Evangelista, “because I feel like it’s less wasteful in terms of toilet paper use and it seems a more efficient way of cleaning yourself.”
Agrawal’s statement seems to hold true this year, with Hello TUSHY having “ a few days where we sold over $500K a day, including a day where we hit $1M in sales. And this is on top of TUSHY already selling well over double what we'd been selling a year ago,” said Ojalvo.
While storefront businesses intended to attract crowds are suffering in the absence of people, those in the business of cleaning bums, are seeing quarantine benefits.
“Right now is a great time to give it a chance with the shortage in supplies our country is facing,” remarked Evangelista.
