Angelsoft and Quilted Northern manufacturers use a method called “creping” to soften, strengthen and fluff their toilet paper. The process uses a mix of hardwood and softwood pulp.
According to BullsEye, a focus group involving men revealed that pee hitting the porcelain at a low angle creates less splash. The designers took this feedback to heart and changed the design of their urinals.
Crepe Texture
The beauty of crepe fabric is that it’s not only a lovely textured material but can also create fluidity in garments. It’s a versatile fabric that can be used for a variety of garments and home decor items, and its unique pebbly texture adds a touch of elegance to any piece you stitch out of it.
While it was originally made out of silk, today, crepe is produced from a wide range of fabrics, including cotton, rayon, chiffon, polyester, and spandex. Textile fibers undergo a complex twisting treatment that gives them the characteristic three-dimensional rippled texture for which it’s well known.
The resulting fabric can be thin and sheer or fine and opaque, depending on the yarn used. It’s a very stretchy fabric requiring precise cutting and sewing. The distinctive surface can be achieved using a special weave structure, arranging the yarn twist differently, or applying a chemical treatment.
Crepe can be found in a wide variety of colors and weights, but it’s best to stick with natural fibers whenever possible. The production of synthetic fabric involves the use of petrochemicals and other chemicals, which can have negative environmental implications. On the other hand, natural fibers are biodegradable and will not leave any toxic waste behind.
In terms of care, it’s important to follow the specific instructions for each particular type of fabric. However, cotton crepes can generally be washed and dried on a delicate setting and should not be tumble dried or ironed. Synthetic fabrics require more care and attention, so it’s a good idea to always check the label for washing and drying instructions.
As far as sizing, the size of the fabric is determined by the amount of yarn that’s used to make it and the number of threads per inch. In addition, the thickness of the fabric can be affected by how tightly the yarn is twisted. Generally, the thicker and heavier a fabric is, the more difficult it will be to work with.
It’s a great idea to buy high-quality fabric by the yard to ensure that you have enough material to complete your desired project. This will also give you a chance to try out different styles and colors of crepe before committing to an entire dress. If you’re worried about the environmental impact of your new clothes, consider buying silk or wool crepe that has been certified by organizations like Silk Mark and Global Responsible Wool. These organizations use stringent standards to ensure that the fabric you buy is safe and sustainable.
Ripple Texture
Most toilet papers look similar to one another when they come wrapped in that long roll but look closer and subtle differences emerge. Each company has its own signature design or texture to distinguish its brand from others. For example, the ripple pattern on Cottonelle’s paper is designed to trap and hold more debris while cleaning the bowl. In our testing, Cottonelle beats the competition in strength and impression of quality, making it the top pick for toilet paper that hits the sweet spot.
Manufacturers start with a mix of recycled and new pulp to make toilet paper. The recycled pulp comes from white and color stock collected from recycling bins (with staples and pins removed). The pulp gets “cooked” in a large vat with water and whiteners until it turns into a slurry that goes through a washing and bleaching process to remove any coatings or inks. New pulp for toilet paper is called “virgin” paper because it comes from freshly cut trees. The blend of wood provides the paper’s strength and softness. Softwoods like pine and spruce have shorter fibers, while hardwoods like maple and gum have longer, more resilient fibers.
The slurry is then “cut” into sheets for manufacturing. Depending on the manufacturer, the sheets are either pressed into rolls or run through heated cylinders to create a distinctive ripple pattern. The cylinders also help the sheets absorb moisture, making them feel soft and smooth. During the manufacturing process, companies use a variety of other chemicals to improve the paper’s durability, strength, and brightness, including chlorine, sodium hydroxide, and a type of sulfate known as caustic soda.
After the slurry is formed into sheets, they are trimmed to size and put through a series of quality inspections. Then, the sheeting is ready to be packaged and shipped out for sale.
Clogging is a huge problem for toilets, especially low-flush ones that have been required in many parts of the world to save water. But designers can reduce the chance of clogs by designing the toilet’s waterways with larger diameters. They can also increase the speed of the flushed water so that it can travel more quickly through the toilet’s system to lessen the chance that it will get stuck.
Softness
Unlike steel, which can be forged to create stronger shapes, paper is formed by stretching softwood fibers. The longer fibers of pine and fir provide strength, while the shorter fibers of hardwoods give papers their softness. The most common type of wood used in toilet paper is cottonwood, but some brands use other hardwoods like gum or maple to produce softer papers.
Softness can be a virtue or a curse, depending on how you use it. “Soft landing” refers to a safe touchdown for a space shuttle; “soft rock” is a music style that grew out of the Beatlemania of the late 1960s; and “soft sell” describes persuasions that are gentle on your wallet or nerves. But the term has also been used to describe a softer, more tender touch—especially as a poetic metaphor.
For example, a soft touch on an infant or the softness of silk are qualities that have been admired for centuries. Softer, more delicate fabrics are often used as clothing and lingerie, while harder, coarser materials are used for work clothes. In our consumer surveys, however, softness hasn’t ranked highly in our rankings of user satisfaction. It seems that other qualities, such as strength and impression of quality, maybe more important than softness for a top-performing toilet.
Other qualities a toilet can have include how well it moves waste from bowl to sewer and whether or not it causes frequent or severe clogs. To test a toilet’s ability to move solid waste through the pipes, CR tests it with artificial fecal matter made of water-filled condoms that have been weighted with different-sized screws to mimic varying densities of poop. The resulting clogs are then measured for ease and severity. A low score on this test can signal a toilet that’s more likely to cause problems in real life, too.
