Isn't it funny how toilet roll has changed over the years?

Tubeless. I was silly enough to order some as they were on offer at Ocado- blooming things wont undo and the middle gets all clogged up together.

When my Mum was a child she had to tear up broadsheet newspapers into squares and thread them on string for the loo.
Izal just spread everything around your nether regions.
However, loo paper wasn't my biggest concern. Our outside loo had no electric light but always had a spider of some sort. Going out there in the dark and rain was not for the faint-hearted.
I have long thought that anyone wanting to invest some cash could do well putting it into toilet rolls. It's something everyone needs and if this house is anything to go by gets used in record time.

Izal toilet paper was about the same period as carbolic soap, our school had both in the loos, and we used TCP and germolene, everything smelled overpoweringly of disinfectant.

In my 20s I worked for a time as a civil servant (shoot me now). The loo roll in the Ladies was Izal-type tracing paper quality, with "Property of Her Majesty's Government" printed on every sheet. I can't imagine why the powers-that-be wanted to identify themselves as the owners, nor who in their right mind would sanction the expense of all that printing ink - and what would the police charge you with if you did?

Oops - "if you did nick some"...

I can’t say it’s a topic I have given much thought to! 🤣🤣🤣

As this post is associated with bathrooms i thought i'd add this little tip. Instead of using highly floral scented air fresheners, i buy the cheapest man deodorant i can find and use that instead. Currently using one from Poundland, it leaves my bathroom smelling wonderfully fresh. 😊

In the early nineties, I worked for a firm run by a family whose whose ethos and working practices were straight out of a Dickens novel. In an era where soft loo roll was the norm, their staff facilities had carbolic soap and Izal type paper. Only the directors facilities had soft loo roll. If a roll ran out and you were the last one using it, you had to go to the office manager and sign another one out! I took my own in, as did other members of admin staff!

I remember the newspaper cut up into squares but at least we had our own toilet - even if you had to ‘cross the yard’ to get to it. On the other side of the road were ‘back to back’ houses where people shared toilets - one toilet to three houses if I recall. I never thought about it as a child, but later I realised how awful it must have been.

I remember cutting up the tissue-type paper from buying bread.
That had to be cut into pieces and threaded like the newspaper.
If it ran out you reverted to the newspaper.
I preferred the bread-paper.

We never had izal at home.

I remember Izal toilet rolls at home, Gibbs toothpaste in a tin and Lifebuoy carbolic. Harsh times! Whilst my friend had Camay at hers and soft toilet rolls, envy didn't even begin to describe it

Frankly, I have never spent much time considering the subject, although I have wondered why we still use the stuff, instead of installing a bidet!

Bronco was the preferred one at home, rather than Izal. At boarding school we had one called Silver Silk, and a less apt name it was hard to imagine.

NotSpaghetti

We never had izal at home.

Neither did we , thank God 😊

As well as the outside loo and harsh toilet roll, here in the NE, most families had a spare miners lamp lit inside the brick structure to try and prevent the pipes freezing. My Grandad worked at the pit baths after he had a coal face accident, so bars of the Palmolive soap were relocated from the baths to family members. They were embossed with PHB (pit head baths) but that wore off after a few days use.

And the little crochet hats that was put on the spare roll in the 70/80s .I used to like the peach colour when the coloured rolls were in fashion.
Bamboo paper seems to be the new thing.

Fallingstar

Izal toilet paper was about the same period as carbolic soap, our school had both in the loos, and we used TCP and germolene, everything smelled overpoweringly of disinfectant.

Ha! Germolene - it had a truly overpowering antiseptic stink that radiated for miles. You always knew if one of your classmates was 'wearing' Germolene because of it's distinctive trademark pong.

What did the dog say when he wiped his bum on Izal?ruff!

I loved the smell of Germolene

Bronco was what we had at home. It made brilliant tracing paper but was totally non-absorbent and not fit for purpose.

AuntieE

Frankly, I have never spent much time considering the subject, although I have wondered why we still use the stuff, instead of installing a bidet!

I use them on holiday for washing my feet.

I remember looking out of the window upstairs & seeing all this mush, when I went through to the yard (4 stories down) it was full of pink loo paper, I mean full.
I called a plumber, he said someone had forgotten to remove the tippler from the long drop toilet. Everything was just backing up 😳

I noticed that the hole in the middle of my loo rolls had got much bigger, so you got less paper for the same price. I promptly changed to a bamboo brand with a smaller hole.

In days of old
When knights were bold
And paper wasn't invented
They wiped their a**e
On a piece of grass
And walked away contented