The Bidet Made a Big Splash, But Is Its Appeal Starting to Sink?

Feb 20, 2024

By Elizabeth Yuko

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There was a period during the spring of 2020 when Barry Gray, a contractor based in Sarasota, Florida, was receiving multiple phone calls and emails a day from homeowners requesting his services “as soon as possible.” Their urgent household matter? Having him install a bidet.

This bidet boom, though dramatic, didn’t emerge out of thin air. At this point, client inquiries about the bathroom fixture had already been increasing steadily for years. But everything changed when toilet paper became a hot commodity. “Suddenly, bidets were no longer a luxury item, but a necessity,” Barry explains. “People panicked and went to great lengths to stock up on toilet paper, and many realized that a bidet could be an alternative solution.” Since then, he says the demand for bidets among his clients has remained high and consistent.

Nationally, bidet sales have followed much of the same trajectory. Their quiet, measured growth in popularity throughout the 2010s aside, Americans had never really embraced the bidet—despite the fact that people in other parts of the world have been using them for centuries. People have touted their environmental and health benefits for decades, but it took a global pandemic for bidets to gain any serious traction in the United States. So is the current bidet boom merely a blip, or is it the first step toward becoming a permanent fixture in American bathrooms?

An illustration from Mott Iron Works 1884 catalog of a bathroom featuring a toilet, tub, shower, sitz bath, sink and mirror.

Though the precise origin of the modern bidet is unknown, it started gaining popularity among the French aristocracy in the late 17th or early 18th century. By that time, the English had been using the word bidet—which comes from the Middle French verb bider, meaning “to trot”—to describe a small horse, so it was a natural choice for a fixture that was straddled. Prior to that, Muslims living in parts of Asia and Africa used small, handheld vessels known in some languages as a lota, as part of routine cleansing and religious customs.

Though bidets remain popular in some parts of Europe, South America, Southeast Asia, North and West Africa, and Japan, they’ve been a hard sell in the United States—even if they’ve been manufactured here since at least 1880.

Early American residential bathrooms of the late-19th and early-20th centuries typically had three fixtures: a sink, a toilet, and a bathtub. Depending on the size of the room and the budget, there might also be a shower, a foot or sitz bath, dental sink, or a bidet. In larger homes built before indoor plumbing, a bedroom was often converted into a bathroom, affording more space for bidets and other specialty fixtures not commonly seen today. Homes constructed with indoor plumbing, however, typically featured bathrooms with a smaller footprint, designed for efficiency and to align with the kitchen plumbing. For the most part, bidets didn’t make the cut.

The absence of bidets in America also stems in part from the country’s puritanical roots. Unlike toilets, which allow us to flush everything away without even having to look at it, bidets require us to confront—or at least acknowledge—bodily functions like bowel movements and menstruation, which many people would prefer not to think about at all. In addition to their cleansing function, bidets also have a history of being used post-coitally as a form of contraception and a strategy for preventing sexually transmitted infections. This association with sex resulted in an enduring stigma that bidets have yet to fully shake.

The bidet of Elisabeth of Bavaria dated 1887–1890 from the collection of the Kammerhofmuseen der Stadt Gmunden.

The Great Toilet Paper Panic of 2020 may have prompted Americans to reconsider the bidet, but the availability of a wide range of options surely sealed the deal. Through media coverage and word-of-mouth recommendations, consumers learned that they were no longer limited to traditional standalone bathroom fixtures—like the kind played for laughs in scenes from Crocodile Dundee, B.A.P.S., and Broad City—or pricey smart toilets, similar to the Jon Hamm–voiced model in Bob’s Burgers.

Although this new generation of bidets, which attach to an existing toilet or come built into a toilet seat, hit the market years before the pandemic, they suddenly had an unusually captive audience. Many came from direct-to-consumer (DTC) brands, were relatively easy to install, and available at price points that meant you didn’t have to be flush with cash to afford one. This combination of factors was enough to get a bidet-hesitant country to give them a whirl. “There was a clear moment in the middle of March 2020 when requests and searches for bidets spiked massively,” says Laura Badall, the head of supply chain at Block Renovation, whose job includes the procurement of items clients request for home renovation projects. “People were wiping down delivery boxes [and] talking about the importance of washing your hands thoroughly, so a toilet paper shortage really played into these conversations around hygiene. In that context, it makes perfect sense why interest in bidets would skyrocket.”

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In an interview published in the August 2021 issue of the magazine Plumbing & Mechanical, Bill Strang, president of operations and e-commerce for Toto USA, confirmed that the Japanese toilet manufacturer—which introduced a toilet seat with a built-in electronic bidet function called the Washlet in 1980—sold out of their entire inventory of electronic bidet seats in the US market within two weeks in March 2020. That same month, Tushy, a DTC bidet attachment brand known for its cheeky marketing campaigns, had its first million-dollar sales day.

According to Anjum Gupta, PhD, founder and CEO of Luxe Bidet, the company saw steady year-over-year growth in sales and popularity between its formation in 2008 and 2020. “When COVID happened in March of 2020, our sales had a huge spike,” he explains in an email. “We actually more than doubled our sales numbers from 2019 to 2020. Since then, our flagship bidet attachments have remained the most popular and have generated the highest volume of sales for us.”

Meanwhile, Kohler—a company that has been in the bidet game since 1928—has seen an increase in customer interest in bidet toilet seats that began prior to the pandemic, according to Andrew Van Gorden, the company’s product manager for intelligent products. With models starting at $100, this category has seen five years of consistent year-over-year growth in the US, with sales doubling every two to three years, he notes. “Bidet seats fit a wide variety of toilets, budgets, lifestyles, and aesthetics, and the installation is easy and fast,” Andrew says, adding that they “represent the future of toileting.”

However, the future doesn’t necessarily look quite as bright for the traditional separate bidet fixtures of the past. “[Before the pandemic], standalone bidets were more popular among my clients specifically looking for a luxury-bathroom experience, but their demand has decreased compared to the bidet toilet seats and attachments,” Barry says.

Jackie Lopey, an interior designer and the founder of Wide Canvas, a bath- and kitchen-focused design studio in Reno, has seen the same trend with her clients, noting that this type of bidet “has virtually disappeared” from American bathrooms. “I never see them unless I’m taking them out of bathrooms that haven’t been remodeled in 20 years or more,” she adds.

This marble bathroom at a hotel in Barcelona sparkles with a bidet.

Prior to the pandemic, many Americans viewed bidets as “old-fashioned or European,” says Brooke Lang, the principal designer and owner of Brooke Lang Design in Chicago. “Except for a few clients based in London and Asia who hired me to renovate their second homes here in the US, requests for bidets were few and far in between [prior to the pandemic],” she explains. But much like the seats on some of these fixtures, Americans’ attitudes toward bidets are warming. Since 2020, Brooke estimates that about 60% of her firm’s bathroom remodeling projects have included requests for either bidets (both attachments and higher-end bidet toilet seats with various spa-like warming features), or bidet-friendly toilets (so people could install their own).

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The pandemic brought on more than the threat of being left without a way to wipe: It has been behind other shifting priorities as well. For example, as New York–based architect and founder of Riverside Design Michele Rudolph points out, COVID-19 ushered in a renewed appreciation of cleanliness and sanitation. “The pandemic had homeowners looking for optimal hygiene in all parts of their home—especially in bathrooms,” she says. “[Some bidet toilet] seats automatically raise and lower, and push-button controls mean that one never needs to touch a toilet.”

At the same time, the fact we’re even entertaining the notion of a bathroom carpet comeback indicates that some prioritize luxury and comfort over hygiene. Bidets appeal to this contingent because they provide a relatively affordable way to make the everyday experience of using the toilet a bit more indulgent, says Sam Lund, an interior designer and professional organizer at Simply Sam. “I think people used to travel more extravagantly and live modestly at home,” she explains. “The pandemic shifted that mindset, and people took on the ‘you only live once’ attitude.”

Sam says that since 2020, a lot of her clients have been interested in incorporating luxury and custom features into their bathroom—like a steam shower or a bidet—but often have to choose between them, based on what their budget will allow. “Most people who want bidets are our male clients, who revel in spending time on the toilet everyday,” she notes.

This row of innovative toilet seats at the Toto Toilet Museum shows how the bidet design has evolved.

Prior to purchasing her first bidet—a Toto Washlet toilet seat—in September 2020, Magda Rauscher, the principal interior designer at My Modern Dom Interiors in Glencoe, Illinois, didn’t know much about the fixtures. “But after using one that first week, I realized how awesome they were,” she says. “Less toilet paper, plus a much cleaner feeling after going to the bathroom: win-win!” Like many converts, Magda became an evangelist, recommending bidets to her clients remodeling their bathrooms and installing six in the past year and a half. “Adding a Washlet really does [make it] feel like you’re staying at a fancy hotel,” she says. “Everyone is hooked once they start using them.”

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In fact, some newly minted bidet enthusiasts, like Lisa Sass, a senior account executive in Arizona, have grown so accustomed to the refreshing, cleansing spray that they notice its absence when using restrooms outside of their own home. “I actually feel weird going anywhere else that doesn’t have one,” she explains. “I swear by it—along with my Squatty Potty—and tell everyone to buy one.” Similarly, Emily Parker, a parenting blogger from southern Georgia, and her husband purchased their first bidet in 2020, followed by several others that they gave as gifts. “We’re building a new home with bidet toilet seats because we love ours so much,” she says. “[They’re a] total game changer, and I’m going to purchase a travel version because we miss ours when we’re away.”

But despite the bidet’s growing American fanbase, they don’t win over everyone. Derek Davis, an account executive in Columbus, Ohio, purchased his first bidet in April 2020 because he “saw an opportunity to save toilet paper, save money, and feel swanky all at the same time.” But the bidet left him feeling more soggy than swanky. “Not to be too graphic but, mentally, I think I felt like I had to dry off,” Derek explains. “I went in with the mindset that I’d drop down to using one square of toilet paper, when in reality, the jet stream of the bidet required much more.” In August 2022, he realized that he was using more toilet paper than he did in his prebidet days, so he uninstalled the attachment “and got rid of it completely.”

Meanwhile, after installing a bidet in June 2020, it only took two weeks for Josh Wilson, a Florida-based realtor, to come to the conclusion that for him, using toilet paper was a simpler and more effective way to get the job done. “I also found that the hindrances of having to fill the bidet with water—and the added cost of electricity—made it more of a hassle than a benefit,” he says. “The novelty of using it quickly wore off, as it felt like an additional chore in the bathroom that could be easily avoided.” Still, Josh decided to keep his bidet, and it remains in place to this day. “I figured I might have guests who would want to use it,” he explains. “I feel like it completes the bathroom, even though it’s not in use.”

A portrait of singer Lene Lovich in a hotel bathroom in Leeds, England taken on November 13, 1978.

Nearly three years into the pandemic, Brooke says that her clients’ interest in bidets hasn’t waned—especially those of a certain demographic. “I’ve seen more bidet requests from my elder millennial clients, who want bidets for their primary and guest bathrooms and, in some cases, in bathroom remodels for their aging parents,” she notes. As far as procurement, Laura says that customers’ requests for bidets keep coming. “We haven’t seen the same demand for bidets as we did [in] those early months [of the pandemic],” she notes, “but there has been a steady increase year-over-year.”

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So what’s next for bidets now that toilet paper is consistently back on the shelves and most people are no longer confined to their homes? “I do believe bidets have staying power,” says Brooke, “especially since they’ve become a lot more affordable in recent years, and the younger generation sees it as a more sustainable, less wasteful alternative to toilet paper.”

Plus, as Jackie notes, bidets are a natural extension of the ongoing obsession with wellness that predates the pandemic. “Americans are interested in improving their health and well-being,” she explains, “and adding features like bidet toilet seats to their bathrooms is part of that trend.”

At the same time, the benefits of bidets have never been enough to win over the country’s minds, genitals, and butts before. “It’s hard to say precisely where things will go,” Laura explains. “America’s historical aversion to bidets is complicated: a product of our social mores, views on practices seen as ‘foreign,’ and our shyness around ‘private’ bodily behaviors—[it’s] a combination of factors which might make it really hard for them to break into the US on a massive scale.”

Even if bidets never become as common as they are in homes in Japan and parts of Europe, they’re on the radar for Americans now more than before the pandemic. “At the start of COVID, bidets were a novelty in the United States,” Magda concludes. “Based on my own experience and all of the positive feedback I’ve gotten from clients and friends, I think bidets are here to stay.”