The Romans cleaned their behinds with sea sponges attached to a stick, and the gutter supplied clean flowing water to dip the sponges in. This soft, gentle tool was called a tersorium, which literally meant “a wiping thing.” The Romans liked to move their bowels in comfort.
If you relieved yourself in a public latrine in ancient Rome, you may have used a tersorium to wipe. These ancient devices consisted of a stick with a vinegar- or salt water-soaked sponge attached.
Tersoria, used by ancient Romans to clean themselves after defecating, took the idea of “communal” toilets to a whole new level. Human urine is full of ammonia and other chemicals that are great natural detergents.
Juniper, shredded cottonwood bast, cattail down, soft moss, and scented herbs were used as absorbent, disposable diapers. The Arapaho packed thoroughly dried, and finely powdered buffalo or horse manure between baby's legs to serve as a diaper and prevent chafing.
The xylospongium or tersorium, also known as sponge on a stick, was a hygienic utensil used by ancient Romans to wipe their anus after defecating, consisting of a wooden stick (Greek: ξύλον, xylon) with a sea sponge (Greek: σπόγγος, spongos) fixed at one end.
Most significantly, when it comes to halting foul odors in the 21stcentury, the Romans recorded some of the earliest instances of applying alumen—the main ingredient in many antiperspirants today—as a deodorizer.
Mullein aka “cowboy toilet paper”
If the cowboys used the large velvety leaves of the mullein (Verbascum thapsus) plant while out on the range, then you can too! Mullein is a biennial plant available for use in almost every bioregion.
A subligaculum was a kind of undergarment worn by ancient Romans. It could come either in the form of a pair of shorts, or in the form of a simple loincloth wrapped around the lower body. It could be worn both by men and women. In particular, it was part of the dress of gladiators, athletes, and of actors on the stage.
Juniper, shredded cottonwood bast, cattail down, soft moss, and scented herbs were used as absorbent, disposable diapers. The Arapaho packed thoroughly dried, and finely powdered buffalo or horse manure between baby's legs to serve as a diaper and prevent chafing.
Bathing was a communal activity: the largest known baths could take 3000 people at a time, clean and dirty, healthy and sick. No one used soap. People preferred to be slathered in oil and scraped clean with a curved implement called a strigil.
Ancient Romans used to use both human and animal urine as mouthwash in order to whiten their teeth. The thing is, it actually works, it's just gross. Our urine contains ammonia, a compound of nitrogen and hydrogen, that is capable of acting as a cleansing agent.
Bathing was a custom introduced to Italy from Greece towards the end of the 3rd century B.C. Early Romans washed their arms and legs everyday, which were dirty from working, but only washed their whole bodies every nine days.
Nature makes great toilet paper
Not much is known about how cavemen wiped their butts. But it stands to reason early humans used whatever was on hand. Leaves, sticks, moss, sand and water were common choices, depending on early humans' environment.
The Romans were unprecedented in their adoption of toilets. Around the first century bc, public latrines became a major feature of Roman infrastructure, much like bathhouses, says Koloski-Ostrow. And nearly all city dwellers had access to private toilets in their residences.
Yet throughout human existence, parents have cared for their babies hygienically without diapers. This natural practice is common in Asia, Africa, and parts of South America, and was traditionally practiced among the Inuit and some Native North American peoples.
Using slit-bottom pants called kaidangku, Chinese children have traditionally used very few diapers. Instead, they're encouraged from as early as a few days old to release when they're held over a toilet.
Sometimes diaper substitutes are used - perhaps in an arctic climate or among families who swaddle their babies. Substitute diapers are made from natural and readily accessible materials such as moss, lichen, rabbit skin, leather strips or camel dung.
The Romans—like numerous peoples before them—most certainly did wear underwear, the most fundamental of which was a loincloth knotted on both sides. It went under a number of names, such as subligaculum or subligar, a protective affair common on athletes.
Loincloths, known as subligacula or subligaria could be worn under a tunic. They could also be worn on their own, particularly by slaves who engaged in hot, sweaty or dirty work. Women wore both loincloth and strophium (a breast cloth) under their tunics; and some wore tailored underwear for work or leisure.
Citizens of Rome would wear a tunic under their toga. The simplest and cheapest tunics were made by sewing two pieces of wool together to make a tube with holes for the arms. For those that could afford it tunics could be made of linen or even silk.
Starved for female companionship, the saloon girl would sing for the men, dance with them, and talk to them – inducing them to remain in the bar, buying drinks, and patronizing the games.
When not dirtying their drinking water they could also be found using rags, wood shavings, grass, leaves, hay, moss, snow, sand, stone and even, oddly, seashells. I'm betting that some of them weren't exactly as delicate and comforting as today's modern toilet paper.
Description: The waterlogged areas of the excavation at Whithorn uncovered preserved 'sheets' of moss, which had been discarded. Closer analysis revealed them to be studded with fragments of hazel nut shells, and blackberry pips.