For someone like me, I look at pooping as a great thing in life. It’s like falling in love. Giddy feeling at first, you have sweaty hands, the excitement builds and your hair rises as you anticipate, then relief once you let go and let it happen. 

In a country where toilets aren’t like those in Japanese Home and Public toilets, I’ve seen how some people try as much as they can to avoid pooping in public.

It’s like pooping is a curse and a smelly dilemma. Have you ever encountered a situation where you enter a public restroom greeted by indescribable scent that you have to grin and bear. Have you ever experienced hearing fellow toilet goers loudly complaining and shaming whoever’s inside one of the cubicles doing number two like all living beings.

I know there are times that I feel like wanting to complain whenever I am in the public toilet. Luckily, most of the toilets nowadays are well maintained, with janitorial services to help make sure that their assigned restrooms are clean and fresh smelling. However, there are few occasions where they are not around and people have to do number 2.

A shared public restroom became one of the dreaded places for me when I experience tummy ache. The lack of water to clean your bumbum, lack of tissue papers and luxurious privacy to fart my feelings out turns me off, because of this, I asked around fellow colleagues, strangers and family members on what they do to make public pooping as graciously and comfortable as possible. 

Here are the gracious ways one can poop and not offend others in a graceful and peaceful manner.

1. The poopy bag = this bag is what I call the “Discreet bag”. Discreet in a sense that it’s not too large and not too small, something you can carry anywhere and placed inside your main bag. This bag also has all my money, debit/credit cards, keys, lipstick, compact powder, swiss knife and hand-picked emergency medicines (anti-histamine, anti-diarrhea medication, antacid, Tolak Angin).
2. Mobile Phone = Very useful! You can play music to drown out the farts or watch Netflix with full volume so that the people outside your cubicle can enjoy hearing the drama conversation than the gassy situation.

I always carry a poopy bag in my backpack. What is a poopy bag? A poopy bag consist of the following:

a. 50 ml spray bottle of toilet seat disinfectant/toilet seat cleaner – You use this after wiping the toilet seat. You spray and just like what Messy Bessy said, “park your rear without fear”

b. spray bottle of toilet deodorizer – I got mine from Messy Bessy called “Be Poolite”. It works like magic. You spray it on the toilet bowl water 3 times. By the time your “feelings” plop down the toilet, you won’t smell a thing thus saving your nose and those around you from a smelly dilemma. 

c. 50 ml Spray bottle of my favorite alcohol/liquid sanitizer – You can spray this around as you poop so that the air around you becomes zen like. Try it! 

d. Wet tissues/wipes – to wipe off your rear after being the poopy-nator if you don’t have a dipper with water or bidet. Filipinos don’t feel okay with just wiping off with toilet paper. We don’t feel clean if we don’t use water or wet wipes. 

e. Soft facial tissues – of course, after using wet wipes, you use facial tissue to make the final mark of your relaxing journey to the toilet. You use it to wipe clean the wet trails left by the wet wipes and voila, your rear is squeaky and sparkly clean.

One of the main reasons why I have the poopy bag is because I have a very sensitive digestive tract, I also suffer from Irritable Bowel Syndrome and it’s no laughing matter if you are outside and experience tummy ache 30 minutes to 1 hour after eating. Anyone out there who experienced the same, I feel you guys. It’s not something to take very lightly because no one wants to suffer from diarrhea almost every meal if you consume fatty and oily food.

I know some people use expensive brands like signature perfume or Isoprophyl/Ethyl alcohol to neutralize the scent of their poop while in public toilets. If you have the money then great for you but if you love DIYs, you can check YouTube and the web for some alternatives to making the stuff in the poopy bag that I mentioned.

Let me know in the comment section the products you use in your own poopy bags and tips and tricks when using the public toilet.

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