Toilet paper

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

A roll of toilet paper.

Toilet paper is a soft tissue paper product used to maintain personal hygiene after defecation or urination.

Toilet paper, which differs in composition from facial tissue, is designed to deteriorate when wet in order to keep drain pipes clear. Some types of toilet paper are designed to decompose in septic tanks, while other bathroom and facial tissues do not. Most septic tank manufacturers advise against using paper products that are non-septic tank safe. In different countries, toilet paper is called "loo paper", "toilet roll", "dunny roll/paper", "poo tickets", "bog roll" or even "bathroom tissue". "Jax roll" (a simplified version of "jacks-roll") is a widely used expression in rural Ireland.

[edit] History and alternatives

Wooden toilet paper from the Nara period (710 to 784) in Japan. The modern rolls in the background are for size comparison

Records of human usage of toilet paper first appeared in China, during the 14th century.

The classic 16th century satirical novel Gargantua and Pantagruel by François Rabelais contains references to various toilet paper alternatives. For example, in the 13th chapter of the First Book, titled "How Grandgousier realized Gargantua's marvelous intelligence, by his invention of an Arse-wipe," the giant Gargantua, while still a child, tries dozens of different methods for wiping his bottom, including paper, but unfortunately he finds it "leaves some chips on his ballocks". Finally he discovers the best method.

The first factory-made paper marketed exclusively for toilet use was produced by Joseph Gayetty in the United States in 1857. Gayetty's name was printed on every sheet. Before this invention, wealthy people used wool, lace or hemp for their ablutions, while less wealthy people used their hand when defecating into rivers, or cleaned themselves with various materials such as rags, wood shavings, leaves, grass, hay, stone, sand, moss, water, snow, maize husks, fruit skins, or seashells, and cob of the corn depending upon the country and weather conditions or social customs. In Ancient Rome, a sponge on a stick was commonly used, and, after usage, placed back in a bucket of saltwater.

In some parts of the world, the use of newspaper, telephone directory pages, or other paper products was common. Old Farmer's Almanac was sold with a hole punched in the corner so it could be hung on a nail in an outhouse. The widely-distributed Sears catalogue was also a popular choice until it began to be printed on glossy paper (at which point, some people wrote to the company to complain). In Hervé Bazin's book, "Viper in the Fist", a Catholic family uses pages of the Catholic newspaper, La Croix (after tearing off the cross of Calvary). In modern flush toilets, using newspaper as toilet paper is liable to cause blockages.

Using water to clean oneself, in lieu of toilet paper, is common in India and Muslim countries, where people use their left hand to clean themselves and their right hand for eating or greeting (in parts of Africa, though, the converse is true, and a right-handed handshake could be considered rude). The use of water in Muslim countries is due in part to Muslim sharia which encourages washing after defecation. It is not uncommon to find Indians and Middle Eastern people express their disgust for the use of dry toilet paper as they doubt the effectiveness of just wiping with toilet paper and feel it is impossible to completely clean one's bottom and washing is absolutely necessary. Toilet paper is not as rare today in these households, but in many countries, a hose with a water sprayer (called a "muslim shower" or a "health faucet"^{[citation needed]}) or a pail of water is found instead of a water sprayer. In Northern India and in Japan, a nozzle placed at rear of the closet aims a water jet to the bottom and serves the purpose of cleaning. However this arrangement is common only in "Western" toilets, not in the traditional toilets.

[edit] Timeline

A print by William Hogarth entitled A just view of the British stage from 1724 depicting Robert Wilks, Colley Cibber, and Barton Booth rehearsing a pantomime play with puppets enacting a prison break down a privy. The "play" is comprised of nothing but special effects, and the scripts for Hamlet, inter al., are toilet paper.

• Circa 1391: toilet paper first produced in China (for the Emperor's use). Sheets were approximately 60cm x 90cm.
• 1596: invention of the flushing toilet
• 1700s: newspaper is a popular choice of toilet paper, since it is widely available^{[citation needed]}
• 1710s: the bidet invented.
• 1792: the Old Farmer's Almanac begins publication; there are several publications by the same name, as well as the Farmer's Almanac, which began publication in 1960. Pages from these publications were often ripped out and used as toilet paper, and later editions have holes punched in them so they could be hung from a hook in outhouses.^{[citation needed]}
• 1857: Joseph Gayetty sells first factory-made toilet paper (Gayetty's Medicated Paper) in the USA. These were loose, flat, sheets of paper, pre-moistened and medicated with aloe; each sheet has Gayetty's name printed on it.
• 1877: The Albany Perforated Wrapping Paper Company of Albany, New York sells Perforated toilet paper ('The Standard'). It is sold 'by all the leading druggists' and is not medicated. It is marketed as being free of 'all deleterious substances' which includes printed materials and chemicals 'incident to the ordinary process of manufacture (which is) a cause of hemorrhoids.' In addition, medicated toilet paper which is 'heavily charged with ointment' was offered for 'sufferers of hemorrhoids.'
• 1879: Scott Paper Company sells the first toilet paper on a roll, although initially they do not print their company name on the packaging. Toilet paper was sold under the name of various industrial customers, including the Waldorf Hotel, which led to the popular Waldorf brand of toilet paper.
• late 19th century: rolls of perforated toilet paper available for the first time, replaces razor or knife on dispensers
• 1900: plumbing improvements of the Victorian era have led to wide use of flushing toilet and (in Europe) the bidet
• 1935: Northern Tissue advertises its toilet paper as "splinter-free"
• 1942: first two-ply toilet paper from St. Andrew's Paper Mill in England; toilet paper becomes softer and more pliable. For most of the rest of the twentieth century, both 'hard' and 'soft' paper was common. Hard was cheaper, and was shiny on one side. Sometimes it had messages like 'GOVERNMENT PROPERTY', 'IZAL MEDICATED' or 'NOW WASH YOUR HANDS PLEASE' written on each sheet near the perforation. Eventually soft paper won out as the price differential between the two papers vanished. Hard paper is seldom seen these days in UK, but is still available.
• 1943: novelty toilet paper printed with images of Hitler
• 1973 December 19: comedian Johnny Carson causes a three week toilet paper shortage in the USA after a joke scares consumers into stockpiling supplies
• 1980: the paperless toilet invented in Japan (combination toilet, bidet and drying element, see Japanese toilet)
• 1990s: papers containing ingredients like aloe begin to be heavily marketed in the USA
• 2000s: toilet paper is commonly available in hundreds of different designs, colors, and prints.

Today in some Muslim countries, toilet paper with added "wet strength" (chemicals to keep it from dissolving in water too quickly) is beginning to be accepted for drying (rather than cleaning, as is common in Western countries).

[edit] Modern toilet paper

The advantages of toilet paper are that it is easy and intuitive to use, fairly absorbent, can be conveniently made available near toilets and it can be flushed in most countries where toilet paper is common. Most modern sewage systems, including septic tanks, can accept toilet paper along with human excreta. In many instances, used toilet paper is placed in a tin or dustbin next to the toilet if the plumbing or septic system cannot cope with toilet paper. Misplacing the soiled paper can lead to a serious faux pas, regardless of culture.

Toilet paper also has disadvantages: environmental, infection, cleanliness, replacement costs (materials & time), and a high level of cognitive/ physical functioning to be used properly. The modern alternative: heated bidet - is rapidly decreasing in prices and increasing in variety.

In purchasing toilet paper, there are many deceptive marketing techniques being used. One of the most common is to increase the size of the empty hole or narrow the width and size of the paper. Fancy packaging is another common method, allied with carefully placed advertisements and publicity techniques.

Toilet paper is available in several types of paper, a variety of colors, decorations, and textures, to appeal to individual preference. Toilet paper is sometimes made from recycled paper. Often though, consumer brands of toilet paper such as Kimberly-Clark's Kleenex and Scott brands and Proctor and Gamble's Charmin brand are made from 100% virgin tree fibre which is often sourced from Canada's ancient Boreal forest^[1] Kimberly-Clark has come under recent fire from Greenpeace in an international campaign entitled Kleercut because of the company's manufacture of toilet paper and other tissue products from such pulp. Environmentally friendly toilet paper may also be unbleached, which reduces pollution of waterways and is safer, as fewer chemicals are used.

Toilet paper vary immensely in the technical factors that distinguish them: sizes, weights, roughness, tearability, softness, chemical residues, "finger-breakthrough" resistance, water-absorption, etc. The larger companies have very detailed, scientific market surveys to determine which marketing sectors require/ demand which of the many technical qualities. Modern toilet paper may have a light coating of aloe or lotion or wax worked into the paper to reduce roughness. Quality is usually determined by the number of plys (stacked sheets), coarseness, and durability. Low grade institutional toilet paper is typically of the lowest grade of paper, have only one or two plys, are very coarse and sometimes have small amounts of unbleached/unpulped paper embedded in it. Mid grade two ply is somewhat textured to provide some softness, and is somewhat durable. Premium toilet paper may have lotion and wax, and has 2 to 4 plys made of very finely pulped paper.

Two-ply toilet paper is the standard in many countries, although one-ply is often available and marketed as a budget option, it may also be more appropriate for use in toilets on boats and in camper-vans. Toilet paper, especially if it is marketed as "luxury", may be quilted or rippled (embossed), perfumed, colored or patterned, medicated (with anti bacterial chemicals), treated with aloe, etc. Many novelty designs are also available on toilet paper, from cute cartoon animals to pictures of disfavored political celebrities to pictures of dollar bills. Women who are prone to vaginal Candidiasis yeast infections are advised by some medical experts to use white, unperfumed toilet paper.

Moist toilet paper was first introduced by the Kimberly-Clark Corporation in the United Kingdom by Andrex in the 1990s, and in the United States in 2001, two countries in which bidets are rare. It is designed to clean better than dry toilet paper after defecation, and may be useful for women during menstruation.

The manufacture of toilet paper is a large industry. According to U.S. company Charmin, an American uses an average of 57 sheets of toilet paper a day (20,805 a year)^{[citation needed]}. The toilet paper market is worth about US$2.4 billion a year in America alone.

The term toilet paper has been used throughout this article but it is often known by other (mostly slang) names such as toilet tissue, loo paper, lavatory paper, shit tickets, mountain money, TP, toilet paper, toilet roll, striking paper, loo roll, bumf, bumfodder, bog roll, date roll, and arse wipe.

Novelty toilet paper, printed with text or images the user finds offensive, has been and is being marketed the world over to disparage various politicians, ideologies, nations or religions (for examples, see Manfred van H. and the timeline above).

Toilet roll holder in NZ

Original toilet roll holder

[edit] Installation

Most of the discussion below is about household uses of toilet paper. In large buildings, there are many users, so many very competitive industrial methods exist for the use of toilet paper.

There are two common methods of installing toilet paper rolls on a toilet roll holder. Often a matter of stern debate, and a contentious problem in households with opposing viewpoints (second only to the "toilet seat up/down" debate), the variances are mainly that of personal preference.

The first method of installation has the edge of the roll facing away from the wall and commonly facing the toilet (that is, overhand). This method allows the defecator easy access to grab the toilet paper and pull off the desired amount of paper, as the roll spins toward the user. This, in fact, is the protocol advocated by the toilet paper industry itself, including at Scott Paper's factory (the inventors of toilet paper in 1907). Since the industry designs toilet paper to be used overhand, designs that are patterned, quilted or printed upon toilet paper are found on the outside of the roll; i.e. so that it is displayed. In institutions where there is a defined protocol (e.g. Marriott, Holiday Inn/InterContinental Hotels, United Airlines, the U.S. Army), the "overhand" method is specified.

The second method of installation has the edge of the roll facing the wall and commonly facing away from the toilet (underhand). This method makes it a bit more difficult for the defecator to grab the toilet paper: as the roll spins, it spins away from the user. However, there is an advantage to this method in a household with toddlers, as is makes it less likely that toilet paper will spin off the roll. This is because a toddler is most likely to spin the roll toward himself (or herself). In the case of this installation, as the roll spins toward the toddler, the paper remains wound on the roll. Yet another advantage of this method is that when the toilet paper is folded directly from the roll, it allows the embossed or printed side of the paper to face out. Many modern toilet papers are advertised as being "quilted" or "embossed", so this method would let the user take full advantage of the un-printed or un-quilted side of the product (if that is what one prefers).

A third (but far less common) toilet paper installation method is to dispense without any roller mechanism at all, or use a vertical toilet roll holder.

A fourth method involves a portable roll dispenser that encloses the roll entirely. The roll is oriented vertically, and there is an opening on the top of the container. Before installing the roll into the portable roll dispenser, the cardboard core is removed. The paper is then extracted from the center rather than the edge.

Another method of dispensing the paper does not use a roll at all. Cut sheets are stacked in a dispenser, folded in such a way that removing a sheet causes the next sheet to protrude from the dispenser. This method has the advantage that it can be refilled at any time without waiting for the supply to run out completely (as would be the case with a roll) and is therefore popular in public buildings. Cut sheet dispensers force users to help themselves to one sheet at a time, thus preventing wastefulness. They are also commonly used on rail transports where the motion of the train would cause a roll to rotate and cause a mess. This method may also be used alongside toilets that may be used by "Shomer Shabbat" Jews, some of whom do not tear paper on the Jewish Sabbath, because they believe that tearing paper has connotations to working, which they try to avoid on the sabbath.

[edit] Toilet paper security

Many private and public toilets are provided with toilet paper holders, each of which can hold up to two complete rolls of toilet paper at one time. This arrangement is most effective if paper is always used from the roll with less paper on it. Then, there is an allowance of one complete roll before a completely used roll is replaced. (In effect, the inventory of toilet paper at the toilet has a minimum of one roll and a maximum of two rolls.) However, if both rolls are finished at the same time, there is a risk of being without toilet paper before the next replacement.

[edit] Limited mobility

Those with limited mobility, or those with unusually short arms, such as commonly seen on people with achondroplasia, often find it helpful to wrap the toilet paper around a bottom wiper, which is a plastic instrument with a tong-like clasp at one end to accommodate the toilet paper and a long handle at the other to allow the person to reach his bottom. The person wraps the toilet paper several times around the clasp, and after wiping, can easily eject the toilet paper into the toilet without having to touch the paper. Folding bottom wipers are available, and can be easily stored or carried in a purse.

[edit] Fold or scrunch?

Another matter of personal preference is how to prepare the toilet paper for usage. The predominating methods are either to "fold" a number of sheets together, or to "scrunch" sheets into a loose ball, with "wrapping" the paper round the hand being somewhat less popular.^{[citation needed]} The intensely private nature of the subject, coupled with the fact that the methodology is instilled at a very young age, means that a majority of the people are unaware that the difference exists (or have even thought about it), and may react with shock upon learning that their partner uses an alternative method.^[2]

Anecdotal evidence^[3] suggests that scrunching is more common in America, and folding more common in Europe, and that this difference informs the construction of toilet paper sold in the two markets.^{[citation needed]}

[edit] Modern alternatives

In France, toilet sanitation was supplemented by the invention of the bidet in the 1710s. With the improvements to plumbing in the Victorian era the bidet moved from the bedroom (where it was kept with the chamber pot) to the bathroom. Modern bidets use a stream of warm water to cleanse the genitals and anus (before modern plumbing, bidets sometimes had a hand-crank to achieve the same effect). The bidet is commonplace in many European countries, especially in France and Italy, and also in Japan where approximately half of all households have a form of bidet. It is also very popular in the Middle East.

Main article: Japanese toilet

The first "paperless" toilet was invented in Japan in 1980. It is a combination toilet, bidet and drier, controlled by an electronic panel next to the toilet seat. This has famously led to tourists accidentally activating the bidet and causing a jet of water to shoot high into the air and spray all over the bathroom floor, usually a result of investigating the unfamiliar fixture's buttons, all labeled in Japanese (the fact that some toilets use a button on the same panel to flush exacerbated the problem). Many modern Japanese bidet toilets, especially in hotels and public areas, are labeled with pictograms to avoid the problem, and some newer models even have a sensor that will refuse to activate the bidet unless it detects someone actually sitting on the toilet.

Another popular alternative resembles a miniature shower and is termed as a "health faucet". It is placed on a holder near the toilet, thus enabling the person using it to have it within an arm's length for easy accessibility.

[edit] Other uses

In many South-east Asian nations it is common to see toilet paper used as a general purpose tissue in peoples homes and in restaurants. Higher end restaurants and family homes of the wealthy are more likely to use a western-world idea of tissue for blowing the nose or cleaning the hands at a meal, but otherwise the use of toilet paper for these purposes is common. Plastic holders for toilet paper are commonly used for this general purpose use: these usually take the form of an upside-down cup covering the toilet roll and slightly taller than the actual roll, with a hole in the top. There is a base to the holder too, to form a unit enclosing the paper. The loose end of the paper is poked through the hole and people then take their required amount of paper from the holder, tearing it off by hand at the perforations.

[edit] Printed Toilet Paper

Toilet paper was a medium that was long overlooked for customization. While t-shirts, hats, mugs, and almost every other medium was used to print on, toilet paper lay dormant. Not much is known about the first roll to be printed and offered commercially, but rolls have been seen at auctions with the slogan "wipe out Hitler" which suggests printing on toilet paper has been around since World War 2. Printed toilet paper is growing ever more popular, with a select few website now offering this sevice. Rolls have been sold on eBay depicting George Bush, Paris Hilton and popular sports teams such as the New York Yankees, and Boston Red Sox. Certain websites now offer custom toilet paper printing, with the option of having an enemy's picture printed, or an ex-boyfriend's/ex-girlfriend's.

[edit] See also

• Paper
• Bidet, Toilet, Domestic water system
• Sewage, Sewage treatment
• Hygiene
• Excretion, Urination, Defecation
• Toilet roll holder

[edit] References

1. ^ "Kimberly-Clark 2005 Sustainability Report page 28"
2. ^ "Toilet survey - how do you do yours?" Le-Monte, retrieved 9 June, 2006
3. ^ "This Week - That's torn it" by Andy Coghlan, New Scientist, 10 June, 2000, retrieved 9 June, 2006

• De Beaumont, Sally; Amoret Tanner, Maurice Rickards (2000). Encyclopedia of Ephemera. UK: Routledge, 190-191. ISBN 0415926483. 

[edit] External links

• One of the only sites that offers customized rolls of toilet paper, and prints on toilet paper
• bathroom decor ideas using colored toilet paper
• Greenpeace website exposing link between tissue products and forest destruction
• How to Change a Roll of Toilet Paper
• The World Famous Toilet Survey!
• Scruncher or Folder - Which one are you?
• Toilet paper facts on ToiletPaperWorld.com
• New Jersey's standard for government suppliers -- incl dimensions, ream weight, and Handle-o-Meter
• The virtual toilet paper museum. - Has new and vintage specimens of toilet paper.
• The History of Toilet Paper
• The Toilet Paper Roll Poll