These Two ‘Toilet Crusaders’ Want to Change the Way Americans Poop
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The women call themselves “toilet crusaders, fighting for clean bums and reduced global wastefulness,” and they’re shooting to change the way people poop, in an effort to improve health around the world and help the environment.
Listen to our interview with Miki Agrawal on our podcast, Uninterrupted:
Bidets are not just fancy toilets for high-class asses—the device can actually prevent UTIs and hemorrhoids, too. It’s a fountain-like fixture that sprays water onto your lady bits and tuchus after you do your business. Paper doesn’t properly remove bacteria from the nether-region and can cause potential health issues. “Water is the universal solvent, not paper,” says Monica. “With water, we can prevent infection.”
Photograph courtesy of Tushy
Bidets save a whole lot of H2O, too. Think on this: Tushy uses just 1.3 gallons of water a week, whereas it takes 37 gallons of water to make just one TP roll! (And since the average American uses 1.5 rolls a week, that multiples to 55.5 gallons.)
According to the company’s website, Tushy aims to “flush the antiquated poo-taboo down the toilet for a cleaning renaissance that’s healthier, reduces waste, and helps people defecate with dignity.”
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“We think we have a great opportunity to rebrand the bidet to the modern American who wants to be cognizant of how to care for their health and the planet,” Monica tells WomensHealthMag.com.
The good news is that it’s both reasonably affordable and simple to get this potty started. There are two types of Tushy bidet attachments: the cool Tushy for for $57 (the black and gold one costs $67) and the warm and cool version, priced at $74 (the black and gold one is $84), for those who fancy a toasty tush spray. Both easily hook up to your fresh water supply, run without electricity, and can be installed painlessly, says Monica.
Photograph courtesy of Tushy
Tushy has also teamed up with nonprofits like Charity: Water to help improve sanitation for people in developing countries, primarily children and women. Worldwide, 14 million pregnant women are infected with worms due to poor sanitation, and in developing countries one child dies every 17 seconds due to a lack of healthy places to poop, reports Tushy.
One of their partners, Samagra, is an organization in India that designs and builds toilets in urban poor communities and educates the public about how sanitation impacts health.
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“This cause is tied very closely to our mission,” says Monica.
Yep—all of this shit talk is actually creating positive conversation and change. We’ll poop to that.