Before the availability of mass produced toilet paper in the mid-1800s, humans had to resort to using what was free and available, even if it didn't provide the most effective (or comfortable) results. Options included rocks, leaves, grass, moss, animal fur, corn cobs, coconut husks, sticks, sand, and sea shells.
In North America, throughout the 1700s, people were still wiping with whatever they had on hand. Most common were things like corncobs and seashells (ouch). But by the 1800s, paper was becoming more widely available.
While mainstream society quickly embraced toilet paper's convenience and hygiene benefits, many Amish communities continued using traditional materials like leaves, rags, or corn cobs for personal sanitation.
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.
The ancient Greeks used Pessoi (pebbles) or Ostraca. Ostraca were broken pieces of ceremic pottery, smoothed down around the edges if you were lucky. They used the pieces to scrape and wipe as best they could. The process was so popular that it was immortalized on a 2,700-year-old drinking cup and in The Talmud.
Today's royals take care of their own personal hygiene. But historically the role of Groom of the Stool was a very important one at court, which involved being responsible for assisting the monarch with their excretion and ablutions.
Eskimos used moss or snow. Vikings used wool. Mayans and early/rural Americans used the cobs from shelled ears of corn. Other handy options were hay, leaves, grass, ferns, maize, fruit skins, animal fur, and later, fabric, newspaper, magazines, and pages of books.
In the 1700s, colonial Americans began using old newspapers and catalogs to wipe. In 1792, American Robert B. Thomas put a hole through the corner of the Old Farmer's Almanac so it could be hung from a hook in the outhouse.
Prioritizing Hygiene
Iranians value cleanliness and typically use a water hose next to the toilet for cleaning, preferring it over toilet paper. If you're not comfortable with this, carry your own toilet paper, but dispose of it in the designated trash can, not the toilet.
In the 1700s, most people in the upper class seldom, if ever, bathed. They occasionally washed their faces and hands, and kept themselves “clean” by changing the white linens under their clothing. “The idea about cleanliness focused on their clothing, especially the clothes worn next to the skin,” Ward said.
Dried corn cobs were plentiful in rural agrarian societies throughout history. According to Farmers' Almanac, the corncob worked by turning on its axis to clean the region (you get the picture). Some outhouses in western US states still use this method.
Toilet paper is common in the U.S. and much of the Western world, but about 70% of people don't use it at all. Instead, bidet showers (“bum guns”) are becoming increasingly common. Historically, humans have used a variety of things for wiping — from corn cobs to rocks.
Mullein aka “cowboy toilet paper”
Mullein is a biennial plant available for use in almost every bioregion.
An accountable daily ritual of bathing can be traced to the ancient Indians. They used elaborate practices for personal hygiene with three daily baths and washing.
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.
In rural agrarian communities, handfuls of straw were frequently used, but one of the most popular items to use for clean-up was dried corncobs. They were plentiful and quite efficient at cleaning. They could be drawn in one direction or turned on an axis. They were also softer on tender areas than you might think.
Tudor Toilets
Toilets were called 'Privies' and were not very private at all. They were often just a piece of wood over a bowl or a hole in the ground. People would wipe their bottoms with leaves or moss and the wealthier people used soft lamb's wool.
The truth is that tissues, a paper towel, wet wipes, or scraps of fabric will all do the job just fine (with varying degrees of comfort). But—and this is very important—don't flush any alternative toilet paper down the toilet.
Some scholars even suggested that pottery sherds found in abundance within middens in the vicinity of households were in fact used as an equivalent of toilet paper.
A bit later in time, between the first and second century AD, a trench or channel of ever flowing water was built into the floors of these Roman latrines directly in front of the lines of toilet seats. These plus sponges attached to short sticks are believed to have been the Roman answer to toilet paper.
The office again fell into abeyance with the accession of Queen Victoria, though her husband, Prince Albert, and their son, Edward, Prince of Wales, employed similar courtiers; but when Edward acceded to the throne as King Edward VII in 1901, he discontinued the office.
Charles is even more particular about his shoelaces, which Scobie says must be ironed. Perhaps the most bizarre habit, though, is that the former Prince of Wales “likes to have someone squeeze exactly one inch of toothpaste onto his toothbrush for him ahead of his bedtime routine,” per the book.