Before The Toilet Paper what did people use?

[randomdood 0]

i thought they used there hands, cuz there was this one story about it but i forgot, i think your left hand is your wiping hand.... anyway, it was disgusting no matter what they used, back before toliet paper things were not as hygenic as today anyway.

[squeaky 0]

They must have used leaves, I mean who on this earth would want to use their hands to clean up their own business? Animals don't even do that. They poop and leave. And I don't they had enough animal hide or cloth back in those days.I think they used leaves until they thought that using leaves started getting nasty. I wonder if they ever come across poison ivy. xD

[iGuest 3]

Be grateful you have toiletpaper

Before The Toilet Paper

 

You may not believe this, but it was once common practice in rural America to leave a corncob hanging from a string in the outhouse for purposes of personal hygiene. The string, I gather, was to permit the cob to be reused. For those who were punctilious in these matters, or else blessed with an abundance of corncobs, a box of disposable cobs might be provided instead. In coastal regions, the cob might be replaced by a mussel shell.

 

For those who had access to it, paper from discarded books or newspapers was often preferred to either of the foregoing. The meteoric growth of the Sears Roebuck company, for instance, is thought to be partly attributable to the protean nature of its catalogs, which, historians tells us, might serve a family of regular habits for an entire season. As with the cob, the catalog would be hung in the outhouse on a string and pages torn off as needed. It is said the use of coated stock, which was nonabsorbent, was a source of great consternation to farm families when Sears began printing color pictures in the catalog earlier in this century.

 

English lords, in attempting to teach their sons to be cultivated gentlemen, often advised purchasing an inexpensive volume of verse for use in the loo. The idea, of course, was that while you were sitting there in a contemplative state you would be able to read a few stanzas, subsequent to which the paper could be put to other ends, so to speak.

 

 

-reply by Ravynmoon835

[i_speel_good 0]

I was watching Brainiac (The history abuse one) the other day and they were trying to see what's best to wipe your butt with. They got toilet paper, a brush, some other thing I can't remember, and a guy with his left arm... yikes. They made elastic butts and added stuff in them (pretty much goo-y stuff like jelly), It was either the brush or the arm that won xD

[aegreatone 0]

unmm, ya used ya hands and then wash ya hands with water

[hertonsils 0]

Hahahaha what a funny question. I'm guessing leaves or bark... or nothing at all? (Hey you asked!)

[polly-ester 0]

Before they had toilet paper, they had mail order catalogues.