# Thoughts on Bathroom Tissue **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [February 15, 2024, 5:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/thoughts-on-bathroom-tissue/997609 "2024-02-15T17:00:04Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 8
**Author:** ![Voyager](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/voyager/32/133_2.png) [@Voyager](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Voyager)\ **Post date:** [March 3, 2024, 9:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/thoughts-on-bathroom-tissue/997609/141 "2024-03-03T21:03:33Z")
Class of '73, and I assume MIT kept them in business. ---
**Author:** ![Dewey\_Finn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dewey_finn/32/4222_2.png) [@Dewey\_Finn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dewey_Finn)\ **Post date:** [March 3, 2024, 9:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/thoughts-on-bathroom-tissue/997609/142 "2024-03-03T21:06:04Z")
Did that Springfield Oval toilet paper look like [this](https://www.historicnewengland.org/explore/collections-access/gusn/310687), a flattened roll? ---
**Author:** ![Tibby](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tibby/32/17030_2.png) [@Tibby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tibby)\ **Post date:** [March 3, 2024, 9:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/thoughts-on-bathroom-tissue/997609/143 "2024-03-03T21:14:47Z")
> [@Die\_Capacitrix](#): > > Also 6-ply. This is product available in the Migros closest to me Oh, a 6-ply roll would last me ages. I budget myself 1 sheet per bowel movement. 1 sheet with 6 plies would give me 12 wipes (using both sides of each ply). I’m going to shake your hand for telling me about 6-ply paper! ---
**Author:** ![Dr\_Paprika](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dr_paprika/32/3042_2.png) [@Dr\_Paprika](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dr_Paprika)\ **Post date:** [March 3, 2024, 9:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/thoughts-on-bathroom-tissue/997609/144 "2024-03-03T21:51:51Z")
I hope you don’t eat anything that casts a shadow. ---
**Author:** ![kenobi\_65](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kenobi_65/32/13178_2.png) [@kenobi\_65](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kenobi_65)\ **Post date:** [March 3, 2024, 9:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/thoughts-on-bathroom-tissue/997609/145 "2024-03-03T21:53:38Z")
> [@Tibby](#): > > I’m going to shake your hand for telling me about 6-ply paper! Hopefully not with the same hand. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Dr\_Paprika](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dr_paprika/32/3042_2.png) [@Dr\_Paprika](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dr_Paprika)\ **Post date:** [March 3, 2024, 9:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/thoughts-on-bathroom-tissue/997609/146 "2024-03-03T21:54:13Z")
On an unrelated note, want some M&Ms? ---
**Author:** ![Lumpy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lumpy/32/446_2.png) [@Lumpy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lumpy)\ **Post date:** [March 3, 2024, 10:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/thoughts-on-bathroom-tissue/997609/147 "2024-03-03T22:24:38Z")
> [@Tibby](#): > > I budget myself 1 sheet per bowel movement. Without getting into gory detail I’ll just say that simply wouldn’t work for me. ---
**Author:** ![EinsteinsHund](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/einsteinshund/32/8400_2.png) [@EinsteinsHund](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EinsteinsHund)\ **Post date:** [March 3, 2024, 10:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/thoughts-on-bathroom-tissue/997609/148 "2024-03-03T22:26:48Z")
> [@Dr\_Paprika](#): > > On an unrelated note, want some M&Ms? The brown ones? ---
**Author:** ![Voyager](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/voyager/32/133_2.png) [@Voyager](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Voyager)\ **Post date:** [March 4, 2024, 1:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/thoughts-on-bathroom-tissue/997609/149 "2024-03-04T01:00:27Z")
> [@Dewey\_Finn](#): > > Did that Springfield Oval toilet paper look like [this](https://www.historicnewengland.org/explore/collections-access/gusn/310687), a flattened roll? That the stuff. Though ours was not quite as old as the one in the picture. It needs a special holder, as you notice. When I went back for my reunion last year they seem to have replaced it with slightly more reasonable paper. ---
**Author:** ![Dewey\_Finn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dewey_finn/32/4222_2.png) [@Dewey\_Finn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dewey_Finn)\ **Post date:** [March 4, 2024, 1:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/thoughts-on-bathroom-tissue/997609/150 "2024-03-04T01:03:15Z")
Seriously? I thought MIT was full of smart people. Why would they use a flattened roll? Don’t they have circles in Cambridge? ---
**Author:** ![Dewey\_Finn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dewey_finn/32/4222_2.png) [@Dewey\_Finn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dewey_Finn)\ **Post date:** [March 4, 2024, 1:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/thoughts-on-bathroom-tissue/997609/151 "2024-03-04T01:12:39Z")
Further Googling leads to [this page](https://www.ameraproducts.com/Progression-of-Toilet-Tissue-Dispensers.htm) with a photo of a Springfield Oval dispenser along with an explanation. “This was designed to conserve the amount of paper used in one sitting as the toilet paper automatically stops after 3/4 of a turn and the perforated paper comes off.” ---
**Author:** ![Voyager](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/voyager/32/133_2.png) [@Voyager](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Voyager)\ **Post date:** [March 4, 2024, 1:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/thoughts-on-bathroom-tissue/997609/152 "2024-03-04T01:23:31Z")
I guess it was so our brilliant ideas didn’t go down the crapper. We fooled them - one of the first things you learned to do in the dorms was figure out how to unwind more than a tiny bit. ---
**Author:** ![Dewey\_Finn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dewey_finn/32/4222_2.png) [@Dewey\_Finn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dewey_Finn)\ **Post date:** [March 4, 2024, 1:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/thoughts-on-bathroom-tissue/997609/153 "2024-03-04T01:46:37Z")
So was this some sort of test for new first-year MIT students? To figure out how to hack the toilet paper dispensers to unwind a sufficient amount? They didn’t do that at the nerd school I attended in Troy. ---
**Author:** ![Jophiel](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jophiel/32/66_2.png) [@Jophiel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jophiel)\ **Post date:** [March 4, 2024, 2:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/thoughts-on-bathroom-tissue/997609/154 "2024-03-04T02:31:18Z")
> [@Dewey\_Finn](#): > > More importantly, I don’t believe that baby wipes and those aimed at adult users are really flushable Once upon a time we used “Septic safe, Flushable wipes”. When I got the septic tank emptied later, the guy commented on all the non-degraded wipes filling the tank. Fortunately none (that I know of) made it up into the pipes leading to the drain field but that was enough to put an end to flushing any wipes and I later bought a bidet attachment for the toilet that works great. Was all of $70 or so, so it’s easily paid for itself in not buying packages of wipes and preventing septic issues. ---
**Author:** ![Lumpy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lumpy/32/446_2.png) [@Lumpy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lumpy)\ **Post date:** [March 4, 2024, 3:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/thoughts-on-bathroom-tissue/997609/155 "2024-03-04T03:45:49Z")
Basically for anything to be flushable it has to disintegrate after a short exposure to moisture. So by definition any sort of pre-moistened wipe is not going to qualify. ---
**Author:** ![Orville\_mogul](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/aeb1de/32.png) [@Orville\_mogul](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Orville_mogul)\ **Post date:** [March 4, 2024, 10:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/thoughts-on-bathroom-tissue/997609/156 "2024-03-04T10:02:34Z")
> [@Die\_Capacitrix](#): > > Also 6-ply. This is product available in the Migros closest to me I am feeling a bit of francophone-germanophone rivalry here. Forget about Röstigraben, let’s have a TPgraben! ---
**Author:** ![Mama\_Zappa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/71e660/32.png) [@Mama\_Zappa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mama_Zappa)\ **Post date:** [March 15, 2024, 3:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/thoughts-on-bathroom-tissue/997609/157 "2024-03-15T15:56:19Z")
> [@Dewey\_Finn](#): > > That’s good but very many people do flush them, causing lots of problems. Plus the trash they generate. Note that the person who mentioned wipes specifically said “baby wipes”; there are wipes designed specifically for adults. which claim to be flushable (but as noted, really aren’t). Bidets are the clear choice, environmentally-speaking. We still do use some TP - for drying off. ---
**Author:** ![SuntanLotion](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/suntanlotion/32/16165_2.png) [@SuntanLotion](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SuntanLotion)\ **Post date:** [March 15, 2024, 4:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/thoughts-on-bathroom-tissue/997609/158 "2024-03-15T16:00:25Z")
I use at least 10 squares after I pee. Then I use 10 more. Then I use more as a panty liner. And why is Charmin twice the price of Cottonelle? ---
**Author:** ![Dewey\_Finn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dewey_finn/32/4222_2.png) [@Dewey\_Finn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dewey_Finn)\ **Post date:** [March 15, 2024, 4:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/thoughts-on-bathroom-tissue/997609/159 "2024-03-15T16:01:42Z")
Those bears cost a lot. Formerly, the advertising company recovered some money renting them out to the circus but that’s not an option any longer. ---
**Author:** ![kayaker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kayaker/32/441_2.png) [@kayaker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kayaker)\ **Post date:** [March 15, 2024, 4:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/thoughts-on-bathroom-tissue/997609/160 "2024-03-15T16:25:36Z")
> [@SuntanLotion](#): > > And why is Charmin twice the price of Cottonelle? I used to avoid generic toilet paper or paper towels, then I tried Sam’s Club paper products (Maker’s Mark). They are priced like generic, but they are actually superior to the name brands in my opinion. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/thoughts-on-bathroom-tissue/997609.md?page=7) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/thoughts-on-bathroom-tissue/997609.md?page=9)