Misplaced Pages

Revision as of 11:12, 6 January 2007

This article does not cite any sources. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. Find sources: "Toilet paper" – news · newspapers · books · scholar · JSTOR (Learn how and when to remove this message)

Toilet tissue is a tissue paper product designed for the cleaning of the anus to remove fecal material after defecation or to remove remaining droplets of urine from the genitals after urination. It is designed to be soft, so that the tissue will not irritate one's anus, unless one rubs too vigorusly.

Toilet paper, (Toilet paper in American dialect) which differs in composition from facial tissue, is designed to deteriorate when wet in order to keep drain pipes clear. Some types of toilet tissue 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. Toilet tissue is euphemistically called "loo paper", "toilet roll", "bumf", or "bog roll").

History

Records of human usage of toilet tissue 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 tissue 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 tissue is liable to cause blockages.

In monarchical Russia, a subordinate stamped the toilet paper with imperial arms for the use of the Tsar. In the court of Henry VII of England, the Groom of the Stool was given the job of cleaning the royal anus by hand. During the reign of his son, Henry VIII, the title was awarded to favoured minions of the King, though the bum-wiping job itself continued to be carried out by Court functionaries.

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 tissue and feel it is impossible to completely clean one's bottom and washing is absolutely necessary. Toilet tissue is not as rare today in these households, but in many countries, a hose with a water sprayer (called a "health faucet") or a pail of water is found instead of a water sprayer.

Some people will just compromise and use toilet tissue dipped in water to clean themselves. There have been attempts to market wet swipes as toilet paper, but the market was not big enough. In the modern world toilet tissues are being challenged by other techniques, especially bidet type devices. For tender bottoms (e.g. hemorrhoids, diarrhea), toilet tissue must be used with additional chemicals to ease the pain and irritation. For the environmentally conscious, the bidet approach may be superior to toilet tissue. Modern bidets may also be better at removing fecal, parasitic and infectious material in the lower regions.

Sagerica was right

Timeline

• 14th century: toilet tissue 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 tissue, since it is widely available
• 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 tissue, and later editions have holes punched in them so they could be hung from a hook in outhouses.
• 1857: Joseph Gayetty sells first factory-made toilet tissue (Gayetty's Medicated Paper) in the USA. These were loose, flat, sheets of tissue, 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 tissue ('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 tissue which is 'heavily charged with ointment' was offered for 'sufferers of hemorrhoids.'
• 1879: Scott Paper Company sells the first toilet tissue on a roll, although initially they do not print their company name on the packaging. Toilet tissue was sold under the name of various industrial customers, including the Waldorf Hotel, which led to the popular Waldorf brand of toilet tissue.
• late 19th century: rolls of perforated toilet tissue available for the first time, replaces razor or knife on dispensers
• 1890s: Sears catalogue first becomes available, commonly used in rural America (initial catalogs were only of watches and jewelry, but by 1895, the catalog was 532 pages in size).
• 1900: plumbing improvements of the Victorian era have led to wide use of flushing toilet and (in Europe) the bidet
• 1930s: Sears starts publishing its catalogue on less absorbent glossy paper
• 1935: Northern Tissue advertises its toilet tissue as "splinter-free"
• 1942: first two-ply toilet tissue from St. Andrew's Paper Mill in England; toilet tissue becomes softer and more pliable. For most of the rest of the twentieth century, both 'hard' and 'soft' tissue 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 tissues vanished. Hard tissue is seldom seen these days in UK, but is still available.
• 1943: novelty toilet tissue 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 tissueless toilet invented in Japan (combination toilet, bidet and drying element, see Japanese toilet)
• 1990s: tissues containing ingredients like aloe begin to be heavily marketed in the USA
• 2000s: toilet tissue is commonly available in hundreds of different designs, colors, and prints.

Today in some Muslim countries, toilet tissue 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).

Modern toilet tissue

The advantages of toilet tissue 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 tissue is common. Most modern sewage systems, including septic tanks, can accept toilet tissue along with human excreta. In many instances, used toilet tissue is placed in a tin or dustbin next to the toilet if the plumbing or septic system cannot cope with toilet tissue. Misplacing the soiled paper can lead to a serious faux pas, regardless of culture.

Toilet tissue 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 tissue, 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 tissue. Fancy packaging is another common method, allied with carefully placed advertisements and publicity techniques.

Toilet tissue is available in several types of paper, a variety of colors, decorations, and textures, to appeal to individual preference. Toilet tissue is typically made from recycled paper. Environmentally friendly toilet tissue may also be unbleached, which reduces pollution of waterways and is safer, as fewer chemicals are used. Toilet tissue 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 tissue may have a light coating of aloe or lotion 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 tissue 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 tissue may have lotion, and has 2 to 4 plys made of very finely pulped paper.

Two-ply toilet tissue 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 tissue, 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 tissue, from cute cartoon animals via 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 tissue.

Moist toilet tissue 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 tissue after defecation, and may be useful for women during menstruation.

The manufacture of toilet tissue 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). The toilet tissue market is worth about US$2.4 billion a year in America alone.

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

Novelty toilet tissue, 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).

Installation

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

There are two common methods of installing toilet tissue 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 tissue and pull off the desired amount of tissue, as the roll spins toward the user. This, in fact, is the protocol advocated by the toilet tissue industry itself, including at Scott Paper's factory (the inventors of toilet tissue in 1907). Since the industry designs toilet tissue to be used overhand, designs that are patterned, quilted or printed upon toilet tissue 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 tissue: 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 tissue 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 tissue remains wound on the roll. Yet another advantage of this method is that when the toilet tissue is folded directly from the roll, it allows the embossed or printed side of the tissue to face out. Many modern toilet tissues 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 tissue 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 tissue is then extracted from the center rather than the edge.

Another method of dispensing the tissue 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 on the Jewish Sabbath.

In terms of the debate, Kenn Fischburg, the President of www.ToiletPaperWorld.com states, "Many hotels install the toilet tissue to pay out from over the top in order to make a nice pointed triangle on the end sheet. This points out to the user that someone cleaned the bathroom and paid attention to the 'finer' details. However, others feel that in a public facility it is best to install to pay out from underneath. In this way, the dispensing and tearing is more controlled and therefore less people will touch the roll of tissue, therefore less cross contamination. Also, keeping the tissue closer to the wall by dispensing from underneath provides a 'cleaner less intrusive' environment, especially in close quarters. Some dispensers have a top cover that helps the user pull and tear the tissue. In this case the roll should be dispensed from the top allowing the user to 'pull up' on the tissue and tear it easily. So, it depends on the dispenser, the location and the facility. However, the simple concern about the installation of the roll may have a deeper meaning and may be indicative of a different issue in the personality of the user."

Toilet tissue security

Many private and public toilets are provided with toilet tissue holders, each of which can hold up to two complete rolls of toilet tissue 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 tissue 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 tissue before the next replacement.

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 tissue around a bottom wiper, which is a plastic instrument with a tong-like clasp at one end to accommodate the toilet tissue and a long handle at the other to allow the person to reach his bottom. The person wraps the toilet tissue several times around the clasp, and after wiping, can easily eject the toilet tissue into the toilet without having to touch the paper. Folding bottom wipers are available, and can be easily stored or carried in a purse.

Fold or scrunch?

Another matter of personal preference is how to prepare the toilet tissue 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 tissue round the hand being somewhat less popular. 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.

Anecdotal evidence suggests that scrunching is more common in America, and folding more common in the UK, and that this difference informs the construction of toilet tissue sold in the two markets.

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.

The first "tissueless" 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.

Other uses

In many South-east Asian nations it is common to see toilet tissue 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 tissue for these purposes is common. Plastic holders for toilet tissue 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 tissue. The loose end of the tissue is poked through the hole and people then take their required amount of tissue from the holder, tearing it off by hand at the perforations.

See also

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

References

1. "Toilet survey - how do you do yours?" Le-Monte, retrieved 9 June, 2006
2. "This Week - That's torn it" by Andy Coghlan, New Scientist, 10 June, 2000, retrieved 9 June, 2006

This article does not cite any sources. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. Find sources: "Toilet paper" – news · newspapers · books · scholar · JSTOR (June 2006) (Learn how and when to remove this message)

External links

• 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

• Articles lacking sources from June 2006
• Paper products
• Toilets