I’m going to explain how an Italian bidet works, I don’t know if you’re referring to some other kind of bidet (e.g. the pressure washers).

You do your thing, then you lightly clean yourself with paper. Don’t waste too much paper, just one pass or two will suffice.

Then you get up from the toilet bowl and go on the bidet. In Italy, it’s always next to the toilet bowl so you don’t have to walk around like a maniac. The best way to sit on the toilet is to “ride it” as if it was a horse (so you face the water).

You open the water, maybe you wait for it to become warm (it depends on the kind of heating system you have in your home, sometimes it takes longer to come out warm). Then you get some soap (we use a specific kind of delicate liquid soap that we call “intimate soap” in Italian). You apply the soap to your private parts and you rinse using the water.

After you’ve finished cleaning, you dry youself using a personal towel. This is important: you don’t share your bidet towel with anybody. We usually use a smaller kind of towel.

And that’s how an Italian uses a bidet.