Toilet paper

thumb|right|A full roll of toilet paper.

thumb|right|Toilet paper and a toilet paper holder; the cardboard core of an empty roll is visible on the holder.

Toilet paper (also referred to as toilet/bath/bathroom tissue or toilet roll) is a tissue paper product primarily used to clean the anus and surrounding region of feces (after defecation), and to clean the external genitalia and perineal area of urine (after urination).

It is commonly supplied as a long strip of perforated paper wrapped around a cylindrical paperboard core, for storage in a dispenser within arm's reach of a toilet. The bundle, or roll of toilet paper, is specifically known as a toilet roll, loo roll, or bog roll (in Britain).

There are other uses for toilet paper, as it is a readily available household product. It can be used for blowing the nose or wiping the eyes (or other uses of facial tissue); to wipe off sweat or absorb it; or to absorb the bloody discharge during menstruation. Toilet paper can be used in cleaning (like a less abrasive paper towel). As a teenage prank, "toilet papering" is a form of temporary vandalism.

Most modern toilet paper in the developed world is designed to decompose in septic tanks, whereas some other bathroom and facial tissues are not. Wet toilet paper rapidly decomposes in the environment. Toilet paper comes in various numbers of plies (layers of thickness), from one- to six-ply, with more back-to-back plies providing greater strength and absorbency. Most modern domestic toilet paper is white, and embossed with a pattern, which increases the surface area of the paper, and thus, its effectiveness at removing waste. Some people have a preference for whether the orientation of the roll on a dispenser should be over or under.

The use of paper for hygiene has been recorded in China in the 6th century AD, with specifically manufactured toilet paper being mass-produced in the 14th century. a reference to the use of toilet paper dates back as early as when the scholar-official Yan Zhitui (531–591) wrote:

Toilet paper dispensed from rolls was popularized when the Scott Paper Company began marketing it in 1890.

The manufacturing of this product had a long period of refinement, considering that as late as the 1930s, a selling point of the Northern Tissue company was that their toilet paper was "splinter free". The widespread adoption of the flush toilet increased the use of toilet paper, as heavier paper was more prone to clogging the trap that prevents sewer gases from escaping through the toilet.

Softer, two ply toilet roll was introduced in Britain in 1942, by St Andrew Mills in Walthamstow; this became the famous Andrex.

Moist toilet paper, called wet wipes, was first introduced in the United Kingdom by Andrex in the 1990s. It has been promoted as being a better method of cleaning than dry toilet paper after defecation, and may be useful for women during menstruation. It was promoted as a flushable product but it has been implicated in the creation of fatbergs; by 2016 some municipalities had begun education campaigns advising people not to flush used wet wipes.

More than seven billion rolls of toilet paper are sold yearly in the US where an average of 23.6 rolls per capita per year is used.

In 1973, Johnny Carson joked in his Tonight Show monologue about comments made by Wisconsin congressman Harold V. Froehlich about the possibility of a toilet paper shortage. Subsequently, consumers purchased abnormal amounts, causing an actual shortage in the US for several months.

Toilet paper has been one of the commodities subject to shortages in Venezuela starting in the 2010s; the government seized one toilet paper factory in an effort to resolve the problem.

During the COVID-19 pandemic, toilet paper shortages were reported in March 2020 in multiple countries due to hoarding and panic buying. At first, few believed the pandemic would be serious. Later, people realized they might need to stock up on certain items in case of a shelter-in-place order, or in case they did not know how long such an order would last; suppliers could not assure that they could keep up with demand. However, manufacturers continued to produce even more than they had before. Demand was higher for the types of toilet paper used at home. In some countries the bidet was already seen as a solution, and a survey before the pandemic had indicated an increasing number of Americans would be interested. Amid the panic buying during the pandemic, the Australian toilet paper brand Quilton donated a million of toilet paper rolls to vulnerable Australians who were struggling due to the shortages of toilet paper.

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File:Nara period toilet paper.jpg|Anal cleansing instruments known as chūgi from the Nara period (710 to 784) in Japan (The modern rolls in the background are for size comparison.)

File:William Hogarth - A Just View of the British Stage.png|A print by William Hogarth entitled A Just View of the British Stage from 1724 depicting Robert Wilks, Colley Cibber, and Barton Booth rehearsing a pantomime play with puppets enacting a prison break down a privy. The "play" is composed of nothing but toilet paper, and the scripts for Hamlet, inter al., are toilet paper.

File:Manifeste de Brunswick caricature 1792.jpg|A 1792 French Revolutionary caricature, depicting the French population using the Monarchist Brunswick Manifesto as toilet paper

File:Nokia Toilet paper.JPG|Rolls of toilet paper, produced by Nokia in the 1960s, at the Vapriikki Museum Centre in Tampere, Finland

File:Papier hygiénique Le Troubadour.JPG| Le Troubadour (French) – 1960s package of toilet paper

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Description

Toilet paper is available in several types of paper, a variety of patterns, decorations, and textures, and it may be moistened or perfumed, although fragrances sometimes cause problems for users who are allergic to perfumes. The average measures of a modern roll of toilet paper is c. 10&nbsp;cm (3&nbsp;in.) wide, and 12&nbsp;cm (4&nbsp;in.) in diameter, and weighs between and . An alternative method of packing the sheets uses interleaved sheets in boxes, or in bulk for use in dispensers. "Hard" single-ply paper has been used as well as soft multi-ply.

Sheet size

The format of individual sheets of toilet paper, which is given by a perforation line, varies nationally. In Germany, Holland, France, Poland, Switzerland, for example, about postcard size is standard (about 100 × 140 mm), so about DIN format (DIN A6 105 × 148 mm). In England, the usual format is already somewhat wider, about 115 × 135 mm. The most extreme landscape format with 115 × 102 mm exists in Thailand. The most extreme portrait format (not counting toilet paper rolls without any perforation) is 100 × 366 mm; a promotional toilet paper from Schmidt Spiele in Germany. Manufactured toilet paper sheet in the US was sized × . Since 1999 the size of a sheet has been shrinking; Kimberly-Clark reduced the length of a sheet to . Scott Paper Company, in 2006, reduced the length of their product to . The width of sheets was later reduced giving a general sheet size of long and wide. Larger sizes remain available.

Sheet ply

The ply of a toilet paper refers to the number of layers per sheet. Rolls are typically available in single-ply, 2-ply, 3-ply, and 4-ply.

Roll length

Phrases like "single roll", "double roll", "triple roll", "jumbo roll", and "mega roll" commonly used in retail advertising refer to the number of sheets per roll (though the actual number of sheets is also usually disclosed on packaging). A longer roll needs to be replaced less often, but the very largest sizes do not fit all toilet paper dispensers, especially in older homes.

Materials

Toilet paper is usually manufactured from pulpwood trees, but is also sometimes made from sugar cane byproducts or bamboo.

Toilet paper products vary greatly in the distinguishing technical factors, such as size, weight, roughness, softness, chemical residues, "finger-breakthrough" resistance, water-absorption, etc. The larger companies have very detailed, scientific market surveys to determine which marketing sectors require or demand which of the many technical qualities. Modern toilet paper may have a light coating of aloe or lotion or wax worked into the paper to reduce roughness.

Quality is usually determined by the number of plies (stacked sheets), coarseness, and durability. Low grade institutional toilet paper is typically of the lowest grade of paper, has only one or two plies, is very coarse and sometimes contains small amounts of embedded unbleached/unpulped paper; it was typically called "hard" toilet paper. A brand disinfected with carbolic acid was manufactured in Sheffield, United Kingdom under the Izal brand name by Newton Chambers until 1981. Mid-grade two ply is somewhat textured to provide some softness and is somewhat stronger. Premium toilet paper may have lotion and wax and has two to four plies of very finely pulped paper. If it is marketed as "luxury", it may be quilted or rippled (embossed), perfumed, colored or patterned, medicated (with anti-bacterial chemicals), or treated with aloe or other perfumes.

To advance decomposition of the paper in septic tanks or drainage, the paper used has shorter fibres than facial tissue or writing paper. The manufacturer tries to reach an optimal balance between rapid decomposition (which requires shorter fibres) and sturdiness (which requires longer fibres). Compaction of toilet paper in drain lines, such as in a clog, prevents fibre dispersion and largely halts the breakdown process.

A German quip says that the toilet paper of Nazi Germany was so rough and scratchy that it was almost unusable, so many people used old issues of the Völkischer Beobachter instead, because the paper was softer.

Color and design

thumb|Apricot colored toilet paper

Colored toilet paper in colors such as pink, lavender, light blue, light green, purple, green, and light yellow (so that one could choose a color of toilet paper that matched or complemented the color of one's bathroom) was commonly sold in the US from the 1960s. Up until 2004, Scott was one of the last remaining US manufacturers to still produce toilet paper in beige, blue, and pink. However, the company has since cut production of colored paper altogether.

Colored toilet paper remains commonly available in some European countries. Here in solid color toilet paper base, apart from the natural tones between white and gray or beige, pastel shades prevail: pink, apricot, light yellow and light blue. In rare cases, pale purple or pale green can be found. However, rich colors are rarely used, such as black, wine red, neon green, royal blue. Flat printed toilet paper is uncommon. If there is printing, it is often one color. Common print colors are pink and pinkish red, also blue, more rarely purple, orange, brown or green.

Decoration

Toilegami refers to toilet paper origami. Like table napkins, some fancy Japanese hotels fold the first squares of toilet paper on its dispenser to be presented in a fashionable way.

Recreational use

In the US, toilet paper has been the primary tool in a prank known as "TP-ing" (pronounced "teepeeing"). TP-ing, or "toilet papering", is often favored by adolescents and is the act of throwing rolls of toilet paper over cars, trees, houses and gardens, causing the toilet paper to unfurl and cover the property, creating an inconvenient mess.

Children and cats may unroll an entire roll of toilet paper by spinning it until it completely unravels on the floor, or as a game by children wadding up one end, putting it in the toilet bowl without tearing it and then using the flushing of the toilet to pull new paper into the toilet, with the objective of flushing the entire roll down the toilet section at a time without the toilet paper breaking. Special toilet paper insert holders with an oblong shape were invented to prevent continuous unrolling without tearing to discourage this practice.

Toilet paper pranks include talking toilet paper holders and inserts that are activated by the unrolling of the toilet paper and will loudly play an embarrassing message calling attention to the person defecating.

Other gags include custom toilet paper printed with jokes, stories or politician's images.

Mechanics

Alexander Balankin and coauthors have studied the behavior of toilet paper under tensile stress and during wetting and burning.

Toilet paper has been used in physics education to demonstrate the concepts of torque, moment of inertia, and angular momentum; and the conservation of momentum and energy.

Environmental considerations

thumb|Some individuals place toilet paper on public toilet seats before sitting down.One tree produces about 800 rolls () of toilet paper and about 83 million rolls are produced per day. Global toilet paper production consumes 27,000 trees daily.

More than seven billion rolls of toilet paper are sold yearly in the US alone. Americans use an average of 141 rolls per capita a year which is equivalent to of tissue paper per year. This figure is about 50% more than the average of other Western countries or Japan. The higher use in the US may be explained by the fact that other countries people use bidets or spray hoses to clean themselves. Millions of trees are harvested in North and South America leaving ecological footprint concerns.

, between 22% and 48% of the toilet paper used in the US comes from tree farms in the US and South America, with the rest mostly coming from old, second growth forests, and, some from virgin forests.

Toilet paper produced from bagasse, a byproduct of sugarcane, is commercially available, and avoids cutting down any plants because sugarcane is already grown for sugar production.

The most eco-friendly alternatives are to rely solely on soap and water for anal hygiene.