Washing with water is common in many parts of the world. You would be hard pressed to visit a bathroom in many countries that does not have the option of washing yourself with water after having used the toilet. Although in most Western countries it is still viewed as normal to wipe oneself with dry paper the East is leading the way in toilet hygiene. One piece of data from a study done by the University of Arizona in March 2011 from the United States paints a thousand words: 72% of shopping carts at grocery stores showed positive for fecal matter.
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This is an all the more interesting piece of data considering the same exact percentage, 72% as of March 2010, of homes in Japan have a bidet toilet seat installed. It’s not just Japan and it’s not just modern societies that wash with water. In India people have been washing with water for centuries. On the Indian sub-continent a lota with a spout is typically used to maintain hygiene. Islamic toilet etiquette is to wash with water after using the toilet as well. The most widely used form of washing with water is a shattaf which is also called a toilet shower or a bidet sprayer. This is why the shattaf, toilet shower or bidet sprayer, is so ubiquitous in Muslim countries and is now commonly referred to as a Muslim shower.
The toilet shower or bidet sprayer is also commonly found in South East Asia. Two particular countries it is widely used in is the Philippines and Thailand. The origins of washing with water in the Philippines dates back to a practice of washing with water with a tabo, while the origins in Thailand are Islamic nearly every bathroom has a bidet sprayer and is now commonly referred to as a Muslim shower. In the West we have given the world the flush toilet, but we still have a thing or two to learn from the East about toileting. Washing with water is a better bathroom experience.