Which is the best way to put a roll of toilet paper onto the holder: rolling towards you or away?
Oksana Kornilova
London, UK
Advertisement
Definitely rolling away if you have a cat or a toddler. I am speaking from personal experience.
Joe Gray
Norwich, Norfolk, UK
Rolling towards you requires slightly less reaching. However, if you have young children, rolling away is best, since a mischievous downward spin will just leave the roll rotating. If the roll is turned towards you, this action causes a lot of paper to be unspooled.
Ron Dippold
San Diego, California, US
I used to be a big fan of rolling away and I still think it looks nicer. But when I injured my arm and was effectively one-handed, I found that rolling towards myself was far easier. You hold the roll with your pinky and use your index finger and thumb to rip the sheets apart. So, I still roll towards myself, since it is handy while reading New Scientist on the loo.
However, if you own cats then rolling away from you – with the end not dangling – makes it far less likely that the paper will end up in a pile on the floor.
Scott McNeil
Banstead, Surrey, UK
It is common for arguments to erupt between people over this issue. However, I feel duty bound to point out that, when it comes to the best method, there are actually three types of people: those who prefer the paper rolling towards them, those who prefer it to roll away and those who prefer it to roll towards them, but own a cat.
Keith Thomas
Faculty of health sciences and wellbeing, University of Sunderland, UK
While different views might be argued over the feng shui of toilet roll positioning, there is a more critical microbiological concern.
I suspect that hanging the free paper against the wall is likely to result in more extensive microbiological contamination of the wall surface, potentially leading to greater transmission to fingers in the future.
Surfaces of tissue dispensers in toilets have been found to harbour high levels of microbes – albeit less than toilet door handles.
Peter Borrows
Amersham, Buckinghamshire, UK
If the toilet paper is rolling towards you and you have an opposable thumb, you will be able to grip the paper without touching anything else.
If it is rolling away from you, it is almost certain that you will touch the wall. If the wall is painted, that would ultimately damage the paintwork. It is also likely that you would transfer to it some of whatever was on your fingers, including sweat, grease, bacteria and viruses. You might also pick up what was on previous users’ fingers. That doesn’t seem a good idea to me.
Stephen Head
Cholsey, Oxfordshire, UK
This is a controversial topic. The by Seth Wheeler of Albany, New York, shows the end of the roll hanging towards the viewer.
Some say this is more hygienic, avoiding contaminated fingers touching the wall, while others claim that dominant personalities hang the roll this way.
I have even heard it suggested that men and women take different views. To avoid marital discord, in our house, the roll sits vertically on a charming old darning mushroom, sidestepping the whole debate.
@sempir, via Twitter
Ours stands vertically and rolls left or right, depending on who replaced it!
@Ozildelusagnan, via Twitter
Best is no toilet paper, use a bidet.
To answer this question – or ask a new one – email lastword@newscientist.com.
Questions should be scientific enquiries about everyday phenomena, and both questions and answers should be concise. We reserve the right to edit items for clarity and style. Please include a postal address, daytime telephone number and email address.
91É«ÇéƬ retains total editorial control over the published content and reserves all rights to reuse question and answer material that has been submitted by readers in any medium or in any format.
Ìý