# Toilet paper **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [September 20, 2002, 1:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/toilet-paper/128693 "2002-09-20T01:09:59Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 11\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![insider](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/bbe5ce/32.png) [@insider](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/insider)\ **Post date:** [September 20, 2002, 1:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/toilet-paper/128693/1 "2002-09-20T01:09:59Z")
When and where was the first toilet paper produced for the general public? ---
**Author:** ![Reeder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/c6cbf5/32.png) [@Reeder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Reeder)\ **Post date:** [September 20, 2002, 1:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/toilet-paper/128693/2 "2002-09-20T01:23:26Z")
> [@](#): > > \*USA?1857 - New Yorker Joseph C. Gayetty produced the first packaged bathroom tissue in the United States in 1857. The Gayetty Firm from New Jersey produced the first toilet paper named “The Therapeutic Paper”. It contained an abundance of aloe, a curative addition. The company sold it in packs of 500 sheets for fifty cents, and Joseph Gayetty had his name printed on each sheet! [http://www.toiletpaperworld.com/tpw/encyclopedia/navigation/funfacts.htm](http://www.toiletpaperworld.com/tpw/encyclopedia/navigation/funfacts.htm) ---
**Author:** ![kniz](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/c37758/32.png) [@kniz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kniz)\ **Post date:** [September 20, 2002, 2:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/toilet-paper/128693/3 "2002-09-20T02:55:22Z")
So what did people do before 1857? I’ve often wondered what women did before Kotex came along. Both are reasons that living today has to beat the hell out of way back in history. ---
**Author:** ![mandielise](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/58956e/32.png) [@mandielise](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mandielise)\ **Post date:** [September 20, 2002, 2:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/toilet-paper/128693/4 "2002-09-20T02:58:05Z")
yeah, but back in the day there were no STD’s… you could have fun and not worry about dying! ---
**Author:** ![Reeder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/c6cbf5/32.png) [@Reeder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Reeder)\ **Post date:** [September 20, 2002, 3:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/toilet-paper/128693/5 "2002-09-20T03:29:58Z")
[What women did in the past for menstruation.](http://www.mum.org/pastgerm.htm) ---
**Author:** ![Hemlock](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/c5a1d2/32.png) [@Hemlock](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hemlock)\ **Post date:** [September 20, 2002, 11:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/toilet-paper/128693/6 "2002-09-20T11:42:10Z")
In most parts of the world, people don’t use toilet paper. Been there, done that. This always amuses people, so I’ll repeat it. The deal is this - you have a poo (typically over a squat-style toilet or hole in the ground). You grab the container of water (provided) with your right hand and tip it towards yourself between your legs. With the fingers of your left hand, you wash your backside. When done, you wash your left hand very (very) well. It actually leaves your posterior cleaner than it would be using paper. You don’t reminding about which hand you touch food with. In places with no water, you would use leaves or stones (smooth ones, prefereably), assuming you have no paper of some sort. Useful stuff, paper! I’m not an expert, but the idea of women dripping all over the place seems silly. Certainly in places where people use the above-mentioned backside-cleaning methods, women use (and clean and re-cycle) old rags or re-usable diaper-type garments. ---
**Author:** ![photopat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/e95f7d/32.png) [@photopat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/photopat)\ **Post date:** [September 20, 2002, 3:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/toilet-paper/128693/7 "2002-09-20T15:02:48Z")
Hemlock, there’s one thing about the washing practice which has always bothered me. I’m left handed. I do practically everything with my left hand. Would I be regarded as unclean if I was seen eating with my left hand even though I would have used my right hand to do the washing? Seems unfair. Also, I 've used leaves in the past when outside. Be very, very careful what _kind_ of leaves are used. ---
**Author:** ![Velma](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/85e7bf/32.png) [@Velma](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Velma)\ **Post date:** [September 20, 2002, 5:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/toilet-paper/128693/8 "2002-09-20T17:17:43Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by mandielise \* > \*\*yeah, but back in the day there were no STD’s… you could have fun and not worry about dying! \*\* 😕 When was this time of “no STD’s”? You hear about people having syphillis as far back as Biblical times! Or at the very least, certainly before toilet paper and Kotex. ---
**Author:** ![biker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ce7236/32.png) [@biker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/biker)\ **Post date:** [September 21, 2002, 11:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/toilet-paper/128693/9 "2002-09-21T11:51:24Z")
the term “being on the rag,” often used to describe the cycle, was derived from women simply using a rag as an absorbent medium during their periods. i spent summers on a farm in the fifties and this was common practice. they had a large porcelain jar, with some awful name, they placed the used rags into. ---
**Author:** ![mkl12](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b4bc9f/32.png) [@mkl12](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mkl12)\ **Post date:** [September 21, 2002, 2:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/toilet-paper/128693/10 "2002-09-21T14:06:00Z")
[http://www.straightdope.com/classics/a2\_373.html](http://www.straightdope.com/classics/a2_373.html) ---
**Author:** ![lee](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lee/32/7455_2.png) [@lee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lee)\ **Post date:** [September 21, 2002, 2:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/toilet-paper/128693/11 "2002-09-21T14:35:55Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by kniz \* > \*\*So what did people do before 1857? I’ve often wondered what women did before Kotex came along. Both are reasons that living today has to beat the hell out of way back in history. \*\* [www.mum.org](http://www.mum.org) has some answers.