What did people wipe their butts with before toilet paper was invented...?

Question

Seriously folks. Ask your grandparents.

Answer 1

Old cut-up newspapers, rags, leaves.

In the Middle Ages, when most people could not afford to use even rags, it became good etiquette to use one's left hand. The hand was then wiped off on a tree, a rock, etc. This is the origin of the custom that it is rude to greet another person with your left hand (unless you are a leftie, of course).

Ancient Romans used sponges in communal latrines. The sponges were communal too. In other words, there was one sponge on a stick soaking in a bucket of water, and latrine-users would take turns wiping themselves with it. As disgusting as it sounds to modern people, this was a big improvement over what people used before.

Answer 2

Toilet paper has been around long enough for even great grandparents to have used it btw.
The early settlers here in NZ though named a small tree with large soft leaves 'bushmen's toilet paper' - they also it to write on.
And from wiki:

.....The classic 16th century satirical novel Gargantua and Pantagruel by François Rabelais contains references to various toilet paper alternatives. For example, in the 13th chapter of the First Book, titled "How Grandgousier realized Gargantua's marvelous intelligence, by his invention of an ****-wipe," the giant Gargantua, while still a child, tries dozens of different methods for wiping his bottom, including paper, but unfortunately he finds it "leaves some chips on his ballocks". Finally he discovers the best method: the neck of a goose.

The first factory-made paper marketed exclusively for toilet use was produced by Marie Fagliano in the United States in 1857 . Fagliano's name was printed on every sheet. Before this invention, wealthy people used wool, lace or hemp for their ablutions, 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 husks, fruit skins, or seashells, and cob of the corn 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......

Wiki also mentions sand being used in some countries. There is an alternative to paper and that is the 'bidet' which is like a basin but on the floor so you can wash afterwards instead of dry wiping.

Answer 3

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RE:
What did people wipe their butts with before toilet paper was invented...?
Seriously folks. Ask your grandparents.

Answer 4

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Toilet paper was first seen in China in the 14th century, made specifically for the use of the Emporer. Before this invention, wealthy people used wool, lace or hemp for their ablutions, 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 husks, fruit skins, or seashells, and cob of the corn 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. I know in my family's home in Jordan and also in India, they use water and their hands. But they also have toilet paper in most places if they should want to use it.

Answer 5

Hi, the person did mention that people in Jordan do have tiolet paper if they want to use them. I know that when I go camping I sometimes forget to bring my toilet paper so I use a leaves.

Answer 6

moss, leaves, water and the left hand. My grand parents used old newspaper and that hard medicated loo roll. I hate toilet paper myself it spreads dirt, I swear by baby wipes myself or a shower.

Answer 7

What did people use before toilet paper was invented? <<

*Newsprint, paper catalogue pages in early US
*Hayballs, Scraper/gompf stick kept in container by the privy in the Middle Ages
*Discarded sheep's wool in the Viking Age, England
*Frayed end of an old anchor cable was used by sailing crews from Spain and Portugal *Medieval Europe- Straw, hay, grass, gompf stick
*Corn cobs, Sears Roebuck catalog, mussel shell, newspaper, leaves, sand- United States
*Water and your left hand, India
*Pages from a book, British Lords
*Coconut shells in early Hawaii
*Lace was used by French Royalty
*Public Restrooms in Ancient Rome- A sponge soaked in salt water, on the end of a stick
*The Wealthy in Ancient Rome-Wool and Rosewater
*French Royalty-lace, hemp
*Hemp & wool were used by the elite citizens of the world
*Defecating in the river was very common internationally
*Bidet, France
*Snow and Tundra Moss were used by early Eskimos

Answer 8

Most people in the world do not use toilet paper, and consider Americans to be barbarians for doing so. Originally people would relieve themselves near a water source and would cleanse themselves with water. This is still the case for a majority of humans. In the more civilized non-paper-using societies there is either a water sprayer or a source of water and a dipper for the purpose. Americans think a dry bathroom is clean. Most people think a wet bathroom is clean. I was visiting Bangladesh a while back and found that houses tended to have a pond in front for bathing, washing dishes, and also, by using two well-placed bricks to squat on, to relieve oneself. So butt wiping is a very modern invention for rich people, replacing the more cleansing butt-washing most people still use. That's why one only eats or touches people with the right hand. The left hand is for helping the water along.

Answer 9

Newspapers,large leaves

Answer 10

in days of old,when knights were bold,and paper wasn't invented,they wiped their arseon blades of grass,and still they were contented,hope this bit of history helps.