Killing Time, you are right.
Reading my post I see that I forgot to delete a phrase (the one regarding the use as a bathtube) that is clearly misleading. Infact, the correct reference is to a sink, and not a bathtube: you don’t want to fill a bidet with water and “splash” inside, but just let the dirt water go immediately down the drain as clean water spurts from the faucet.
This is the reason why the faucet has an outlet that directs water towards you (and usually can be oriented to certain degree having a ball joint) as opposed to the ne in a sink that poits more or less downwards: you benefit from the water jet aimed at your nether regions and let the water wash away soap and dirt, helping with your hand.
I hope this helps.
Regards
Yes, it sounds much more sanitary that way.
But what’s the point of having a separate bidet? How is it superior to having a washlet or nozzle attached to your toilet?
Hi bldysabba.
I don’t have any experience with a washlet nozzle, so I can’t make any comparison. Probably a bidet is easier to build and install and requires less maintenance. From what i see (e.g. Wikipedia page on washlet) it seems to be quite complex, while a bidet is just a differently shaped, low riding, sink. Bidets have been in use for decades and, as I said above, they are by no means fancy stuff. They are very low tech (a faucet, a “bowl” and a drain) and are relatively cheap (you can find one for as low as € 40, faucets sold separately, while a toilet will set you back at least € 130) .
I suppose that once you accepted the idea to substitute/supplement toilet paper with water, the choice of the device you will use boils down to what you find where you live: if everybody around uses (or, at least, installs in their bathrooms) bidets (or washlets), you will probably see only that kind of implement in stores and won’t consider using a different one.
Borrow that trout a moment? 
Not an expert, but I think it’s a safe guess that this is mostly a question of advances in technology and design. Separate bidets were likely invented and installed earlier, and combination units (or reliable/affordable combination units) are more recent. It’s tough to get people to change their bathroom habits, so I imagine standalone units are kinda existing on inertia at this point. And also because bathrooms built for them might look kinda weird if you remove the bidet.
Having grown -up in a small U.S. town in the '80s, Hollywood told me that bidets were common in New York City hotels and probably just about any other big U.S. city with rich, fancy coke-snorting people. Only small-town people like me and bushmen would rarely encounter the bidets that civilized U.S. folks were accustomed to.
Also, as far as my own experiences with bidets:
In 1989 (I was a kid), I was in a wedding somewhere in the Northeast US. It was held at the home of the Father of the Bride. He and his wife were both C-Level execs at companies everyone here knows. I remember a few things- their living room carpet probably cost more than my house, there were workers there who reminded me of slaves, and they had bidets. At least they had a bidet in the only bathroom I accessed, which was probably the one for the little people.
As far as my own cleaning habits;
I buy a pack of 84 wet bathroom wipes for around 2 bucks. Typically, you can buy a full reusable wipe container for 2-3 bucks. I probably have a dozen of these sitting around. This comes with 42 wipes. then refill packs include 2 refills. I have been buying these for at least 10 years and they are widely available in every grocery store and big box retailer in the U.S. Charmin, Cottonelle, every store’s generic line, etc. I use dry paper and then finish up with the wet one.
Frequently, I do take a shower if I am at home when I do number 2. It’s pretty fast and convenient if I’m in my master bath, any way. And the most likely time for this to occur is first thing in the morning, before I get ready to do anything. The majority of the time it coincides with when I would typically take a shower anyway. If not, it probably takes 30 seconds to finish getting undressed, hop in the shower and wash that one area.
I have a bidet in my house. I don’t use less paper. I use the same paper as always. And then I move over to the bidet for the deep cleaning.
Maybe I’m using the bidet wrong, and maybe I’m going into TMI territory, but I’ve got a swelling in the anus. It’s almost always there, and certain medications can make it go away for a while, but it’s always there, and there’s no cure. And it’s an affliction that’s quite common.
Without a bidet I do the best I can. There are inevitably streaks in the Underoos, eventually. With a bidet, I can work out the streak-causing material.
For those of you without my affliction, and use bidets, how do you ensure that the, uh, solids end up where they should, without spotting the porcelain? If I were to try to not use paper, or even use only a single wipe, I’d worry about the dirtying the bidet. I leave little specs that are easily washed away, but if I had a dingleberry hanging off, there’s not way it’s going down the spout without breaking it up somehow.
When I visit sites in India, they have no paper in the stalls at all – only hoses. But they also have a big gaping toilet hole, and not just a sink-like spout like my bidet.
Edit: I hate not having a bidet; when I repatriate, I will figure out how to add one to my home’s bathroom.
Who’s on first!
Do you wait for the water to warm up? I would think that the washlet things that attach to toilets would make this difficult. Um… stand up and wait?
Electric ones heat the water “on demand,” I believe, so there’s no period to warm the water up.
Mechanical ones (like I have) hook up to the hot water line and, if you want to warm it up first, you turn a knob to “self-cleaning” mode and run it for a few seconds to warm up.
I’m telling you guys, they’re great.
Funny story:
A friend of mine was an exchange student in Spain for a year when we were in high school.
After he had returned we were watching a movie and a bidet happened to appear in the scene.
He says, “Oh. There’s one of those drinking fountains.”
“Wha? Dave, that’s a bidet.”
“A what? What do you mean?”
“A bidet. It’s for washing your dirty parts after using them, and whatnot. What the hell? A drinking fountain? What are you talking about?”
“Well, I thought those were drinking fountains…”
It turns out he drank from bidets for an entire year.
A friend of mine does that during parties. Waits until someone unsuspecting goes into the loo, then pulls out the remote. Hilarious.