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Concept
Toilet paper
Summary
Toilet paper (sometimes called toilet tissue or bathroom tissue) 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 usually supplied as a long strip of perforated paper wrapped around a paperboard core for storage in a dispenser near a toilet. The bundle, or roll of toilet paper, is known as a toilet roll, or 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 like facial tissue for blowing the nose or wiping the eyes. Some people may use the paper to absorb the bloody discharge that comes out of the vagina during menstruation. It can be used to wipe off sweat or absorb it. Toilet paper can be used in cleaning like a less abrasive paper towel. As a prank, toilet papering is a form of temporary vandalism by adolescents and often directed at someone who has to clean up the mess.
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. 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. Modern commercial toilet paper originated in the 19th century, with a patent for roll-based dispensers being made in 1883.
List of Chinese inventions
Although paper had been known as a wrapping and padding material in China since the 2nd century BC, a reference to the use of toilet paper dates back as early as 589 when the scholar-official Yan Zhitui (531–591) wrote:
Paper on which there are quotations or commentaries from the Five Classics or the names of sages, I dare not use for toilet purposes.
Official source
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