In 2020, the COVID -19 pandemic brought the great toilet paper flush crisis. Since then, I have examined the phenomenon from a psychological perspective. I have looked at it as one of the most recent examples of mass hysteria, which is ultimately the postmodern equivalent of the choreomania outbreaks in medieval Europe.

The 2020 Toilet Paper Crisis openly demonstrates that the public needs to know more about the issue and the great toilet myths that persist in our society.

Please read below to know more about how I busted seven of the biggest myths about TP.

Paper was invented in China in the second century B.C., and the earliest documented use of toilet tissue dates back to the sixth century in medieval China. At that time, TP was a commodity for the higher classes.

Nowadays, China still uses over four billion miles of toilet rolls each year — more than any other country.

The history of commercial TP is quite fascinating. The invention of modern toilet paper is often credited to Joseph C. Gayetty (an American businessman) in 1857.

Gayetty’s paper wasn’t made for wiping yourself; instead, it was explicitly designed for hemorrhoid sufferers to use as a compress on their sore spots.

So while Gayetty can be credited with inventing the first commercially produced TP (he even printed his name on each sheet), he wasn’t the inventor of modern-day TP as we know it.

Alas, I’m Portuguese, and there aren’t many things about which we can say we rank higher than countries like the United States or China. However, when it comes to TP, no other nation flushes it down the toilet as we do.

This website came up with an enticing query as they wanted to determine the length of TP humans would spend during a lifetime per country worldwide.

Even if it takes 31.11 million trees each year to supply the US with toilet tissue, Americans finished second with 633,78 miles losing only to… drum roll… you got it right, the Portuguese.

“The average Portuguese person uses 643.36 miles of toilet paper in their lifetime — more than any other nationality — the equivalent to a grand total of 11,323 rolls.

Gayetty’s Medicated Paper was initially made from hemp fiber, scented with aloe vera, and sold in sheets. When people bought them in sheets, they paid significantly more than we do today for our rolls of 3-ply TP from Walmart.

Joseph Gayetty’s invention did serve a purpose similar to TP as we know it today. But you had to buy his product in packets of 500 sheets at a time, and it cost $0.50 — the equivalent of about $15 today.

People were paying higher prices in those early days because toilet paper wasn’t widespread yet.

It may come as a surprise, but the original toilet tissue wasn’t just soft and absorbent — it was also scented. Gayetty’s paper was infused with aloe, which would help soothe hemorrhoidal pain. The product was also heavily fragranced with lavender, giving homes a noticeably floral fragrance.

The product’s extravagant cost ($0.50 per 500 sheets) and harsh texture meant that it was more suitable for wealthy households. However, it became an affordable household staple by the 1890s — and today is a ubiquitous part of everyday life.

Thus, toilet paper is no longer a luxury item as our forebears were paying significantly more than what we pay today for our rolls of 3-ply TP from Walmart.

Firstly, some of the most expensive brands are among the worst; secondly, there’s no big difference between toilet tissue qualities.

It just goes to show that when it comes down to it — and that’s where it matters — the best TP is soft, strong, and affordable. This means taking advantage of discounts on cheap paper to get more bang for your buck.

Thus, ultimately, price does not seem to guarantee quality!

There’s science in everything, even when it comes to toilet roll spinning. Thus, mind how you roll with it to ensure you do not tear off a wad of paper all at once.

There is a right and wrong way to load TP onto the roll, and few people know how to do it correctly. Many people mistakenly believe that the roll must rotate for the paper to come out from the inside.

However, this creates a significant problem: if you’re in a hurry, you’ll likely tear off too much paper, causing an unnecessary waste of resources.

Failure to tear off enough paper could lead to even more significant problems while using the bathroom. Not mentioning it being in contact with bacteria-contaminated surfaces.

To avoid these scenarios, make sure your toilet rolls in such a way that it pulls from the outside rather than from the inside:

The correct orientation allows for easy tearing off just one sheet at a time rather than an entire handful of paper — saving both money and trees!

We’ve heard this story before: A family stays at their friends’ house for the evening, and when using the bathroom, they notice that their friends use colored TP instead of white. Disgusted, they decide never to visit that house again and spread rumors about their friends’ hygiene.

Do you see where I’m going with this? The naysayers have spoken: “White toilet paper is a must!” you’ll hear them say.

The thing is, though: it’s time to throw these dated notions in the toilet (pun intended). What color your TP is has nothing to do with its cleanliness or safety.

White TP doesn’t mean it’s cleaner than colored TP. If anything, white toilet rolls could be less safe than their colorful counterparts because they may have been through a more intense bleaching process — one which could leave dangerous chemicals that can irritate your skin or cause even worse problems should you accidentally ingest them (and no one wants that!).

The truth here is simple: Color does not equal cleanliness, nor does color indicate purity. The only reason anyone would think so is that we’ve seen our favorite brands of toilet rolls using bleach in their production method to get their bright-white hue for decades.

7. Toilet paper softness is all about the number of plies

More plies can indeed mean a thicker roll, but the number of plies is not synonymous with softness. Two-ply paper can be thinner than single-ply, as long as you keep the weight constant.

Why is this the case? When it comes to toilet paper and other tissues, single-ply rolls are neither better nor worse than two or three-ply rolls.

While a ply refers to the number of layers of paper in a roll, it does not necessarily refer to how thick each sheet is. This means that two-ply rolls can be softer than single-ply paper. It all depends on the thickness of each ply, which can vary from brand to brand and can change with changes in manufacturing.

The results of several studies on different types of toilet paper to see which one was the softest indicated that there was no correlation between ply and softness — some of the least expensive rolls were also among some of the softest.

That’s the bottom line: softness depends on fiber length and thickness, not on the number of plies — not even close. Even though some companies advertise their products as “three-ply” or “four-ply,” do not be fooled: That’s mostly marketing hype.

Do not believe everything you hear about toilet paper. If you run out of it, there is no need to panic. There are plenty of alternatives.

Lastly, if none of the available cleaning options work for you, but you still refuse to leave home searching for additional supplies, there is one final solution.

The French invented bidets for some reason and spend half as much TP per capita as we Portuguese do (even though bidets are a standard amenity in every traditional Portuguese bathroom).

There’s no reason you should be stockpiling toilet paper, don’t worry; TP is not on the verge of extinction.

From the times that the pyramids were raised to the end of the cold war in this publication you will find it all. This is a publication that has been created to tell the stories of forgotten battles and fortunes that have crafted the world that we live in today.

Mindset Coach & Web 3.0 Digital Disruptor. Founder of Beloved and Rock n’Heavy: Exploring ideas that leapfrog ahead: 💡 https://rui-alves.medium.com/membership