I know how some people say you should get up into the inner workings of your butt to finish wiping, but is this normal? Or should you only be wiping the outside areas, instead of getting the inside about a half-inch to an inch deep?

Dear Nick,

Wiping is the act of cleaning a surface by pressing some sort of cloth or other cleaning medium against it and moving it along the surface in order to remove the debris.

Some surfaces and types of debris require more than one swipe, or even more than one type of medium to get the job done correctly; but in most cases of dealing with ass-wiping, the general rule of thumb is that you simply wipe until there is no more smearing of fecal matter on the paper or wet-wipe. There is no need to "dig" or "poke" the cleaning materials into the hole. That would be considered "reaming", not "wiping".

Thanks for asking Motherload!

Motherload is a Certified Nurse Assistant as well as an IBS sufferer, which means she knows a lot about poop. Got a question for her? Ask it here. [1]