Monday, November 23, 2009

P Style or How I learned to Pee Standing Up


I've always wanted to be able to pee standing up. I actually tried doing it before without any special devices. The way you do this is to spread your inner labia, shift your pelvis forward a bit, and push with your PC muscles. I'd gotten decent at it while practicing in the shower. I'd even gotten to the point where I could aim for the drain. But the thing with me and learning how to do things with my body is that I start off pretty good at stuff and then its all downhill. I don't know if I become cocky or if I over think it or what exactly happens, but I just lose the ability over time. It totally sucks! So after finally getting good enough to move my skills from the shower to the toilet, I lost the ability to pee standing up. How frustrating!


The good news is that Babeland sent me a stand to pee (STP) device called a P Style. The P Style is a curled piece of plastic that is 7.5" long and comes in different colors (mine came in orange) and acts as a sort of funnel for your urine.


The P Style manufacturers highly recommend that you start by practicing in the shower. I'm glad I did as the first time didn't go exactly as planned. The way that the P Style works is you hold it just below your urethra, bend your legs a bit, and push out using your PC muscles. Well apparently I didn't put it quite in the right spot the first time as some urine escaped down my leg. Luckily my vaginal muscles are like steel and I held the pee in while I repositioned the P Style. That did the trick! I still wasn't really comfortable with going for the toilet after that so I tried it in the shower a few more times until I felt confident. Because really it is incredibly difficult to pee if you're not feeling confident about your ability to get it in the toilet.


I gave it to my wife for a spin as well and she did it perfectly on her first try. She didn't even want me to give her instructions or anything. She just went. Oh how I envy her abilities.


So then, once I'd felt that I mastered the shower I tried peeing with the P Style while sitting down on the toilet just to get the feel of it. That turned out to be a HUGE mistake! Apparently when I sit down to pee my urine just goes everywhere. It didn't help that I had to go really really badly. So I ended up with a very wet hand. OK, lesson learned! The next few times I used the P Style while standing up in front of the toilet, but moved the bathroom rug and took off my pants because I didn't want anything to get pee soaked. The first time didn't go so great. I felt a drop or two drip down and so clamped down and sat to finish the job. However, since then it has been smooth sailing! I've even gotten to the point where I'm comfortable enough to have my pants only half way down. Soon enough I'm hoping to be able to keep my pants on and go.


Now I know you're probably asking yourself, “but how do you wipe?” I know I got that question a couple times when I was twittering about it. You don't need to! Because the stream is focused, the only piss that gets on you is just right around your urethra. So when you're done peeing you slide the P Style up against your vulva catching any of the leftover drops and you're done. No need for toilet paper! Think of the money you'll save on TP!


Now what I'm really curious about is how the P Style will hold up to the new popularity of the GoGirl. They both seem to have their pros and cons, but I haven't tried the latter so I can't really attest to either. But from what I've read and looked at I'd say that the GoGirl seems to be a bit better for traveling as it is made out of a flexible silicone material instead of hard plastic meaning you can easily fold up the GoGirl and you don't have to worry about it snapping in half in your pocket. The GoGirl is also cheaper. However, you still need toilet paper to use the GoGirl and its definitely marketed more towards women and girls (its bright pink!) whereas the P Style seems to be marketed more towards cis-women, trans-men, and genderqueer folks. So we'll see how they battle it out.


Overall, I think the P Style is great, but I do really wish that it would be a bit easier to travel with since you'll need it most when you're out in the world with either no toilets or only really disgusting toilets around. I swear I saw some P Style carriers somewhere on the internets, but now I can't find them. Anyone know? Link in the comments.

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