We Celebrate Toilet Paper!
Fun facts about toilet paper:
75% of the world's population doesn't use toilet paper.
Prior to the invention of TP – people would commonly use hay, corncobs, sticks, stones, sand, moss, hemp, wool, husks, fruit peels, ferns, sponges, seashells, and broken pottery. Ouch!
The first recorded use of toilet paper was in 6th Century China.
It wasn't until 1935 that a manufacturer was able to promise "Splinter-Free Toilet Paper."
Packaged toilet paper wasn't sold in the United States until 1857 - Joseph C. Gayetty created the first commercially packaged toilet paper in 1857. His toilet papers were loose, flat, sheets of paper – and he had his name printed on every sheet.
The average person in the United States uses 100 rolls of toilet paper per year and the average household flushes about 80,000 sheets annually.
7% of Americans admit to stealing rolls of toilet paper in hotels.
Colored toilet paper was popular in the U. S. until the 1940s – and ceased in its popularity due to hygiene and cost issues - but still very popular in France and self absorbed celebrities.
The reason toilet paper disintegrates to quickly when wet is that the combination of base fibers to make the tissue are designed to "disperse" in water for quick disposal.
On the International Space Station, they still use regular toilet paper – but it has to be sealed in special containers and compressed.
During Desert Storm, the U. S. Army used toilet paper to camouflage their tanks.
In 1973 Johnny Carson caused a toilet paper shortage. He said as a joke that there was a shortage, which there wasn't, until everyone believed him and ran out to buy up the supply. It took three weeks for some stores to get more stock!
When asked what necessity they would bring to a desert island, 49% of people said toilet paper before food.
August 26 is National Toilet Paper Day, deemed so to commemorate the first time it was ever sold on a roll (August 26, 1871).
There is a National Toilet Day – deemed in November 19th by the United Nations, but there is not a National Bidet Day (...yet).