Penggunaan kertas dan bahan lain yang menyerupai kertas untuk cebok pertama kali ada di [[Cina]]. Kebiasaan ini kemudian menyebar ke [[budaya Barat|Barat]]. Di beberapa tempat, terutama di wilayah-wilayah di mana tissue toilet belum tersedia, [[koran]], [[direktori telepon]], dan produk kertas lainnya juga biasa digunakan. Meskipun dapat menyebabkan toilet tersendat<ref name="schoolsanitation"/>, penggunaan koran dan kertas lain masih sering digunakan sebagai alat cebok di sebagian Afrika karena—meskipun telah tersedia—harga tisu toilet belum dapat dijangkau.
The use of [[toilet paper]] for post-defecation cleansing was first started in China. It became widespread in [[Western culture]]. In some parts of the world, especially before toilet paper was available or affordable, the use of [[newspaper]], [[telephone directory]] pages, or other paper products were common. ''[[Old Farmer's Almanac]]'' was sold with a hole punched in the corner so it could be hung on a nail in an outhouse. The widely-distributed [[Sears, Roebuck and Company|Sears]] catalogue was also a popular choice until it began to be printed on glossy paper (at which point some people wrote to the company to complain). In [[Hervé Bazin]]'s book, "[[Viper in the Fist]]", a [[Catholic]] family uses pages of the Catholic newspaper, ''[[La Croix]]'' (after tearing off the cross of [[Calvary]]). In modern [[flush toilet]]s, using newspaper as toilet paper is liable to cause blockages.<ref name="schoolsanitation"/> This practice continues today in [[Africa]]; while rolls of Western-style toilet paper are readily available, they can be fairly expensive, prompting less well-off members of the community to utilise newspapers, etc, and particularly [[corn]] cobs.
