what did people use before toilet paper?

Answer 1

their dogs? eeeww!
i had a brother who need to make evac in the woods once, forgetting to bring along toilet paper or water. So he decided to use leaves. Didn't know what kind of leaves they were, but he really got discomfort back in the car, so much irritation and scratching, the rest of the gang almost died laughing until we reach a gas station and have himself cleaned.

Answer 2

What did people use before toilet paper? Well, just use your imagination: grass, leaves, fur, mussell shells, corncobs, stinging nettles... okay, maybe not that last, at least not more than once. The ancient Greeks used stones and pieces of clay; ancient Romans used sponges on the ends of sticks, kept in jugs filled with salty water. Mideasterners commonly used the left hand, which is supposedly still considered unclean in the Arabian region.
"Official" toilet paper - that is, paper which was produced specifically for the purpose - dates back at least to the late 14th Century, when Chinese emperors ordered it in 2-foot x 3-foot sheets.
Corncobs and pages torn from newspapers and magazines were commonly used in the early American West. The Sears catalogue was well-known in this context, and even produced such humorous spinoffs as the "Rears and Sorebutt" catalogue. The Farmer's Almanac had a hole in it so it could be hung on a hook and the pages torn off easily.
Joseph C. Gayetty of New York started producing the first packaged toilet paper in the U.S. in 1857. It consisted of pre-moistened flat sheets medicated with aloe and was named "Gayetty’s Medicated Paper". Gayetty's name was printed on every sheet.
Rolled and perforated toilet paper as we're familiar with today was invented around 1880. Various sources attribute it to the Albany Perforated Wrapping (A.P.W.) Paper Company in 1877, and to the Scott Paper company in 1879 or 1890. On a side note, the Scott Company was too embarrassed to put their name on their product, as the concept of toilet paper was a sensitive subject at the time, so they customized it for their customers... hence the Waldorf Hotel became a big name in toilet paper.

Here's an 1886 Albany Perforated Wrapping (A.P.W.) Paper Company ad for perforated, medicated, rolled toilet paper.

In 1935, Northern Tissue advertised "splinter-free" toilet paper. Yep, you read that right; early paper production techniques sometimes left splinters embedded in the paper. And you thought you had it tough!

Answer 3

People did not pooh before the invention of toilet paper.

When this invention was created, the Chinese were wondering what it was for. The inventor explained its use, and they started to learn how to pooh. Prior to learning how to pooh, excreta was released some other way - - - you wouldn't want to guess how.

Answer 4

Newspaper

Answer 5

Moss and sea sponge were used.

Newspaper cut into squares ans the tissue paper wrapped around fruit were used in post war Britain

Answer 6

Leaves

Answer 7

Back in the day around here, Hillbilly Haven, people used outhouses. In order to clean themselves properly they would take three corn cobs with them, two red and one white. I asked my grandpa why the different colors once and he said you would use a red one first, then used the white one to see if you needed to use the other red one.

Answer 8

Stones.

Answer 9

their shirt tails...? i don't know. i've always wondered what the women used during their "special time"of the month. i imagine everyone was smelling pretty ripe back in the day.

Answer 10

Leaves & rocks.