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.
While the Swartzentruber Amish use some technology, they do not own or drive automobiles, own telephones, have electric lights, or use modern flush toilets, and they supply water to their homes using a cistern.
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.
Convenient for insertion and surprisingly soft when dried, corn cobs were plentiful and popular among Native Americans and colonial settlers in North America. With the edible kernels removed, the remaining cob has copious grooves and indentations which become quite efficient at trapping any remaining fecal matter.
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.
Corn cobs
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.
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.
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.
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.
If you're outside and you have to go, leaves are nature's toilet paper. The most common are Maple, Oak, Mullein, Cottonwood, Hazelnut, Thimbleberry leaves and more. Corn husks could also come in handy.
Mullein aka “cowboy toilet paper”
Even hard men want a soft leaf. If the cowboys used the large velvety leaves of the mullein (Verbascum thapsus) plant while out on the range, then you can too!
The use of toilet paper first started in ancient China around the 2nd century BC.
The Amish can still take a hot shower, they simply hook up their hot water tank to a gas or propane fueled energy source. While some use those energy sources to power washing machines, laundry day can become an all-day event for other families who use traditional washboards.
Dental Health Behavior.
Almost two-thirds of this Amish population reported brushing their teeth less than once a day, while only 1.3 percent brushed twice or more a day; 2.6 percent reported never having brushed their teeth.
The Amish Use Mirrors
While the Amish do not take pictures of themselves, they do use mirrors. The use of a mirror is allowed because unlike a picture, it is not a graven image. Women use mirrors to do their hair and men use mirrors to shave.
Native Americans used twigs, dry grass, small stones, and even oyster or clam shells.
Other ways of wiping before the invention of toilet paper
Early North American settlers used corn cobs. They were abundant, they were soft and they were easy to handle. Sailors used something called a 'tow rag'. A tow rag was a long piece of frayed rope that dangled in the water.
Wiping in the Medieval Times
This included items such as hay, wood shavings, corn cobs, and even iron cables.
What is the best non irritating toilet paper? For those with sensitive skin, bamboo toilet paper is the top pick. It's hypoallergenic, free from harsh chemicals, fragrances, and dyes, reducing the risk of irritation or allergic reactions.
Most common were things like corncobs and seashells (ouch). But by the 1800s, paper was becoming more widely available. And finally in 1857, a New Yorker named Joseph Gayetty introduced and first patented toilet paper. He called it “Medicated Paper for the Water-Closet” and Gayetty's name was printed on every sheet.
Charmin Ultra Soft Cushiony Touch Toilet Paper
The two-ply construction was also strong overall and stood out in particular for having the highest strength when wet, so you don't have to worry about it crumbling while in use.
The Eskimos would use moss or snow. The Vikings used wool. The Colonial Americans used the core center cobs from shelled ears of corn. The Mayans used corn cobs.
The Romans used a communal small mop on a stick. called in Latin: tersorium. It was soaked in vinegar or salt water. It could be a sponge on a stick as well.
The Chinese Imperial Court of the Han Dynasty were the first recorded to have created toilet paper in the year 851 AD; this was made from silk and tree bark and reserved for use by Emperors and their families. The use of ordinary paper had been documented many years before this.