In the how to use a bidet column,
After using it, you now have a dripping wet backside, what next? Dry it with toilet paper (then why rinse)? Is a towel kept nearby to use and reuse? Or do you pull up your drawers and walk around damp?
Thank you, Old Blue Eyes, I came here to post exactly the same question.
Neither CyberSybar column, nor any other description I have ever read, addresses the question. It must be one of the Mysteries of the Universe.
CyberSybar does mention explicitly that a bidet eliminates any need for wiping, and also ends the column with a desire for a built-in air dryer.
In fact – I just skimmed the article at the link in the column. It does touch on the issues: Pat dry, and yes, some units are available with a built-in air dryer.
Uh … I did think it strange that Europeans got on their knees just to wash their faces … ignorance fought again !!!
Yep, you dry with toilet paper (unless you have a fancy blow-drying model). It takes 2-3 squares to pat dry, so you’re still saving a ton.
Yep, you dry with toilet paper…
Perhaps this explains why European toilet paper is notoriously rough-textured.
US toilet paper is no good for drying; it swiftly disintegrates into a blizzard of shreds and lint that sticks to skin and clothes, even if you try to “pat” instead of “rub” dry.
I can’t resist mentioning that many years ago, when my parents visited my brother in France, my brother was apparently mortified when my mom asked what the bidet was for when they visited a friend’s family. It may have been “embarrassing” for their hosts, but I thought he was being a jerk by getting uptight-- he knew, or should’ve known, that since it was my mom’s first trip outside the US she wouldn’t know what a bidet was. Or that it was “unmentionable” in polite company.
It has to do with pooping and pissing, it’s probably not something for polite company. If you don’t know, you ask your brother who lives there quietly later. Or you sound like a crude hick who asks about toilet technique at the dinner table.
I do not find this to be true. We have a Toto Washlet, which is a Japanese style bidet/washer built into a toilet seat and operated by buttons. Out of any of the 5 or so brands of toilet paper that we cycle among, all of them are fine for swiping away the small amount of water left. It’s not like dipping toilet paper into a basin of water or something. Most of the water falls away from your body, and you are only removing a quite small amount.
Surely, however just using a bidet and “patting” dry is not as effective as wiping ones back parts with toilet paper in terms of total cleansing, no?
Depends: how much smearing do you get, how clingy is it, etc? How much pressure is that bidet producing? Power washing your genitals like the kitchen sprayer on your dishes, versus wiping the plates with a dry rag.
Think about it this way: If you noticed a smear of poop on your arm, would you wipe it off with a dry napkin and call it a day?
“Gingerly, Hector. Gingerly.” 
There is the story of the American couple visiting France for the first time. The bellhop is showing them their hotel room and they notice the bidet. The guy asks, “Is that to wash the baby in?” The bellhop replies, “No monsieur, that is to wash the baby out!”
Bidets are faster and much more effective at getting “that area” clean. I don’t remember where I heard this, but it basically comes down to:
If you’ve been playing in the mud, how do you get clean? Do you try to scrape it all off with a dry towel, or do you take a wet shower and then dry off?
Any TP you use will stay intact and work fine for drying as long as you remember to use a few squares and gently pat dry; there’s no longer a need to rub it on your backside like you’re cleaning out the gutters.
The people I know dry with a towel after washing.
Do you do a preliminary wipe or 2 to get the majority out before washing with water?
If I were a female I think I’d be worries about fecal matter getting splashed into my vagina. Why is this not an issue?
Maybe, just maybe because they have been dealing with that “equipment” their entire lives and have been using the plumbing since age 2 or so?
I have been using a soaking-wet pad of TP to wash my butt for the last 30-40 years.
I use dry TP to pat dry.
Can’t imagine a dry wipe doing much more than spreading the feces thin enough to be unnoticeable.
I’m male, btw.
In Italy we use towels. Usually there’s a small towel rack over the bidet. In my family’s house, we have a little towel (they sell them for that purpose) for each person in the house, and we usually color-code them - I usually get white, my dad blue, my mum yellow, my sister pink - you get the idea. But that’s us, and I expect each household does things their way.
In other people’s houses I normally used to use toilet paper, no fair using other people’s towels! On the other hand, I had a friend that used to ask me if I needed a towel whenever I excused myself, so once again each household may have different habits and quirks.
I live in an American apartment, which of course does not have a bidet, nor room for one. I just sit on the edge of the tub, turn on the tap, use my hand and the bathtub bar of soap to clean the way I’d clean any other part of my body, and rinse well by hand. I keep a face cloth handy, to pat dry they way I would with a hand towel. Ta-dah.
How to use a bidet
Damn, I thought that thing was a drinking fountain. 
I’ve heard it both ways.