Tuesday, January 4, 2011

Great Things about Switzerland, Part 1



Toilet Paper!

I have to admit that six days ago I never thought I'd be singing the praises of Swiss toilet paper. In fact, to be honest, I didn't even like Swiss toilet paper when I first used it. However, those of you who have used professional packers/movers will understand that lots of weird things get moved to your new house. I've heard stories of trash cans getting packed...with the trash. Well, we didn't have that happen, but they did ship a half-used roll of toilet paper from our master bathroom. So, finding it cushioned inside wrapping paper, and having finished our first roll of Swiss toilet paper, I decided that we should probably polish it off. And, after using it today after an average bathroom evolution, I can tell you all that US toilet paper is total crap!!!!


Talk to anyone who has worked for P&G or Kimberly-Clark and they will tell you that Americans care about one thing regarding toilet paper: softness. Chemists spend years trying to decode the secret to providing the softest swaddling of American behinds, sourcing virgin fibers from Canadian forests to create 2-ply sheets of the softest, lightest, most ephemeral material one can find. Swiss care nothing about softness -- they're all business. The goal, post-movement, is cleanliness. So, Swiss toilet paper is made up of 3 plies of sturdy, thick paper. To heck with comfort; there's a mission to be accomplished here!

3-Ply toilet paper from Sean Fallon at gizmodo.com
Two weeks ago I was with the Americans. But, after a week spent wielding the sturdy Swiss shield of paper, this afternoon I suddenly found myself approaching the task with morbid trepidation, painfully worried that the US 2-ply softness would not stand up to the task of prohibiting contact between my hand and something that I dare not speak about here (and barely want to contemplate in the bathroom). The US toilet paper did stand up to the job, but I used about three times the volume as I once used in the US, and it's a process I hardly want to repeat tomorrow.

So, as of today, count me as a strong advocate for Swiss toilet paper!

*** Added Swiss toilet paper bonus: By law (I think) European toilet paper has to be made up of at least 50% recycled paper content. The toilet paper we bought was 100% recycled, which is easy to find -- it makes up about half of the shelf space in stores. We usually used recycled TP in the states, but it was very difficult to find. My brother goes to great lengths to seek it out with the personal mantra, "They're not cutting down trees just so I can wipe my @$$." ***

6 comments:

  1. You forgot Georgia-Pacific in there...when I worked there I sat through countless A&U studies about toilet paper. And they all talked about how the Germans liked their scratchy t.p.

    Funny thing about the softness - men overwhelmingly preferred softer tissue vs. women.

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  2. I KNEW there'd be a TP geek out there somewhere! Thanks, Meigan!!!!

    (Actually, if Americans want anything more than soft, it's cheap. That's the real reason for the really thin 2-ply....)

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  3. Jared,
    I read this post at the most opportune time. I'm not kidding about this...I have been meaning to write you an email to ask you what your most recent (US) recommendation is on toilet paper. I heard you and Cameron talking about it at Christmas, and I know that you have done extensive research on the topic.

    I used to use Charmin (ultra strong) exclusively, but then I wanted to get onto the recycled bandwagon, so I started experimenting with different types. I bought something that was really thin (I don't even remember what brand it was), and I hated it, and it lasted FOREVER!!! I must have bought a 12 pack, but even each individual roll lasted weeks and weeks! And that was when I was using about 15 squares per wipe because it was so thin.

    Anyway, I was so sick of it by the end that I bought my old Charmin standby again. But now I don't like that either...it's actually too thick and too soft! (I never thought I would say that!) I literally only need 2 squares per wipe, which seems so strange after the thin stuff.

    All of that to ask...what paper had you settled on when you were still in the States?

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  4. Britt, I won't say that what we used was the best, because we didn't try everything, but we were happy with Seventh Generation. And, it was 80% post-consumer recycled. The stuff that just has recycling content on but doesn't state how much is post-consumer is useless. All manufacturers recycle the scraps back in, so it doesn't mean much if it's recycled pre-consumer waste.

    There IS a problem with too-soft toilet paper, but I refuse to go into the details here.... (We can talk about it off-line if you insist.)

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  5. Does anyone know what brands of good toilet tissue are available in Switzerland, and if any are available in Canada?

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  6. Wow, I have to say, this was both an amusing and educating read.
    Good Job!

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