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Caroline Mullen is a writer focused on cleaning and organizing. Every rug in her apartment is machine-washable, but you can blame her dog for that. 1 piece dual flush toilet
I was dubious about installing a bidet attachment in my rental bathroom for several reasons, but chief among them was potential embarrassment. Do my partner and I really want everyone who uses our bathroom to think about us routinely hydro-massaging our rear ends? It’s the same reason I have a little vintage stool in the bathroom instead of a more utilitarian Squatty Potty—I don’t love that these bathroom additions effectively announce to guests, “Hey, we just wanted to make sure you know that we poop here!”
But when my partner excitedly declared that he had ordered a bidet attachment, I decided to try to get on board. And OMG, have I gotten on board.
The bidet is a life-changing innovation. I have never felt cleaner, and I don’t know how we lived so long without it. A visit to Japan cemented my fondness for these transcendent appliances, and I cannot imagine the horror of enduring a 48-hour bout of food poisoning without it (but that’s a story for another day).
The thing is, bidet seats and attachments are, by nature, pretty close to the action, which conjures all sorts of horrible imagery about what’s getting on them while you’re getting clean. Don’t panic, though. According to Steve Scheer, president of bidet manufacturer Brondell (which makes the upgrade pick in Wirecutter’s guide to the best bidets and washlets), just because a bidet is cleaning your bum, that doesn’t mean it’s any dirtier than the toilet. “The bidet nozzle shoots up and away from itself,” he explains, “so there is no need to worry about the nozzle specifically getting dirty.”
That said, just like for your toilet, you should be giving your bidet seat or attachment a quick clean approximately once a week. If you add the task to your routine toilet wipe-down, it shouldn’t take you more than five minutes to do.
“Bidets are more complex than the average toilet seat,” notes senior staff writer Doug Mahoney in our guide to the best bidet seats and washlets, “so it’s no surprise that they have more nooks and crannies where gunk can develop.” Luckily, the cleaning process is similar to cleaning other appliances in your bathroom.
As always, be sure not to mix bleach with any products containing ammonia or acids. If you’re cleaning your toilet bowl with bleach, you should rinse it clean with water and let it dry completely before using another cleanser. I usually like to wait 24 hours, just to be safe.
Here’s what we recommend.
For an everyday clean, Scheer points out, plenty of bidet seats and attachments have convenient self-clean functions. This action allows water to flow around the nozzles of your bidet so that anything lingering on it post-wash flows back into the toilet and gets flushed away. Look for a button on the side of your bidet or its connected remote. Get in the habit of employing it each time you use the bidet so that you can spend less time on a deep clean down the line.
Aside from the nozzle itself, there are a few other parts of the bidet you should focus on. If you have a bidet seat, clean it as you would a regular toilet seat and lid. Use a mild cleanser, such as our favorite cleaning spray, Clorox Free & Clear Multi-Surface Spray Cleaner, and a soft cloth. For nooks and crannies, Scheer recommends using cotton swabs dipped in your cleanser of choice.
However, Scheer warns against using abrasive products or coarse-textured tools to clean the seat, as they can damage the plastic. He adds that you should never use thinner, benzene, acidic chemicals, chloride, or hydrochloric acid detergent, because they can corrode metal parts or promote permanent discoloration and scratches on the bidet’s surfaces.
Not everyone has the money or the need for a fancy self-cleaning bidet, and that’s perfectly fine. Although you can clean the nozzle in the same way as the seat and lid for weekly cleans, you might want to give the nozzle some additional periodic TLC.
If the nozzle has calcified hard-water buildup, you can loosen that gunk up with a nice vinegar bath. It’s similar to soaking a faucet: Fill a plastic bag with half warm water and half distilled white vinegar. Use a rubber band to tie it onto the nozzle and let it sit for up to an hour. Then scrub the nozzle with a small brush and wipe it clean with a microfiber cloth or paper towel.
For preventive maintenance, you can purchase inline filters for your bidet, which help reduce the buildup of sediment, minerals, and chlorine on the nozzle. This add-on is especially helpful if you live in an area with hard water.
Let’s say you’ve gone a few weeks without addressing any dust and grime that has accumulated in the hinges or bolts of your bidet seat or attachment (been there, done that). You can, in fact, just remove the whole thing to get around and underneath all those hard-to-reach places. As Doug writes in our guide: “The process is very easy and usually involves a release button to the side of the bidet. It’s a little like pulling a drawer off the slides.”
Senior editor Harry Sawyers points out that lots of bidet seats have a tall, long channel at the back that’s difficult to clean, but he has noticed that manufacturers are trying to resolve this issue in newer models.
If you’re unable to get into the channel of your current model for cleaning, Harry suggests wrapping a rag around a chopstick to really get into the crevice as a first option, but he adds that detaching the bidet for a deep clean is probably the best method for eliminating the gunk that can build up in there.
Follow the same method as above, wiping surfaces with a multipurpose spray and a soft cloth, and twirling saturated cotton swabs in tricky crevices.
Scheer recommends referring to the owner manual for your particular bidet because they all have different features and mechanisms, but he urges intrepid bidet scrubbers not to open their unit up for cleaning, as doing so might void any warranty coverage.
This article was edited by Megan Beauchamp and Maxine Builder.
It takes a bit more effort than a casual spray of Gatorade-colored cleaning fluid to clean a toilet.
This bidet offers an experience most people agree is excellent, whether they’ve used one for years or are totally new to it.
Bidets baby your butt for a better bathroom experience.
Clorox Free & Clear Multi-Surface Spray Cleaner rids surfaces of grime and comes with the EPA’s Safer Choice certification.
Caroline Mullen is a staff writer reporting on cleaning and organizing at Wirecutter. Though she’s waging a constant battle against the dog hair and dust bunnies in her apartment, she’s not willing to scale back on tchotchkes to make it easier. It also takes her two to three business days to complete a load of laundry—but she’s made peace with that.
toilet and basin Wirecutter is the product recommendation service from The New York Times. Our journalists combine independent research with (occasionally) over-the-top testing so you can make quick and confident buying decisions. Whether it’s finding great products or discovering helpful advice, we’ll help you get it right (the first time).