Buzz
The journey of bathroom habits has evolved significantly since ancient Greek times when stones and fragments of clay were used for personal hygiene. Toilet paper, something often overlooked in the modern world, was certainly not always a given. People in various cultures across history found their own unique ways to stay clean, well before the widespread availability of toilet paper.
The Romans took things up a notch compared to the Greeks. Instead of using stones, they had a shared sponge on the end of a long stick for cleaning, stored in a bucket of saltwater. Public restrooms featured long marble benches with holes, not just for the usual purpose, but also designed for the communal use of the sponge-on-a-stick. Privacy? Not much. You'd be sitting beside the neighbor from the insulae down the street.
Around 1391, during the Song Dynasty in China, an emperor ordered the creation of large paper sheets measuring 2 feet by 3 feet for his personal hygiene. Prior to this royal decree, the Chinese had used a variety of random paper items for their toilet needs.
In colonial America, things weren’t much more advanced. After settlers departed Great Britain for the colonies, they had to make do with what they could find, like corncobs. Not exactly comfortable. It wasn’t until later that they discovered old newspapers and catalogs worked just as well. In fact, the hole in the corner of the Old Farmer’s Almanac was intentionally placed so it could be hung up in outhouses.
Though Queen Elizabeth I’s godson invented one of the first flush toilets in 1596, toilet paper didn’t become commercially available until 1857.
As late as 1935, Quilted Northern, formerly Northern Tissue, boasted that their toilet paper was “splinter-free.” Given that the company is still a major player in the multi-ply, billion-dollar industry today, their marketing strategy clearly hit the mark—splinter-free was a highly sought-after feature. However, toilet paper isn’t the go-to for everyone; in India, many still rely on the left-hand-and-bucket-of-water technique.
Today, we have luxury bathroom accessories like portable bidets, toilet stools, and special toilet rolls made just for Millennials—so there’s no going back to the days of the brush-on-a-stick.
