The author, John Marek, is executive director of the Anson Economic Development Partnership.
Late on the evening of Dec. 19, 1973, Johnny Carson made a joke about a toilet paper shortage on “The Tonight Show.” It was a silly throwaway line in his nightly monologue, but his 20 million viewers woke up the next morning and told their friends at work, and those friends told their friends and so on and so on. Within a few days, store shelves had been emptied of TP, even though there never was any sort of real shortage.
Thank goodness we’re not as foolish as people in the ’70s!
Any scholarly discussion of toilet paper must begin with why, exactly, we need it. Dogs, cats, horses, goats, fish, birds and snakes seem to get along just fine without a roll of Charmin at the ready. Even the great apes, which most closely resemble humans in body shape and function, don’t generally have an issue with that aspect of hygiene. Scientists say the simple answer is that toilet paper is the price we pay for walking upright. To support the body in that position and maintain balance while walking, humans have disproportionately large gluteal muscles which compress “that region” and increase the chances of us fouling ourselves. Hence the need for extra cleaning.
The idea of toilet paper dates all the way back to medieval China, when a Chinese emperor used 2-foot by 3-foot sheets of paper for the purpose. However, the technology for easily and inexpensively making paper didn’t come along until the industrial age, so people had to make do with what was at hand, so to speak; leaves, grass, ferns, corn cobs, maize, fruit skins, seashells, stone, sand, moss, snow and water.
The first widely available form of paper was pulp newsprint, so it served double duty, first as the news and then as a personal hygiene tool, for many years. The first commercially packaged paper sold specifically for lavatory use was called Gayetty’s Medicated Paper. Introduced in 1857, they were loose, flat, sheets of paper coated with aloe. Unfortunately for Gayetty, the product was expensive and never took off.
In 1879, the first paper sold in rolls was created by the Scott brothers, and in 1887, the Albany Perforated Wrapping Paper Co. began selling standard perforated toilet paper on a roll. In 1935, Northern Tissue invented splinter-free toilet paper. Let that sink in for a minute.
The soft, two-ply paper we typically use today was developed during WWII, but wasn’t widely available, due to rationing, until 1945. For the record, soldiers on the front in France and the Pacific used sheets of toilet paper that were included as part of their K-rations – four sheets per meal.
There have been a few minor TP innovations since the ’40s. Some brands have infused their product with emollients for a smoother feel against the skin and deodorizers for a spring-fresh scent. In the ’60s and ’70s, it was widely available in pastel shades of blue, pink, yellow and green, but 95 percent of the TP sold in America today is white.
Toilet paper has also been part of some of the most iconic TV commercials; that creepy Mr. Whipple imploring housewives to please not squeeze the Charmin.
Today, as we contemplate the empty paper aisle at Walmart, remember that 70 percent of the world still does not use TP because it is too expensive or they do not have sufficient plumbing.