40 Amazing Facts About Toilet Paper

Where did toilet paper come from? Which kind do celebrities use? All that and more in this collection of amazing facts about toilet paper!

It was in medieval China in the 6th century, during the Tang Dynasty when the first use of toilet paper was recorded.
The modern toilet paper, which was also perfumed, was made in 1391 during the Ming Dynasty and was made for the Chinese Emperor family’s needs.
The toilet paper made and produced for the Chinese royalties were in an enormous size of 2 ft by 3 ft sheets.
Joseph Gayetty invented and introduced the first commercial toilet paper which was then, for medical purposes in 1857.
Modern and commercial toilet paper was first manufactured and introduced in 1931.
Toilet paper on a roll was introduced in 1890 by the brothers E. Irvin and Clarence Scott, and their company is known as The Scott Paper Company.
Charmin Ultra Soft Cushiony Touch Toilet Paper (Image: Amazon.com)
People then were still embarrassed when buying toilet paper due to its use but it 1928, Charmin, manufactured by Hoberg Paper company, changed the game and made toilet papers look “charming” using a logo that portrays a beautiful woman. Needless to say, the marketing strategy worked.
It was in 1935 that the splinter-free toilet paper was introduced.
Hans Klenk, a German, was the first to produce and to sell toilet paper in Europe.
The 2-ply toilet paper was first produced and it was manufactured by St. Andrew’s Paper Mill.
Toilet paper | Photo Credit: Alexas_Fotos
In 1973, a shortage scare in toilet paper happened in America because of a joke made by Johnny Carson during The Tonight Show which caused throngs of people to rush to grocery stores and hoard.
The U.S. uses more toilet paper compared to other countries, with the per-capita average of almost 3 rolls per week.
In estimation, one tree can make 1,500 toilet paper rolls or 100 pounds of it.
The consumption of toilet paper has greatly increased due to growing population and that more and more are conforming to the Western lifestyle.
About 27,000 trees each day are wiped out in order to make toilet paper.
During the Desert Storm in 1990, toilet paper was used by the military to camouflage their war tanks.
In the 1950s, colored toilet papers came out and people can choose from lavender, pink, purple, green, light yellow, light green, light blue hues to match their bathroom colors.
In 2004, it was also Scott company that has been the last to manufacture colored toilet papers in pink, blue, and beige and had eventually cut the production.
The size of the toilet paper has been observed to be shrinking. From the standard size of 4.5in by 4.5in, some are already in the size of 4.5in x 4.0in and some even at 4.0in x 3.8in.
In Japan, before toilet paper was invented, they used flat sticks called chügi to clean up.
Every home uses toilet paper | Photo Credit: hermaion
Other parts of the world use an assortment of cleaning materials such as rags, bidet, leaves, sand, corn cobs, and animal furs for the less wealthy, while the wealthy people use lace, hemp, or wool.
Americans use an average of 57 sheets a day of toilet paper or an average of 50lbs a year.
Each day, 83 million toilet paper rolls are manufactured and produced, exhausting 27,000 trees each day.
Seth Wheeler’s patent from 1891 shows how the toilet paper should be hanged and it shows it should be going up and over.
Toilet papers are also used to make wedding dresses. The Toilet Paper Wedding Dress Contest is held annually and is hosted by Quilted Northern and Charm Weddings.
Toilet paper is stolen too and an average of 7% of Americans admit to stealing rolls of toilet paper from motels and hotels.
There are people who don’t use toilet paper. Others are for the reason that they are unable to afford it while in some countries, it’s because of the lack of trees.
One ply toilet paper is safest to use to prevent clogging in the plumbing and is also more economical since it has more sheets.
Two-ply toilet paper doesn’t necessarily mean it’s twice the thickness of one ply because it’s made of two layers of paper that are 10 thickness while one ply is made of a single 13 thickness paper.
There used to be a museum of toilet paper and its name was Madison Museum of Bathroom Tissue which ran from 1992 to 2000.
More natural, unbleached and even bamboo toilet paper is now available.
There are also people who collect toilet papers like the couple Flo and Rich Newman and they have called their collection The Whole World Toilet Paper Museum.
There’s used to be another Virtual Toilet Paper Museum that also used to showcase an interesting collection of brands of toilet papers however the website is no longer active.
Portable toilet paper making machines are now available online. You only need to do a Google search to find the online stores that are selling these.
According to a poll done, an average of 1 hour and 42 minutes a week is spent in the toilet, approximately 92 days or 2,208 hours in a lifetime
A toilet paper made of 22-carat gold flakes is the most expensive one in the world with a price of $1,500,000 for a roll.
Beyonce only uses red toilet paper.
Renova now makes colored toilet paper in red and black and had added neon green and neon orange to their line.
Since toilet paper has already become a common household commodity, people have become creative and had come up with various inventions such as ads on toilet paper, creative bathroom games, ruled toilet paper and a lot more.
If Beyonce prefers the red toilet paper, Kris Jenner only uses this black one.
There is such a thing as pre-moistened toilet paper, similar to wet wipes, which was introduced in 2001 by Kimberly-Clark.
Toilet papers are also being used in a popular prank called TP-ing or toilet-papering where they would throw toilet paper rolls over trees, gardens, animals, etc. to create a mess.