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.
Native Americans used twigs, dry grass, small stones, and even oyster or clam shells.
Paper became widely available in the 15th century, but in the Western world, modern commercially available toilet paper didn't originate until 1857, when Joseph Gayetty of New York marketed a "Medicated Paper, for the Water-Closet,” sold in packages of 500 sheets for 50 cents.
Cowboy's toilet paper is an invasive wildflower that is native to Eurasia and Africa. It is a biennial, meaning that it lives for two years. During the first year, it grows close to the ground as a basal rosette of leaves.
But what DID they use for toilet paper? Well, you could use a leaf, a handful of moss or your left hand! But what most Romans used was something called a spongia, a sea-sponge on a long stick. The stick was long because of the design of Roman toilets.
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.”
But instead of reaching for a roll of toilet paper, an ancient Roman would often grab a tersorium (or, in my technical terms, a “toilet brush for your butt”). A tersorium is an ingenious little device made by attaching a natural sponge (from the Mediterranean Sea, of course) to the end of a stick.
Nature makes great toilet paper
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. Once we developed agriculture, we had options like hay and corn husks.
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.
Before that, they used whatever was handy -- sticks, leaves, corn cobs, bits of cloth, their hands. Toilet paper more or less as we know it today is a product of Victorian times; it was first issued in boxes (the way facial tissue is today) and somewhat later on the familiar rolls.
Most Italian public toilets don't have a toilet seat.
This has to do with maintenance. Since public toilets are often less than spotless, people often climb with their shoes on top of them, not to sit on a potentially dirty seat.
Wiping buttocks by hand
In the Republic of Sudan, a Muslim country in eastern Africa 10,000 kilometers away from Japan, it is common to wash hands before 5 daily prayers, after a meal and during excretion. During excretion, the left hand is used to wipe the buttocks.
Wiping in the Medieval Times
Before toilet paper was even a concept, people just used whatever was available to wipe. This included items such as hay, wood shavings, corn cobs, and even iron cables.
But they have uncovered samples of pessoi, a humbler, ancient Greek and Roman toilet paper equivalent. Consisting of small oval or circular pebbles or pieces of broken ceramic, pessoi have been uncovered in the ruins of ancient Roman and Greek latrines.
Wipe backward from the perineum, toward and past the anus. “Wipe gently, and use additional toilet paper until the paper is clean and never scrub the skin around the perineum. If you cannot reach behind your back, reaching in between your legs from the front is fine as long as you wipe from front to back,” says Dr.
As toilet paper had not been invented the men would either have to use bits of old rag or rope to clean their back sides or sometimes there was a communal bucket and sponge. Urination was either into buckets or directly over the side. Some men did urinate against the side of the ship or onto the deck.
India: Tourists are often surprised to learn that toilet paper is not easily accessible here. While you may find toilet paper in hotels and some stores in tourist spots, most homes and public places don't have them stocked. The people of this culture use water to clean themselves when necessary.
Dried corncobs. When they arrived in colonial America, the British had to get creative with their personal hygiene choices. First, they used dried corncobs as their form of toilet paper.
We learn, for example, that Anglo-Saxon beer might or might not have included hops (p. 31); that æppel “apple” was a term for fruit in general (p. 34); that moss was used as toilet paper by Anglo-Scandinavians in York (p.
Roman toilets didn't flush. Some of them were tied into internal plumbing and sewer systems, which often consisted of just a small stream of water running continuously beneath the toilet seats.
The Romans used to buy bottles of Portuguese urine and use that as a rinse. GROSS! Importing bottled urine became so popular that the emperor Nero taxed the trade. The ammonia in urine was thought to disinfect mouths and whiten teeth, and urine remained a popular mouthwash ingredient until the 18th century.
In Mexico, if there is a septic tank, it is probably far smaller than those in the United States—especially if it is in rural areas. Therefore, flushing toilet paper in Mexico would require the septic tank to be cleaned more frequently.
During the Roman Empire, women began to wear breast bands to ensure their breasts didn't sag as they got older. Only in the 16th century, thousands of years later, was some sort of breast support invented, in the form corsets.
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.