# A Very Un-PC Thread: The Most Unhygienic Custom You Can Think Of. **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [May 8, 2009, 2:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-very-un-pc-thread-the-most-unhygienic-custom-you-can-think-of/495748 "2009-05-08T14:00:57Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 9\ **Page:** 6
**Author:** ![WhyNot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/c77e96/32.png) [@WhyNot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WhyNot)\ **Post date:** [May 12, 2009, 2:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-very-un-pc-thread-the-most-unhygienic-custom-you-can-think-of/495748/101 "2009-05-12T14:27:44Z")
> [@bengangmo](#): > > Dude - you gave yourself away. Are you a kiwi (or did that ad screen other places I don’t know about?) Nope, American as corn. Madge was on TV when I was a tyke (late 70’s, early '80s) and I think they revived her recently, but I’m not sure if they used old footage of the now deceased actress or if they’ve got a new Madge. Thanks to DVRs, I rarely watch commercials anymore. We used Palmolive at home, and more than once, Mom caught me soaking my smooth little preschooler fingers in a dish of it! 😃 ---
**Author:** ![overlyverbose](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/9dc877/32.png) [@overlyverbose](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/overlyverbose)\ **Post date:** [May 12, 2009, 8:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-very-un-pc-thread-the-most-unhygienic-custom-you-can-think-of/495748/102 "2009-05-12T20:54:44Z")
The Mapuche in South America have a tradition where they collect urine, let it ferment and use it as a hair wash. It’s said to make the hair really shiny. Oh, and with respect to the poop-wiping in absence of TP, that’s why many non-Western cultures consider it an insult to shake hands or otherwise touch someone with the left hand. It’s also considered really disgusting to eat left-handed. Also, many children are prevented from left-handedness even if they tend toward it. When you shake someone’s hand offering with your left, you could literally be giving someone the shit hand. It seems to make sense to wash your ass after you poop. I was brought up using TP and will continue to do so, but in theory I imagine that thoroughly washing the area after I defecate would be cleaner then smearing things around down there with a wad of TP. ---
**Author:** ![Noel\_Prosequi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/b19c9b/32.png) [@Noel\_Prosequi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Noel_Prosequi)\ **Post date:** [May 13, 2009, 3:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-very-un-pc-thread-the-most-unhygienic-custom-you-can-think-of/495748/103 "2009-05-13T03:11:04Z")
> [@Erdosain](#): > > … > > If I’m in a hotel, I just use toilet paper to pat the area dry. If there is no toilet paper available, you can just let it drip dry for a few seconds and deal with a little bit of moisture in your underwear. > > … Thanks for that, **Erdosain**. I still don’t think I’m brave enough to risk advertising to the world via a wet seat-of-pants that I have just undertaken a dump, though. ---
**Author:** ![Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e8c25b/32.png) [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Really_Not_All_That_Bright)\ **Post date:** [May 13, 2009, 3:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-very-un-pc-thread-the-most-unhygienic-custom-you-can-think-of/495748/104 "2009-05-13T03:27:03Z")
> [@overlyverbose](#): > > The Mapuche in South America have a tradition where they collect urine, let it ferment and use it as a hair wash. It’s said to make the hair really shiny. Is there any sugar in urine _to_ ferment? ---
**Author:** ![Race\_Harley](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/ecccb3/32.png) [@Race\_Harley](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Race_Harley)\ **Post date:** [May 13, 2009, 3:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-very-un-pc-thread-the-most-unhygienic-custom-you-can-think-of/495748/105 "2009-05-13T03:43:19Z")
> [@MsWhatsit](#): > > Sharing the cup of communion wine always kind of wigged me out. Backwash! 😃 ---
**Author:** ![WhyNot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/c77e96/32.png) [@WhyNot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WhyNot)\ **Post date:** [May 13, 2009, 11:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-very-un-pc-thread-the-most-unhygienic-custom-you-can-think-of/495748/106 "2009-05-13T11:38:01Z")
> [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](#): > > Is there any sugar in urine _to_ ferment? If you’re a diabetic, sure! 😃 It’s not fermentation, it’s decomposition into ammonia. That’ll get your hair squeaky clean all right! ---
**Author:** ![El\_DeLuxo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/el_deluxo/32/9043_2.png) [@El\_DeLuxo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/El_DeLuxo)\ **Post date:** [May 13, 2009, 1:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-very-un-pc-thread-the-most-unhygienic-custom-you-can-think-of/495748/107 "2009-05-13T13:58:35Z")
> [@omgzebras](#): > > The drink made by some (IIRC) Amazon tribe that’s made by chewing up some kind of plant material and spitting it into a pot always struck me as particularly foul. Maybe the fermenting kills the germs but it’s still a big cup of spit. Yech. I think you’re referring to kava-kava, the traditional intoxicant and social/ritual drink of some Melanesian (_not_ Amazonian!) island cultures. From what I understand (never having been there or sampled the stuff), the chewing-and-spitting routine, besides being traditional, is actually necessary for the drink to have its desired effect – something in human saliva emulsifies and potentiates the psychoactive constituent in the root. So, yeah, it sounds sorta gross and health-hazardous to Western sensibilities, but for many moons it was all they had that they could get high on, and sometimes you just “gotta do what you gotta do” ---
**Author:** ![Fear\_Itself](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fear_itself/32/19637_2.png) [@Fear\_Itself](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fear_Itself)\ **Post date:** [May 13, 2009, 4:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-very-un-pc-thread-the-most-unhygienic-custom-you-can-think-of/495748/108 "2009-05-13T16:53:40Z")
> [@DLuxN8R-13](#): > > I think you’re referring to kava-kava, the traditional intoxicant and social/ritual drink of some Melanesian (_not_ Amazonian!) island cultures. Many cultures around the world prepare fermented beverages by chewing and spitting the ingredients. In the Amazon basin, such a beverage is known as [chicha](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chicha), and is made from corn, yuca or plantain: > [@](#): > > In some cultures, instead of germinating the maize to release the starches therein, the maize is ground, moistened in the chicha maker’s mouth, and formed into small balls which are then flattened and laid out to dry. Naturally occurring [ptyalin](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ptyalin) [enzymes](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Enzymes) in the maker’s saliva [catalyses](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Catalysis) the breakdown of [starch](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Starch) in the maize into [maltose](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maltose). (This process of chewing grains or other starches was used in the production of alcoholic beverages in pre-modern cultures around the world, including, for example, [sake](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sake) in Japan.) ---
**Author:** ![WhyNot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/c77e96/32.png) [@WhyNot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WhyNot)\ **Post date:** [May 13, 2009, 6:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-very-un-pc-thread-the-most-unhygienic-custom-you-can-think-of/495748/109 "2009-05-13T18:23:07Z")
> [@DLuxN8R-13](#): > > I think you’re referring to kava-kava, the traditional intoxicant and social/ritual drink of some Melanesian (_not_ Amazonian!) island cultures. From what I understand (never having been there or sampled the stuff), the chewing-and-spitting routine, besides being traditional, is actually necessary for the drink to have its desired effect – something in human saliva emulsifies and potentiates the psychoactive constituent in the root. > > So, yeah, it sounds sorta gross and health-hazardous to Western sensibilities, but for many moons it was all they had that they could get high on, and sometimes you just “gotta do what you gotta do” Nah. Extracts in water just fine. Kava kava was/isn’t routinely chewed (in fact, if you try to chew it, your lips and tongue quickly go numb and you start to drool in a rather undignified manner!), but wrapped in a leaf and pounded with a stone. The goopy mucilage of the leaf extracts the kavalactones. There’s a big ritual element to the whole thing. At one point, kava consumption averaged 1 cup per day for every man, woman and child on the islands - which helps explain why they can support over two dozen tribes with almost no history of warfare! (Source: some ethnobotanist at the AHG conference in '02 - Steven Foster, maybe?) > [@](#): > > In traditional Pohnpean preparation, kava roots are pounded on a large, raised stone selected for its ringing tone. Different rhythms signal the type of feast being prepared and the status of guests. Pohnpei is the only island retaining the custom of pounding kava with fibers from hibiscus bark (Hibiscus tiliaceus). A table of “Reasons for the Pounding of Sakau” includes such milestone events as weddings, births, and deaths; the beginning and ending of seasons for eating certain foods such as yams (Ipomoea batatas) and breadfruit (Artocarpus altilis); building a canoe or a house; or to signal mediation or arbitration when a dispute occurs or a wrong is committed. In this last instance, either the person seeking redress or the one seeking to make restitution presents a kava plant to a chief, who must immediately stop what he is doing and address the issue. Lee describes the process of mediation in one of these ceremonies. Modern times have affected these customs: local stores offer root balls for those who must hastily find one for presentation, and sakau bars serve pre-made sakau, so that socializing can occur without sitting through lengthy preparation. [http://www.physiologics.com/herbclip/review.asp?i=43633](http://www.physiologics.com/herbclip/review.asp?i=43633) [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-very-un-pc-thread-the-most-unhygienic-custom-you-can-think-of/495748.md?page=5)