How To Use A Squat Toilet – All You Need To Know To Master It

March 5, 2021

Are you scared of squat toilets? I’m going to tell you all the things I learned about how to use a squat toilet so you don’t have to be scared of them anymore.

I was so scared to use a squat toilet when I was traveling that I avoided them for a large part of my travels until I learned a few tips and tricks and some trial by error. These tips will ensure you know how to use a squat toilet and are more successful right from the start.

To begin, there are a few things that you want to make sure you have prepped before you go into the actual toilet.

Squat Toilet Tip 1

You want to make sure that your pants, or whatever you’re wearing on the bottom half of your body, is rolled up. You want to roll this up to at least the top of your calf. If they are flowy pants, you want to roll that all the way up above your knee. If you are wearing a skirt you want to roll that up to around your waist to get that hiked up as much as you can. If it’s a flowy dress, once I’m in the bathroom, I would like that up under my bra strap.

Now, you want to make sure you’re doing this prior to going in the toilet because the floor is usually going to be wet and you don’t know if it’s water or pee. Even if it is just water, you don’t want the bottom of your clothing to be wet.

Squat Toilet Tip 2

Make sure you have toilet paper. In most places, you’re not going to have toilet paper available in the actual squat toilets. Some places that are used heavily by western tourists may have some toilet paper or you may have to pay for it. I always keep a pack of travel tissues and I keep that in my bag all the time. This way you’re able to use the paper instead of the other options.

At this point, you might be wondering what these other options are. One is if you don’t have anything with you, you’re drip drying. lol, The other option you will see in a lot of places is a bum gun. That’s the nickname and I’ve yet to use it because I know I would be disastrous at it. It’s basically a hose with a little squirter at the end and you use that like you would toilet paper, but with water. I’m too scared to use it because I think water is just going to get everywhere, but it’s basically like a portable bidet. More power to you if you just want to give that a go but for me, I tend to stay away from it and keep my tissues with me.

Squat Toilet Tip 3

You want to make sure you empty your pockets of any money, your phone and anything else. Put it in your bag or give it to a friend to hold. If you have a bag, wear it around your neck or on like a backpack, don’t take it off as there’s gonna be nowhere to put it. You want to make sure your pockets are empty because once you drop your pants, that stuff could go flying and you’re not going to want to pick it back up.

Squat Toilet Tip 4

Make sure that you’re wearing shoes. Yes, you read that right. You’re kind of wondering right now, why wouldn’t I be wearing shoes? Well, you would be surprised at how many places make you take off your shoes in certain destinations. Temples and restaurants are the two big ones that could require you to take your shoes off.

If you do take your shoes off, I do one of three things.

I carry my shoes with me. Instead of leaving them at the door in the shoe rack, I put them in my bag and I carry them with me.

I carry a pair of flip flops with me or something small & light that can be smushed up into your bag. That way I can have my shoes outside and be able to slip on these extra pairs of shoes if I need to use the bathroom.

I would just run out front, grab my shoes, carry them in and then put them on in the bathroom. Regardless of the way you do it, make sure you’re wearing shoes because like I mentioned, there’s usually going to be a wet floor and you don’t know what it is.

Squat Toilet Tip 5

Have a plastic bag. You don’t necessarily always have to have a plastic bag, but it is a “just in case” bag. If you’re using toilet paper you can’t put it down the squat toilet. They have different sewage systems and it will not accommodate these big pieces of toilet paper or kleenex. Sometimes it just happens because it’s a habit but try to remember not to and stick it in the wastepaper basket. Now, if there is no wastepaper basket, what I do is I put the tissue into the plastic bag, tie it up and I put it in my bag until I come to a place that has a garbage can.

Squat Toilet Tip 6

Have hand sanitizer. Not everywhere is going to have running water, soap. So you want to make sure that you have that hand sanitizer to be able to clean your hands once you finish using the toilet.

How to use a squat toilet

First you need to decide if you need to do a number one or number two. Yes, I know, not everyone likes to talk about this part, but there is a difference in how you want to face the squat toilet.

When you get into the toilet area, you will be straddling the toilet. There will be two little foot indents beside the squat toilet and you’ll put your feet right there for the best position.

All of these toilets will have a hole at the back and then there’s like a bit of a ramp at the front. If you pee facing the front, which is where the ramp is, you’re going to get a little splashback no matter how slow you pee…and no one wants a little splashback! So when you’re doing number one, once in the toilet you then want to face the back. This way, you’re peeing straight down the hole and you’re not getting any splashback.

If you’re doing it number two, you want to do the opposite because you want to poop down the hole as best you can because it makes it so much easier for cleanup. A little hot tip for you. If you’re doing a number two, I would put some water down into the squat toilet first, just for some extra easier cleanup.

One thing you will see in most of these squat toilets is a big bucket of water with a scoop or a cup in water. Now don’t be afraid, this is clean water, they bring in all the time. Once you are finished your business, all you have to do is to take that scoop and fill it with water and flush that water down the toilet about two or three times. This gets everything moving down those pipes.

How to Squat Pee

Another thing you will want to know is how to actually squat pee without peeing all over yourself or all over your pants. Handy for both, using a squat toilet or out in nature. Now when you squat, you want to pull your pants down just to the top of your knees. Next, you want to grab the back of your pants waist and hold it together in the front. This way you’re pretty clear and free to do your business and not have any splashes.

I get a lot of people asking how do you get up from a squat position? If you’re not accustomed to sitting in this position it makes it a little bit harder when you don’t have those leg muscles to help you up.

One thing you can do is rest your hands on your thighs and then when you go to get up, push your hands into your thighs and stick your bum out. Not always pretty, but it’s going to be one of the easier ways to get up.

If you are having trouble keeping steady, you can hug your knees and that will help you stay steady. I’m not always steady and I don’t really want to touch anything but I will take one finger and just touch the wall in front of me just to steady myself. After I clean my hands and its all good.

A quick little travel toilet tip is when you are going into places that have lots of bathrooms, like rest stops, airports or train stations in countries that have squat toilets. You want to check to see if one side has squat toilets and one side has Western toilets. I found this when I was on one of my first trains in Asia. I went to use the bathroom in the morning, it was an overnight train, and when I opened the bathroom door it was a squat toilet. I was like, nope, I can hold it! The thing is though when I was taking my luggage off the train, I saw on the other side it was a Western-style toilet. I’ve seen this in multiple airports as well, so you’ll want to double-check if you go to one side and you see a squat toilet and don’t want to use the squat toilet, check to see if there’s a Western toilet on the other side.

I hope this helps with your fear of using squat toilets. The more you do it, the easier it is and the fear disappears. You’ll almost sometimes prefer using the squat toilet over the Western toilets, especially in places where they’re not used to having Western toilets. They don’t know how to maintain them, how to keep them clean and they usually have a broken seat or no seats at all. Once you are comfortable using a squat toilet the better because sometimes it is the better option.

When you are ready to start planning your new trip abroad, make sure you have a copy of my Free Travel Checklist to ensure nothing goes wrong. It contains the 10 things you Must do before taking your dream trip. Grab it here so you are ready to plan.