The Best Toilet Seat Cover

Buying Guide

No matter where you are, you’ll need to use a restroom at least a few times a day. If you’re at home, you probably aren’t too worried about germs, especially if you regularly clean your bathrooms. But when you’re in public, you likely don’t have that reassurance. In fact, most people experience a less-than-sanitary public washroom at least a couple of times a year.

To help reduce customer concerns, many public restrooms have toilet seat covers in a dispenser on the wall. But you may not realize you can also buy your own. Some toilet seat covers are even small enough to carry in your purse, pocket or bag so that you’ll always be prepared. Those with children often find disposable toilet seat covers are crucial to have on hand while away from home, and some even come with kid-friendly designs that inject a little whimsy into the experience.

Another type of toilet seat cover is built for businesses that need refills for their dispensers. If you own a small business where only your employees and clients use your restroom, you may be able to get away with buying a small package of refills for your dispensers every couple of months. But public restrooms with constant foot traffic will need to buy these in bulk, as you’ll find they’re being refilled on a far more consistent basis.

• Not all toilet seats are shaped the same. Most seats in public restrooms have what is known as a “U shape,” which feature an opening in the front and more of an elongated shape. U-shaped toilets are said to give women more room to wipe, but they are also less expensive. Home toilets won’t have that gap, and they may either be round or elongated in design.
• If you want a comfortable at-home experience, consider a fabric toilet seat that will provide both warmth and cushioning.
• For disposable toilet seat covers, flushability is important. This may make the cover thinner than you’d prefer, but thicker covers are more likely to clog toilets.
• The thin design of the covers you typically find in public restrooms can make it easy to tear and tougher to keep in place during use. But if you’re a business buying in bulk, you have to weigh the extra cost and clog risk of higher-quality covers against the convenience to your customers. If you’re a consumer buying one to take with you, a thicker, larger cover may be worth the extra expense.
• As you’re shopping for covers, consider that some feature a two-layer design that will provide extra protection from the seat beneath it.
• If you’re buying toilet seat covers to keep with you at all times, portability will be a top issue. Some aren’t individually packed, which means you’ll have to store them in a bag or holder if you’re tucking them into your purse or jacket pocket.