A Little Toilet Paper Trivia

There is much to said for toilet paper. I, for one, am grateful it exists. 

During the pandemic, many of us were reminded that something as common as toilet paper was not something we should take for granted. As much as we were dumbfounded by the quickly emerging Covid 19 crisis, I think many of us were flabbergasted at the resulting toilet paper shortage. Actually, there was no real shortage, there was just not enough available for home use. While most people holed up at home, cases and cases of commercial toilet paper were left unused in the empty schools and offices thoughout our country. I am sure that more than a few people had to get a little creative to compensate.

In centuries past, before toilet paper was invented as an aid to hemorrhoid care in the mid 1800s, people used whatever was available--rocks, seashells, straw, leaves--until most agrarian areas settled on the ubiquitous corn cobs, which were said to work quite well. 

Ancient Romans used a sponge soaked in salt water or vinegar, that was shared by everyone in the household. Chinese royalty were ahead of their time, using perfumed paper sheets that were created for the use of the imperial court in the 14th century. At about the same time, many Europeans used rags to clean themselves, while rich Europeans made use of wool, hemp, or even lace. Eventually, in the US, old Sears catalogs were transferred to the outhouse when the new ones arrived in the mail, and sheets were pulled out one by one as needed, especially during the Great Depression when numerous families were unable to afford anything better.

Once toilet paper was readily available and affordable, its use skyrocketed. By the 1950s and 60s, perfumed, pastel colored toilet paper was all the rage. I remember using blue or pink toilet paper when I visited at certain friends' and relatives' homes but, from the time I was five years old, until I turned 18, my family was destined to use commercial hotel toilet paper, which was always white, and always single-ply. 

I didn't mind because that's what I was used to and, realistically, it was all that was used in the schools, churches, and businesses, as well.

By the time Bill and I were married in 1974, colored toilet paper was already on the way out, after doctors warned that the dyes used to color the paper could be harmful to our skin, and conservationists decided the dyes were bad for the environment. In addition--and this might be the real reason for the demise of pastel toilet paper--designers decreed that colored toilet paper was no longer aesthetically pleasing. 

Anyway, when Bill and I started to buy toilet paper, we went with the cheapest available, since that's what I was used to. But over the years, I've come to appreciate the value of toilet paper that is at least one step up from what we've usually used. These days, I prefer two-ply toilet paper, while Bill still buys the cheapest one-ply he can find. I think we need to talk...

A bigger toilet paper crisis emerged in our household a little more than a year ago, when we acquired our current cat, Sulley. Unfortunately, Sulley loves toilet paper of any ply, and will unroll it and drag it all over the place, if given the chance. That's why we have to hang our toilet paper "backwards," since that makes it much harder for Sulley to get in trouble with the TP.

Mom and Dad, on the other hand, always hung their toilet paper the way we put it because of Sulley's bad habit, and made a fuss if we happened to install a new roll the wrong way. I've read that hanging it so the paper rolls off the top of the roll is more sanitary, but I think that toilet paper that stays on the roll where it belongs is much more hygienic than paper that has been rerolled after the cat has been playing with it.

Whatever our reasons for hanging our toilet paper with the loose sheets on the underside, I know Mom and Dad would be pleased.

Sulley is definitely Bill's cat.

For everything there is a season, and a time for every purpose under heaven.

Ecclesiastes 3:1