10 things you never knew about loo rolls
It is something most of us use every single day, but other than thinking “I need to pick some up at the shop on the way home”, how much do you really know about toilet paper? These 10 things you never knew about loo rolls will hopefully educate and entertain you the next time you reach for a sheet.
- The first recorded use of toilet paper was in 6th Century China.
- In the Middle Ages they used something called a “goompf stick” which was just an actual stick used to scrape.
- Wealthy Romans used wool soaked in rose water and French royalty used lace.
- Other things that were used before toilet paper include: Hay, corncobs, sticks, stones, sand, moss, hemp, wool, husks, fruit peels, ferns, sponges, seashells, and broken pottery.
- 70-75% of the world still doesn’t use toilet paper because it is too expensive or there is not sufficient plumbing.
- Global toilet paper demand uses nearly 30,000 trees every day.
- The average roll has 333 sheets.
- The most expensive toilet paper in the world is from Portuguese brand Renova. Renova is three-ply, perfumed, costs $3 per roll and comes in several colors including black, red, blue and green.
- Koji Suzuki, a Japanese horror novelist best known for writing The Ring, had an entire novel printed on a single roll of toilet paper.
- When asked what necessity they would bring to a desert island, 49% of people said toilet paper before food.
1 Buzz Feed Life 14 June 2014 (online) http://www.buzzfeed.com/jessicaprobus/36-weird-things-you-never-knew-about-toilet-paper#.ixGwG986B
Accessed 4 November 2015