# What pre-dated Charmin?



## Onebigelf (Sep 17, 2011)

So, I've always wondered. What did people do before toilet paper? What do cultures that don't have TP use? What are WE going to do when the wipe runs out? None of the stories cover this.

John


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## machinist (Jul 4, 2012)

Big soft leaves, corn cobs, old Sears catalogs (crunch the page first), reusable rags (for kings, mostly who had someone to do the chore for them), and, plain old water. Water is still used in Asia, although I doubt the effectiveness.

A grizzly bear asked a rabbit if crap stuck to his fur? No, why do you ask? The rabbit found out...


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## Grimm (Sep 5, 2012)

Machinist beat me to it! Damn you!


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## Caribou (Aug 18, 2012)

I talket to a Japanese businessman that touted the benefits of a bidet. I keep my old phone books for any friends that do not prep. :laugh: 

Thanks for the wrinkling tip machinist.


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## helicopter5472 (Feb 25, 2013)

machinist said:


> Big soft leaves, corn cobs, old Sears catalogs (crunch the page first), reusable rags (for kings, mostly who had someone to do the chore for them), and, plain old water. Water is still used in Asia, although I doubt the effectiveness.
> 
> A grizzly bear asked a rabbit if crap stuck to his fur? No, why do you ask? The rabbit found out...


Hi pressure water...it tickles the roids, it easier than that cob. If your going to use a leaf, make sure its not of the poison type cause that's a b#@&h, and may I suggest rubber gloves. Oh, and shovel twice, so no one steps in it, or slips on it...


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## gabbyj310 (Oct 22, 2012)

Overseas in Europe,the Med and now public places in the Mid East,they have little hoses with nice temp water to swish,spray and clean.Don't know if "they" use them but I thought they were awesome.When TSHTF,I think like in the old days, is everyone will have several of their own "rags" and keep them clean in a small bucket of soapy water..In fact if people will just "THINK"many of the thing that was practiced back then may well help us survive after TSHTF in the future


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## cnsper (Sep 20, 2012)

News papers.... that is all they are good for now


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## CrackbottomLouis (May 20, 2012)

The Romans used sponges on a stick. There are still folks that use their left hand out there.


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## d_saum (Jan 17, 2012)

well, right before actual toilet paper... there were just soft pieces of paper called "sanitary napkins"... but they were umm.... rough to say the least. You could get splinters from time to time.. ouch!


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## Davarm (Oct 22, 2011)

For those who have been to/lived in Arab countries(Saudi, Kuait, Qutar...), ever wonder why you see people standing around cleaning their fingernails?


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## Viking (Mar 16, 2009)

We have big leaf maple that grows in abundance around here, but sticks and smooth rocks work too. Yeah, picking the gunk from under fingernails is not leaving my mind soon enough.


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## stanb999 (Nov 14, 2011)

Eat good quality food with plenty of roughage. Eat less crap that is hi in oily fats. A more "primitive" diet. Meats, vegetables, and grains. That still look like meat, vegetables and grains. 

And your stool will firm up and you wont have such a mess. Then the cleaning can be done with bathing as was done for millions of years.


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## Sentry18 (Aug 5, 2012)

I keep all the form letters that my elected officials send out when I make my opinion known. For some reason it just feels right to wipe my @ss with letter head straight from the U.S. Senate. Plus I complain a lot so I have quite a stack of letters.


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## LincTex (Apr 1, 2011)

There was a thread on this a while back. 

Seems the best practice was small cloths (cut from old clothing) that get tossed into a bucket, which are then pre-washed with cold water followed by washing in boiling water. A little sprinkle of pool shock powder in the bucket could keep it from getting too nasty.

The washed and boiled cloth pieces are dried to be used for the next round.


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## Lake Windsong (Nov 27, 2009)

LincTex said:


> There was a thread on this a while back.
> 
> Seems the best practice was small cloths (cut from old clothing) that get tossed into a bucket, which are then pre-washed with cold water followed by washing in boiling water. A little sprinkle of pool shock powder in the bucket could keep it from getting too nasty.
> 
> The washed and boiled cloth pieces are dried to be used for the next round.


Yep, called mama cloth or family cloth in the cloth diapering circles. Goes along with cloth diapering the babies and using cloth menstrual pads.


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## ZoomZoom (Dec 18, 2009)

Come on now, it's the 21st century.

All you need is an iPad. Watch this 40 second video.


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## GrinnanBarrett (Aug 31, 2012)

AS a kid when we still had an outhouse (and not joking) we used the Sears & Roebuck Catalog pages. Also newspaper, J C Penney catalog, Wards Catalog, or anything you could rip a page off easily. that was not that long ago. As they said you do not put those in the outhouse as reading material. GB


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## Fn/Form (Nov 6, 2008)

What came before Charmin? Now you know why the left hand is "unclean" in Mid East/S Asia. Squatty potties are a luxury.


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## readytogo (Apr 6, 2013)

*Toilet paper history.*

Although paper had been known as a wrapping and padding material in China since the 2nd century BC, the first documented use of toilet paper in human history dates back to the 6th century AD, in early medieval China. In 589 AD the scholar-official Yan Zhitui (531-591) wrote about the use of toilet paper.Elsewhere, wealthy people wiped themselves with wool, lace or hemp, 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, ferns, may apple plant husks, fruit skins, or seashells, and corncobs, 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.


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## BillM (Dec 29, 2010)

*They used corn cobs*



Onebigelf said:


> So, I've always wondered. What did people do before toilet paper? What do cultures that don't have TP use? What are WE going to do when the wipe runs out? None of the stories cover this.
> 
> John


They used corn cobs.

You need two red cobs and one white cob.

You use a red cob first and then you use a white cob to see if you need another red cob

.


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## LincTex (Apr 1, 2011)

readytogo said:


> stone, sand, snow, maize, ferns, plant husks, fruit skins, or seashells, and corncobs,


Ow! Ow! Owww! You're making me hop off my chair just thinking about it!!


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## ras1219como (Jan 15, 2013)

GrinnanBarrett said:


> AS a kid when we still had an outhouse (and not joking) we used the Sears & Roebuck Catalog pages. Also newspaper, J C Penney catalog, Wards Catalog, or anything you could rip a page off easily. that was not that long ago. As they said you do not put those in the outhouse as reading material. GB


The outhouse at the homestead where my grandmother grew up had a Sears & Roebuck catalog. She said they would use catalogs and newspapers on a regular basis. That was in the 30s and 40s so in the grand scheme of things not all that long ago. I would still prefer a nice soft bathroom tissue but a catalog was good enough back then and it would be good enough in the future.


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## swjohnsey (Jan 21, 2013)

Romans used a piece of sponge on a stick. Use a piece of washrag, wash it out when you are done. Throw it in the wash when you wash your socks and underwear (if you wear 'em).


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## BillM (Dec 29, 2010)

*Sears & Roebuck*



ras1219como said:


> The outhouse at the homestead where my grandmother grew up had a Sears & Roebuck catalog. She said they would use catalogs and newspapers on a regular basis. That was in the 30s and 40s so in the grand scheme of things not all that long ago. I would still prefer a nice soft bathroom tissue but a catalog was good enough back then and it would be good enough in the future.


My uncle said they always used the Sears& Roebuck catalog but he complained that little green apple season always seemed to coincide with the slick harness pages !


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## Viking (Mar 16, 2009)

My dad had an outhouse that his dear friends tipped over on Halloween, for a makeup gift they gave him a fur lined potty.:laugh:


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## Magus (Dec 1, 2008)

Sand Bubba,Sand.


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