Reason why some public toilets have u-shaped seats

On your travels, you might have noticed that public toilets are very different than the ones you have at home.

Typically, the loos we have in our own homes are equipped with a comfortable oval or circle shaped seat.

But if you haven't noticed before - and we encourage you do next time you are in a public toilet - not all of them have that traditional shaped seat. Find out why in the video below:

Some public toilets seats boast a rather unique and incomplete U shape - which sounds quite frankly, uncomfortable.

But, of course, there is some reasoning behind the change, and it is mostly down to hygiene.

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This unique toilet seat is known as an open-front toilet seat, and is the go-to for most public toilets thanks to the American Standard National Plumbing Code.

This code for toilets goes back nearly 70 years to 1955 when it was first created.

It was then further commissioned by the Uniform Plumbing Code in 1973, which allowed the U-shaped toilet seat to go mainstream.

The code says: "Water closets shall be equipped with seats of smooth non-absorbent material. All seats of water closets provided for public use shall be of the open-front type."

The whole idea behind this is obviously hygiene, as the amount of people sitting on a public toilet seat in any given day is not a number we'd like to know.

But with these U-shaped seats, there is less surface area for germs to thrive, so less contact made with your nether regions.

The toilet seat was also apparently designed with women in mind. Lynne Simnick, senior director of code development at the International Association of Plumbing and Mechanical Officials told Slate that the open seat was designed to let women 'wipe the perineal area after using the water closet' without using a seat that might be unhygienic.

JG Photography / Alamy Stock Photo

Simnick also added that the open-front seat 'eliminates an area that could be contaminated with urine' while also 'eliminates the user’s genital contact with the seat'.

Before this, many people speculated on the reasoning behind the odd-looking toilet seat.

According to Slate, some of the theories as to why the seat is used included men apparently being less careful in public toilets, and the U-shaped seat may be cleaner than the traditional oval if it isn't raised.

Other theories said people being afraid of catching STIs from public toilets and the U-shape seat being easier to clean as contributing factors.