At a time when news of the fear and hunger of many food and health products came after the Corona pandemic, toilet paper came on top of purchasing lists in many countries, especially European and American, in addition to Australia, Singapore and Hong Kong, according to the Business Insider website. .
The global dismay reached the storage of toilet paper, and the matter witnessed armed robbery against toilet paper in Singapore, in addition to printing an Australian newspaper blank pages, inviting the public to use it as toilet paper, with the beginning of its disappearance from the markets, according to the same source.
However, this buying scare toward toilet paper was not very strong in many Islamic and Asian countries, due to the different healthy habits.
In most Islamic countries, it is customary to use water to clean the body after defecation or use of toilets, and the toilet paper is not mainly relied on in this regard, but in a few complementary times after using the water that comes from what is known as a “rinse” In order to dry the water on the body.
On not using "bidets" in personal cleaning with toilets, writer Rose George described this reality in European countries, in his book "The urgent necessity ... the unknown world of human waste", as "disgusting."
He added in newspaper interviews, "It is a really disgusting thing, the reality is that millions of people walk on the street, and their backs are still carrying sediments of feces, and they think themselves are clean."
He stressed that toilet paper never guarantees that stool traces will be eliminated.
In most European and Western countries, toilets do not contain water for cleaning, only toilet paper, but some Arab immigrants and refugees, in recent years, have begun to introduce their culture by installing bidets, but the matter is still limited and does not include most hotels, restaurants and public toilets.
The call to use bidets in the West began years ago, when American media company ATTN posted to its fans on its Twitter account, in July 2017, a short video showing that using toilet paper was not the "only option".
As for the famous British newspaper “Metro”, it was published, last month, after Corona appeared, a report entitled “How to cope without toilet paper”, he talked about the alternatives proposed to use this paper after the great turnout and the battles that were photographed by the cameras' lenses to get a roll of it, after the “Corona” outbreak " In the world.
The report stated that toilet paper is not essential in many countries, unlike the situation in the West, and there are alternatives to it, including, for example, joke newsprint, or wet wipes, but the cheapest and safest alternative is regular water.
He noted that the sewage or plumbing system in many Asian countries (most of which are predominantly Muslim) is not designed to handle toilet paper, in addition to that the rolls are not always affordable or accessible.
The report pointed out that the first reason why many people in these countries prefer water on toilet paper is perhaps due to the climate and even religious belief, as it (water) is better than tissue paper and even wet (wipes) in terms of hygiene, and more gentle on the skin.