Americans Keep Buying Bidets, and They're 'Never Going Back'

Four years ago this month, as the pandemic kicked into high gear, most of us were scrambling to track down homemade face masks and scrounging for toilet paper. Thanks to the latter annoyance, many Americans started flocking to buy what's long been standard in other nations worldwide: the bidet, a contraption typically either attached to one's toilet or sitting alongside it, so that users can spray their nether regions with fresh water after doing their business. CNN notes, however, that although sales of other products that became popular during the pandemic have since "[come] back down to earth," bidets are still enjoying a US boom.

• The numbers: Per BidetKing.com, US bidet sales have grown at least 20% each year since the pandemic started; last year, that figure hovered closer to 30%. The site notes that it sold out of every one of its units at one point during the pandemic.
• 'A bidet for every bum': CNN lays out the range of bidets available under that header, from a simple $50 attachment that sprays only cold water, all the way up to more luxurious units that allow for water pressure and temperature adjustments. A "washlet" model on BidetKing, for example, features a heated seat and wireless remote control and sells for just over $1,400.

• Origins: CNN notes the bidet comes out of France, where aristocrats would keep one next to their chamber pot. The cleaning apparatus is now popular in much of Europe, as well as parts of Asia, the Middle East, and South America.
• Fans: The Washington Post notes that for some newish bidet owners, the device "changed their lives" and they're "never going back." "I just love them now," Utah's Rosanne Orgill says. "I ... don't know how people survive without them." Sydney Cano tells the paper she has a bidet at home, as well as one for travel.
• Green appeal: New York City's Ryan Deitsch says he appreciates the environmental benefits bidets offer. He says he asked himself during the pandemic, "Are the things that we're doing—is that necessarily the right way? The best way? Are there other ways?" His answer, along with many others: "We bought bidets."

More here and here, including the salacious reason the bidet never caught on in the US till now. (More bidet stories.)