What came out first? Toilet paper or Paper towels?

Answer 1

Toilet paper....in the form of a Sears and Roebuck catalog

Answer 2

Definitely the toilet paper came first. Toilet paper is a must, but paper
towels you can live without. We use to use dish rags for everything
until paper towels came out.

Answer 3

Toilet paper was in use in Japan in the 1700s.
Paper towels became household item in the late 1950s.

Answer 4

Hopefully toilet paper

Answer 5

I would guess Toilet Paper.

Answer 6

According to the History Channel, toilet paper.
newspapers used giant rolls of newsprint, a certain length of which was not used. Two brothers bought those, cut them into smaller rolls, and sold them as toilet tissue, it may have been Scott Paper, I am not sure.

Answer 7

toilet paper

Answer 8

i would only asume it would be toiliet paper because sanitation of the "rear end" has been around when people were wiping with leaves. i mean no one would use a paper towel because they would just wave their hands around after washing. well i know that the electric hand drier came after every damn thing.

Answer 9

toilet paper, more of a necessity

Answer 10

Judging by this excerpt from Wikipedia, I guess you could say toilet paper wins quite easily:

14th century: toilet paper first produced in China (for the Emperor's use). Sheets were approximately 60cm x 90cm.
1596: invention of the flushing toilet by Sir John Harington
1700s: newspaper is a popular choice of toilet paper, since it is widely available
1710s: the bidet invented
1792: the Old Farmer's Almanac begins publication; there are several publications by the same name, as well as the Farmer's Almanac, which began publication in 1818. Pages from these publications were often ripped out and used as toilet paper, and later editions have holes punched in them so they could be hung from a hook in outhouses.
1857: Joseph Gayetty sells first factory-made toilet paper (Gayetty's Medicated Paper) in the USA. These were loose, flat, sheets of paper, pre-moistened and medicated with aloe; each sheet has Gayetty's name printed on it.
1877: The Albany Perforated Wrapping Paper Company of Albany, New York sells Perforated Paper ('The Standard'). It is sold 'by all the leading druggists' and is not medicated. It is marketed as being free of 'all deleterious substances' which includes printed materials and chemicals 'incident to the ordinary process of manufacture (which is) a cause of hemorrhoids.' In addition, medicated paper which is 'heavily charged with ointment' was offered for 'sufferers of hemorrhoids.'
1879: Scott Paper Company sells the first toilet paper on a roll, although initially they do not print their company name on the packaging. Paper was sold under the name of various industrial customers, including the Waldorf Hotel, which led to the popular Waldorf brand of toilet tissue.
late 19th century: rolls of perforated toilet paper available for the first time, replaces razor or knife on dispensers
1890s: Sears catalogue first becomes available, commonly used in rural America (initial catalogs were only of watches and jewelry, but by 1895, the catalog was 532 pages in size).
1900: plumbing improvements of the Victorian era have led to wide use of flushing toilet and (in Europe) the bidet
1930s: Sears starts publishing its catalogue on less absorbent glossy paper
1935: Northern Tissue advertises its toilet paper as "splinter-free"
1942: first two-ply toilet paper from St. Andrew's Paper Mill in England; toilet paper becomes softer and more pliable
1943: novelty toilet paper printed with images of Hitler
1973 December 19: comedian Johnny Carson causes a three week toilet paper shortage in the USA after a joke scares consumers into stockpiling supplies
1980: the paperless toilet invented in Japan (combination toilet, bidet and drying element, see Japanese toilet)
1990-1991: Gulf War, American troops camouflage tanks with toilet paper
1990s: tissues containing ingredients like aloe begin to be heavily marketed in the USA
1990s: in the United Kingdom, Andrex sells the first moist toilet tissues (compare wet wipes or baby wipes), over 130 years after Gayetty's Paper
1999: The Virtual Toilet Paper Museum is launched [1], a veritable treasure trove of information.
2005: Portuguese Renova launched the first Black Toilet Paper.
Today in some Muslim countries, toilet paper with added "wet strength" (chemicals to keep it from dissolving in water too quickly) is beginning to be accepted for drying (rather than cleaning, as is common in Western countries).