Skip to main content

Story: Washing, cleaning and personal hygiene

Safix toilet paper

Image
Safix toilet paper

In the 19th and early 20th centuries some households were lucky enough to use commercially manufactured toilet paper; others made do with newspaper cut into squares. This roll of Safix toilet paper is kept at Highwic, a historic house in Auckland. 

Using this item

Heritage New Zealand – Pouhere Taonga

Reference: XXH.2962

Permission of Heritage New Zealand Pouhere Taonga must be obtained before any re-use of this image.

All images & media in this story

How to cite this page

Kerryn Pollock, Washing, cleaning and personal hygiene – Toilets, Te Ara – the Encyclopedia of New Zealand, https://teara.govt.nz/en/object/40803/safix-toilet-paper (accessed 4 June 2026).

Story by Kerryn Pollock, published 1 February 2013.