Some popular brands did poorly in our tests (and might even clog up your toilet)
We tested 10 toilet papers for strength, lintiness, softness, and other qualities.
By Angela Lashbrook
It might not be the topic of polite conversation—I grew up calling it “dessert talk”—but the quality of the toilet paper you use is important.
If you’ve ever found yourself in a restroom with single-ply toilet paper you needed to use a lot of, you know what I mean.
Comfort and softness are critical to a good roll of toilet paper, but other factors come into play as well. We tested 10 different types of toilet paper through rigorous testing at home and in our labs to see how easily they rip, how quickly they disintegrate, and how much lint they produce so that you can buy the best toilet paper for your family.
Who Gives A Crap 100% Bamboo Toilet Paper
The three-ply Who Gives A Crap performed well in general, earning a top slot above other fan favorites like Charmin and Cottonelle. It’s practically lint-free, but it’s also not especially soft, so sensitive bottoms might want to stick with Angel Soft. And though “cute toilet paper” isn’t something you hear too often, Who Gives A Crap is individually wrapped in fun prints, with black and white squiggles, red and pink checkerboard, and even a “poetry” edition in a sort of bathroom version of Magnetic Poetry. The rolls start easily, with no ripping. Oddly, we found that the toilet paper squares weren’t totally equal in size; when doing three repetitions of our tearing test, in which we test how easily it is to tear off a square of toilet paper, the toilet paper didn’t tear evenly on the third test.
Who Gives A Crap is midrange for price, at a little over $2 per roll.
Quilted Northern Ultra Plush
This three-ply extra-soft toilet paper is the strongest that we tested. It’s thick and almost fabric-y, but one side is more textured than the other, in case you want something a bit more grippy. It is, however, quite linty, which is the price you often pay for a more plush TP. It performed at the middle of the pack for both tearing and ripping tests, so you might not get a perfectly torn new square with each attempt, but you won’t be sitting on the toilet with a jagged, uneven piece, either. And at $2.22 per roll, this was the second-most expensive TP on our list.
Words of warning: If you have a septic tank, old plumbing, or plumbing that’s otherwise prone to clogging, you may want to avoid Quilted Northern. In our tests, we found that Quilted Northern took a long time to disintegrate and, when it did, it broke apart into large pieces. This could lead to clogs.
Reel Bamboo Toilet Paper
Triple-ply Reel was one of our top performers across the board. It’s super-easy to start a Reel roll, and it’s strong, too. It held up during abrasion tests, so you can rest assured that it won’t rip while you’re using it. It’s not that soft, however; pampered butts need not apply. Although it’s not as fashionably dressed as Who Gives A Crap, each individually wrapped roll is cloaked in chic brown paper with a large lowercase “r” in a stylish font. You’ll pay for the privilege of this paper, though, because it was the most expensive toilet paper (at the time of our testing) at almost $4 per roll.
Amazon Basics Bath Tissue
Outfitting a kid’s room or an office? Amazon Basics toilet paper isn’t luxury, but it performed competently in our tests while being one of the cheapest, too, costing only $1 per roll at the time of testing. This two-ply TP produces very little lint but isn’t quite as papery and rough as others we tested. Still, you’re not exactly going to be wiping with clouds, either. It has a light texture on both sides, so it has some grip. It disintegrated remarkably well—better than any of the other rolls we tested—so it may make a good option for particularly sensitive plumbing systems.
Angel Soft Soft and Strong
Angel Soft is great for sensitive butts. It’s smooth and gentle on the skin, almost like fabric, with one side that’s slightly more textured. It’s second only to Amazon Basics in budget-friendliness, too, costing about a dollar per roll. For these reasons, it’s a great option for toddlers who have extra-sensitive skin and are still getting the hang of using toilet paper (e.g., they might use a lot). Nevertheless, this velvety option dissolved well in our disintegration tests, indicating that it’s a good choice for old plumbing or septic systems.
But Angel Soft is no heroic TP, scoring the lowest in strength in our tests. It uses a lot of glue to close a roll, so it isn’t as easy to start a fresh roll as other brands.
Charmin Ultra Soft
So you want the softest, most velvety toilet paper for your tender bottom? Charmin is the answer. This two-ply TP is the softest from our tests, to the point where my husband said he felt like he was “wiping with a towel.” It’s strong, too, and isn’t likely to tear during use. It cost nearly $2 per roll at the time of purchase.
But it is incredibly linty (the dustiest in our tests), and it’s slow to dissolve—so is probably not the best choice if your plumbing is old or you are on a septic system.
Cottonelle Ultra Clean
Cottonelle is a plush single-ply (yes, that exists!) toilet paper with great abrasion resistance—no worries about torn TP while wiping if you have Cottonelle in hand. It has a striated texture rather than being etched with floral or swirling designs, like most of the toilet paper we tried. But it’s one of the lintiest from our tests. We also urge caution if you have a septic tank or old plumbing: We found that Cottonelle doesn’t disintegrate well, so it may cause clogs. It’s a middle-of-the-pack pick for price at $2.12 per roll.
Kirkland Signature Bath Tissue
Costco’s Kirkland Signature toilet paper was one of the worst in our tests. It’s linty, weak, and may rip during use; it requires two hands to start a new roll, and it’s not easy to tear a new piece; and it doesn’t disintegrate well, so it may cause clogging issues in some plumbing systems. It’s also hard and uncomfortable to use.
Other TPs We Tested
Seventh Generation 100% Recycled Bath Tissue
Looking to write poetry on the loo? Seventh Generation toilet paper is there to assist, in case you forget your notepad. This two-ply TP is papery and rough, and requires two hands to start a roll. It’s linty, too, belying the usual link between softness and lintiness. It performed below average in our strength tests.
Scott ComfortPlus
Poor Scott. Of all the toilet paper we tested, it’s the most likely to rip during use. It’s the most difficult of all the TP we tested to start a roll, because the glue that closes it was unevenly applied. It has a similar, striated texture as Cottonelle but is much thinner. It’s neither especially soft nor especially rough, and as such, it performs middle of the pack for lintiness.
How We Tested
We tested these rolls both at home and in the lab.
At home, I conducted blind touch-and-feel evaluations to assess softness. To evaluate lintiness, I wrapped each toilet paper around a basic sponge three times. I then rubbed each TP-wrapped sponge on a square of black velvet to create lint. I visually evaluated how much lint was left behind on each square of black velvet.
José Amézquita, who oversees toilet paper testing, conducted multiple tests in the lab. He repeated each test at least three times.
To test how easy it was to start a roll, José slid each roll onto a toilet paper holder. He opened each roll and assessed how easy or difficult it was, and measured any rips that occurred as a result of tearing the roll where it’s glued. He also measured the width of the glued area.
José affixed a force gauge to one end of three to four squares of toilet paper pulled out from the roll. He then pulled the force gauge away from the roll until it tore at the perforations.
To test how easily the roll ripped in the middle of a square—rather than at the perforations—José detached a strip of three to four squares of toilet paper from the roll. He placed a plastic sheet above and a plastic sheet below the strip so that the edge of the sheet hit the center of the square instead of at the perforation. He positioned the force gauge on the other end of the strip and pulled until the toilet paper ripped.
To assess strength, Jose pressed a ball into a sheet of toilet paper suspended between metal clamps on all four sides. He recorded the force of the ball falling through the toilet paper; the higher the force, the stronger the paper. He did this with both dry and damp paper.
To test how well the toilet paper would hold up while wiping—which we call “abrasion resistance”—José rubbed a strip of toilet paper, wrapped around a sponge, against a piece of sanding paper.
While toilet paper should be strong enough to hold up during use, it should disintegrate quickly so as not to clog plumbing or cause issues with septic systems. To test how quickly each type of toilet paper disintegrated, José measured how long it took for a 2×2-inch square of toilet paper to dissolve in a beaker of swirling, room-temperature water.
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