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Location: The western periphery of Terra Australis
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Quote:
Originally Posted by ColdAilment
I've considered many times getting baby wipes to wipe my butt with, get rid of the poo and clean it up as well. Wiping it with toilet paper will smear or scrape most of it off, but an amount of fecal matter retains to the surface. It's like drying your face with a napkin after you spilled chocolate ice cream on yourself, it's just dried up and caked to your face, not streaking down your skin anymore.
There needs to be an advance in wiping after using the toilet!
That's a bit obsessive, toilet paper is good enough. Well often I take a shower after going to the toilet which usually gets rid of the rest.
You could always get a bidet or, do what the Muslims do and use a hose and your hand.
I would agree we've gone the other extreme in some cases as the prevalence of antibacterial agents in soaps / cleaners, to the antiperspirant chemicals which have long term bad effects (loss of effectiveness, stronger strains of bacteria etc..). And the whole, 'bubble child' antiseptic sterile phobia many helicoptor parents display at times, I think is a negative (to Nightbird47's e.g. about playing outside in dirt etc...)
Another errant hygiene thought came to mind. I dated a Korean woman who made the comment she liked a man's scent i.e. muskiness of underarm. In other ancient cultures Mongols, as example, the clothing worn by a lost loved one was considered a sort of holy relic and kept for their 'scent' or memory. It has been studied - I can't recall where I read it - that sense of smell is one of strongest triggers of memory.
Recall being in Cologne, Germany and reading the history of why the term "Cologne" used for the cosmetic olfactory kind became a prime industry there. The other interesting thing about odious olfactory scents, is that the way the nose works, once the olfactory receptors get full you will not smell a particular odor, until you leave the presence of it and return. I'm sure most of the audience has experienced this. This is one reason why if someone truly has a despicable odor from uncleanliness it would be good courtesy to let them know rather than knocking out those they come in contact with. Long ago I worked in an environment where one of the saleswoman had b.o. and we as coworkers had to convince a fellow female to kindly let her know *sniff* - she was very attractive too! So you never know what may be turning people off.
One of the worst smells is from the bacteria that forms in rolls of overweight people (or infants). UGH PHEW. Nothing funnier than when one gets on public transportation and you see everyone like s equential wave, as a herd, first look around, wriggle their noses and then those who can remove themselves from the area!
I'm also curious to know what percentage of people had hot water back in the 1950s.
A lot more had hot water in the Midwest than in the south, seemingly for two reasons. First, as standard of living rose, adding the luxury of hot water had a higher priority where it was cold much of the year. And, in the north, a lot more people lived in buildings that needed to be heated in the first place, so adding the capacity to heat water as well was a natural course of technology.
I've considered many times getting baby wipes to wipe my butt with, get rid of the poo and clean it up as well. Wiping it with toilet paper will smear or scrape most of it off, but an amount of fecal matter retains to the surface. It's like drying your face with a napkin after you spilled chocolate ice cream on yourself, it's just dried up and caked to your face, not streaking down your skin anymore.
There needs to be an advance in wiping after using the toilet!
There is. Sit on the edge of the bathtub, clean thoroughly using running water with soap on your hand, pat dry with a facecloth where it is wet, wash your hands, and turn off the light when you leave the bathroom. In other words, clean the same way you would later on when you bathe, just do it now, and skip the paper/corncob step.
In Europe (especially France), there is a separate bathroom fixture called a "bidet" which serves that function, but it's not needed if there is a standard bathtub.
By the way, a dried shelled corncob has a fairly gentle and forgiving surface, probably softer than German public restroom TP, or the Sears-Roebuck catalog pages for which it substitutes, and the user is free to modulate the pressure of the wipe according to his own sensitivities. Sears catalogs used to be published with a hole punched in the corner of the book, for hanging in outhouses for this purpose.
I've considered many times getting baby wipes to wipe my butt with, get rid of the poo and clean it up as well. Wiping it with toilet paper will smear or scrape most of it off, but an amount of fecal matter retains to the surface. It's like drying your face with a napkin after you spilled chocolate ice cream on yourself, it's just dried up and caked to your face, not streaking down your skin anymore.
There needs to be an advance in wiping after using the toilet!
If you use baby wipes, NEVER flush them in the toilet. It will ruin and clog the plumbing.
The "BIDET" is a well known device for anal hygiene, in French bathrooms. Travelers to France often remark about it.
JAPAN has developed some very high-tech toilets recently. Some of them have warmed seats, and spray your behind afterwards with a mist to clean it - I think it might even have perfume.
In Mexico, on the other hand, I've heard that people just stuff their dirty toilet paper in the restrooms' trash can.
In Mexico, on the other hand, I've heard that people just stuff their dirty toilet paper in the restrooms' trash can.
Precisely for the reason you stated for the handi-wipes. Mexican plumbing is not designed to tolerate flushed paper. Nearly everywhere in the third world, it is expected to put the used paper in a dry receptacles, not down the toilet. Even in the USA, people who have a private septic system have to buy special paper designed to degrade harmlessly in their system.
Public toilets and modern buildings in Mexico may have toilets that accept paper, but many people live in homes where it is not, and they have learned from childhood the rule that the paper goes in a can, and that's where they keep on putting it.
If you are traveling, and you see a trash can full of toilet paper, use it. It is there for a reason. If you are in a third world bathroom and it is a mess from overflowing, it is probably because some American threw paper into it.
There needs to be an advance in wiping after using the toilet!
There are. By far, the best is a bidet, or a douchette. Wipes work though, and are available next to the TP, although they're probably similar to baby wipes. I don't like those things because they have lotions and fragrances on them, but they're a lot better if the other option is just plain dry TP.
I'm not sure why bidets aren't usually installed in new homes in the USA, where people demand a certain level of appointments, but skip out on a simple bathroom fixture. It's probably cost.
Douchettes (basically look like kitchen hand sprayers except next to the toilet) are also hard to find here in the states, but they are common in some countries.
Precisely for the reason you stated for the handi-wipes. Mexican plumbing is not designed to tolerate flushed paper. Nearly everywhere in the third world, it is expected to put the used paper in a dry receptacles, not down the toilet. Even in the USA, people who have a private septic system have to buy special paper designed to degrade harmlessly in their system.
Public toilets and modern buildings in Mexico may have toilets that accept paper, but many people live in homes where it is not, and they have learned from childhood the rule that the paper goes in a can, and that's where they keep on putting it.
If you are traveling, and you see a trash can full of toilet paper, use it. It is there for a reason. If you are in a third world bathroom and it is a mess from overflowing, it is probably because some American threw paper into it.
One of the recent Olympics, I think the last winter one, they had to requst all the athletes not to put any paper in the toilents since they were having massive problems. It was in Europe, not third world, but apparently the norm there is a special container. It makes water treatment much simpler if you don't have to filter out paper fibers.
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