During the pandemic, people were going wild scrambling for toilet paper. Some people were even buying up huge amounts and hoarding it to sell at a profit.
Meanwhile, many different cultures carried on without depending on toilet paper, the way they had been doing since ancient times, using what I and many others consider to be a superior hygiene method.
We know it as the bidet. In fact, during the pandemic, many households installed bidets. The version of bidet as we know it is relatively high tech.
The simpler version of post-toilet cleansing device is known in many countries and cultures as a lota, or tabo.
The traditional little pitcher known as a lota or tabo is a much less expensive way to get clean, as well as not requiring electricity or bells and whistles to operate.
If you do a search here on this blog for toilet paper or bidet or lota, you’ll find some good articles I’ve shared on this topic.
And now I’m adding this article that I found just the other day.
“Out of toilet paper? There’s always the lota.” https://chicago.suntimes.com/columnists/2020/3/19/21186936/toilet-paper-lota-coronavirus-patriot-act-hasan-minhaj-hari-kondabolu-indians-asians-middle-eastern (By Rummana Hussain; Chicago Sun-Times, March 19, 2020.)
“Nothing about the coronavirus pandemic is funny. But some of us have found a sliver of levity watching panicked Americans hoarding toilet paper, awkwardly balancing 30-pack, 2-ply rolls in their arms as if they’re readying for a showdown.
“‘Americans freaking out about toilet paper & Indians are knowingly smiling & nodding,’ comic Hari Kondabolu tweeted a few days ago. Without getting too detailed, many of us with Asian, Middle Eastern and/or Muslim backgrounds use toilet paper only as reinforcement.”
Visit the link to read the entire article, which in fact provides useful tips. And have fun joining the ranks of those of us who don’t panic at the thought of not being able to buy toilet paper.
We don’t have to be in a pandemic to enjoy a more thorough hygiene method! And one that doesn’t require tons and tons of trees to be cut down.
By the way, many people still use toilet paper in addition to a water cleansing method; they just don’t depend on it utterly.
On a wider note, there are a lot of examples of things in life like this. Things we “modern” Western consumer-culture inmates have come to depend on, while other cultures have been dealing quite beautifully since ancient times without the so-called modern necessity.
Have fun experimenting, and reducing reasons to panic.