Using Nylon Material to Wipe

[4eyedbuzzard]

Joseph Gayetty is widely credited with being the inventor of modern commercially available toilet paper in the United States. Gayetty's paper, first introduced in 1857, was available as late as the 1920s. Gayetty's Medicated Paper was sold in packages of flat sheets, watermarked with the inventor's name.

Okay, so I had to look up Gayetty. What disturbed me most though are the last few words of Wikipedia's first sentence: "Joseph C. Gayetty (b. 1827? Massachusetts - d.__ ) was an American inventor credited with the invention of commercial toilet paper.^[1][2][3] It was the first and remained only one of the few commercial toilet papers from 1857 to 1890 remaining in common use until the invention of splinter-free toilet paper in 1935 by the Northern Tissue Company."

Grandpa and Grandma often waxed poetic about the hardships of life early in the century - but never once mentioned sphincter splinters. Just didn't see that coming...

[Deadeye]

Ow!

Anyhow, if you don't want to use TP, there are plenty of natural materials to be found along the AT, leaves, sticks, stones, moss, etc. Just be sure you can identify a few common plants & trees so you know what to use... and what not to use.

[Elaikases]

Hmm lots of weird answers.

Yes, wipe with left hand if you eat with the right (if you are that coordinated that is).

After having gone through the last 50 years of advise on what is 'best' and what others do I offer my poop wisdom.

USE WET WIPES as they beat everything else hands down.
PACK them out in a zip lock bag. I prefer the individual packets they sell at Wallmart, but even the small packs of 20 or so are ok.
They get you completely clean using only 1 or 2.
Because they get you clean you don't get Monkey Butt.
Carry antichafing stuff anyway. I use the little tubes of Vaseline lip therapy (blue cap) which are sold pretty much everywhere. You don't need that expensive stuff.

One of my kids bought me biodegradable wet wipes for a birthday present. They advertise them as not needing to be packed out and not causing toilet paper blooms.

[Leo L.]

As suggested in another thread:
You may fence off a part of your backyard for doing all your bathroom business for, say, a full year.
Then you may decide to what degree this stuff is biodegradeable, and if you saw any other impact you wouldn't like to give to the trail.

[rocketsocks]

The Nylon of an umbrella is like sandpaper on a bum, but hey, any part in a storm.

[nsherry61]

One of my kids bought me biodegradable wet wipes for a birthday present. They advertise them as not needing to be packed out and not causing toilet paper blooms.

And absolutely NOT TRUE!!

Please, even public sewer systems ask that you don't flush flushable wipes.

Yes, they are probably biodegradable, BUT, they still take much longer to degrade than toilet paper and thus still plug up public sewer systems and private septic systems, and they make a long lasting mess in the wilderness.

The reason we like wipes is that they hold up better to wiping than TP. The reason TP can be buried in the wilderness in many places and is not a problem if done correctly, is because it falls apart easily - the thing we don't like about it.

Please, please, please, carry any wipes you use out of the the wilderness and do not bury them as you might toilet paper, regardless of whether the manufacturer claims they are flushable, biodegradable, or whatever. At this point in history, we still don't have disposable wipe technology that is LNT or anything close.

[Puddlefish]

Joseph Gayetty is widely credited with being the inventor of modern commercially available toilet paper in the United States. Gayetty's paper, first introduced in 1857, was available as late as the 1920s. Gayetty's Medicated Paper was sold in packages of flat sheets, watermarked with the inventor's name.

I'm a volunteer driver for the elderly. One 90ish year old woman told me her girlhood story about how she and her cousin would steal all the "soft" pages out of the Sears and Roebucks catalog for use in the outhouse.

[nsherry61]

I'm a volunteer driver for the elderly. One 90ish year old woman told me her girlhood story about how she and her cousin would steal all the "soft" pages out of the Sears and Roebucks catalog for use in the outhouse.

Geez, I must be dating myself on this one, but yeah, both my mom and dad used Sears and Roebuck catalogs in their youth. But then, my dad would be about 97 right now if here were still here and my mom is 88. It seems that maybe toilet paper, indoor plumbing, and electricity in homes came around the same time? Hmm. They certainly all came about in during my parents' lifetime, at least in the areas where they grew up! Hell, cars pretty much became a thing early in my dad's life as well. And we thought computers and cell phones were huge advances in OUR lifetimes.

[swjohnsey]

Never lick your fingers after you wipe.

[Traveler]

One of my kids bought me biodegradable wet wipes for a birthday present. They advertise them as not needing to be packed out and not causing toilet paper blooms.

Lots of products are advertised to do what they don't do well, especially in products you are likely to use once and not return to the same place to see if it worked as advertised. However, run the test yourself, use as directed, then in your yard, find a spot that it can be buried a bit into the soil, then leave one exposed to the weather, both alongside TP. I doubt you will discount the findings.

[no_1]

I may have dreamed this... do people use old umbrella fabric to wipe #2 in the woods?!

Some people's dreams are other people's nightmares ...

[rocketsocks]

Insert umbrella 2/3, press button and hang-on for hyperspace.

[futuristic tin canny voice]
your bum is now clean

[Lnj]

I always use rocks then leaves then TP for final clean up and pack out, but I also have an RV and as a family we go camping regularly and have to use that marine TP. One thing I noticed is when that stuff gets wet, it disintegrates almost immediately. I have seen this first hand. Like you can barely blow your nose with it. I wonder if we used that and maybe added a little water after, if it would be necessary to pack out still? This is in a cat hole, of course, not just a water job. I would always pack out or burn any TP from a water job only. Does anyone know anything more about the RV/Marine TP? How well and fast that breaks down?