People Did Very Weird Things Before Modern Inventions Came Along

Stranded On The Bowl? Use An Old Corn Cob

Photo Credit: Jeffrey Greenberg/UIG via Getty Images

When the new world was settled, Americans didn’t have the luxury of soft cotton to clean themselves after going to the bathroom. They did have plenty of corn, though. Instead of throwing away leftover corncobs, they used them for their bathroom needs.

The Romans might take the gross cake on this one, though. They would put a sponge on a stick and share it. The Greeks preferred to clean up their bottoms with broken pieces of pottery. Toilet paper finally came into being in 1857, but it wasn’t until 1935 it was able to be advertised as “splinter-free.”