【Watch Educating Elainia (2006)】

When Miki Agrawal founded Thinx — the company that sells underwear that can Watch Educating Elainia (2006)replace tampons and pads — she got everyone talking about periods.

Now, she wants them to talk about bidets. The entrepreneur's next project is Tushy, a startup selling bidet attachments that could replace toilet paper in homes across the U.S.

SEE ALSO: Some transgender men need period underwear like this

The problem is, Americans are weirded out by the bathroom fixture that cleans your butt with water instead of toilet paper.

"Why are our butts the only place we clean with dry paper?"

Invented by the French and common across the rest of the world, bidets never caught on with the English, or their colonies in America, according to Agrawal. Then, when American soldiers saw bidets in French brothels during World War II, they associated them with immorality. Today, bidets are rare, if not unheard of, around the country.

Despite the challenge of getting bidets into American bathrooms, investors are excited about the startup's potential. Tushy raised $500,000 in a seed round announced Thursday, led by Propulsion Capital with participation from the cofounders of the mattress startup Casper, among other angels.

"No brand has broken through to make people aware that the bidet can be accessible, beautiful and affordable," said Tushy CEO and Chief Marketing Officer Monica Pereira.

Original image has been replaced. Credit: Mashable

Tushy — and millions of others around the world — believe bidets are more hygienic than toilet paper. As Pereira asks, "Why are our butts the only place we clean with dry paper?"

Mashable Trend Report Decode what’s viral, what’s next, and what it all means. Sign up for Mashable’s weekly Trend Report newsletter. By clicking Sign Me Up, you confirm you are 16+ and agree to our Terms of Use and Privacy Policy. Thanks for signing up!

Toilet paper can cause yeast infections, hemorrhoids and urinary tract infections. Bidets can also be a better option for people with IBS, people who might not be able to reach behind themselves, and postpartum moms.

Bidets are also definitely more environmentally friendly. The toilet paper used by Americans comes from 15 million trees every year.

'Periods, pee and poop are all categories that need innovation.'

In addition to cultural norms, one reason bidets haven't been adopted in American homes is that traditional versions are bulky and expensive. Most bidets are standalone, next to a toilet, rather than attached to it. They can cost several hundred dollars.

Tushy instead offers a $69 portable bidet attachment that can easily attach to a toilet, no plumbing expertise needed. Tushy's bidet is meant to look chic and minimal — a normal addition to any millennial's bathroom. Its metallic, rectangular design is even meant to mimic an iPhone, to make people as comfortable with the new addition to their bathrooms as possible.

That's similar to Agrawal's marketing strategy with Thinx: making period underwear seem cool with viral ads and the right influencers.

"Female hygiene and sanitation — it's all the same category," Agrawal said. "Periods, pee and poop are all categories that need innovation."

Original image has been replaced. Credit: Mashable Original image has been replaced. Credit: Mashable

Tushy customers often have the same basic questions: Can I install it myself? (Yes.) Where does the water come from? (The same water supply as the toilet, but not fromthe toilet.) How do I dry off? (You don't always have to, but you can use a tiny bit of toilet paper or a Tushy bamboo towel, if you're more comfortable that way.)

Agrawal's parents are from Japan and India — two cultures that use bidets — so she knows bidets can be a normal part of life. But the question for Tushy is: Can you get people to change a lifelong mindset about hygiene?

Agrawal thinks so.

"It'll be like, 'I can't believe Americans didn't have bidets until 2017,'" she said.

---

Featured Video For You

---

Someone has invented a waterproof toupee that looks just like real hair

---

Topics Social Good

• Social Good
• Tech
• Life
• Digital Culture
• Science
• Entertainment
• Shopping
• Deals

• 5 planets will light the sky in rare astronomical event this week
• Redux: The Old Juices Flowing by The Paris Review
• Redux: The Famous Sideshow by The Paris Review
• Yellow City by Ellena Savage
• Josh Melnick and Walter Murch in Conversation by Josh Melnick
• Cooking with Bohumil Hrabal by Valerie Stivers
• Poetry Rx: You Have Become Everything You Needed To Become by Claire Schwartz
• Hayao Miyazaki’s Cursed Worlds
• Delivering Chinese; Self
• Poetry Rx: A Love Poem without Clichés by Claire Schwartz

• Watch these FDNY EMTs get engaged at NYC Pride
• Truth Initiative takes on JUUL over teen vaping
• 'Dora the Explorer' movie star Isabela Moner shows off her costume
• You'll tolerate being annoyed by this gloriously cute toy instrument
• HBO's 'Insecure': Everything you need to know before Season 3 begins
• Google tracks you even if you turn off 'location history': report
• Lena Dunham sticks up for Taylor Swift after Kanye West's 'Famous' video
• Boy at a baseball game will stare into your soul
• You never forget your first…big screen crush at the movies
• Facebook shuts down News Feed customization feature Friend List Feeds

• Timm Kölln on ‘The Peloton’ by Peter Conroy
• Poetry Rx: You Are the Penultimate Love of My Life by Sarah Kay
• The Erotics of Cy Twombly by Catherine Lacey
• Staff Picks: Good Guys, Goose Fat, and Ghosts of Mars by The Paris Review
• Xi Chuan, Beijing by Matteo Pericoli
• Blaze Orange, the Color of Fear, Warnings, and the Artificial by Katy Kelleher
• Fran Lebowitz Doesn’t Dance Anymore by Vince Aletti
• Simply Impossible
• Southern Gothic by Margaret Eby
• Redux: The Old Juices Flowing by The Paris Review

• Part 3: To the Mandarin Oriental by Clancy Martin
• “Why Do You Write Political Stories?” by Nana Kwame Adjei
• An Evening at New York’s New Playboy Club by Laura Bannister
• Poetry Rx: There’s No Going Home by Claire Schwartz
• The End of Aid
• Bad Genre: Annie Ernaux, Autofiction, and Finding a Voice by Lauren Elkin
• Scenes Dealing with Walking Dead, Torture, Vampires by The Paris Review
• No One Has a Monopoly on Death
• Making Art by Thessaly La Force
• Staff Picks: Cameras, Colonnades, and Countesses by The Paris Review