“Something as simple as switching your toilet paper can have an incredible impact on the globe,” Frame says. “Big Toilet Paper cuts down around 27,000 trees a day to make their standard product. It takes decades, and a reliance upon pesticides and thousands of gallons of water, to grow a tree before it gets milled into shreds, just to wipe a dirty butt.” Frame says that Bippy uses a sustainable grass that is able to grow rapidly on its own, “requires zero pesticides and it’s regenerative, meaning it grows back after it’s harvested with the same root, unlike trees that need to be derooted and replanted.”

Okay! I hate to admit that being nice to the earth is more fun when it’s also cute, but hey, whatever works! If your need for an Instagrammable roll of toilet paper “tastefully embossed in a light pastel” also helps save the planet, who am I to judge?

But what about all the other places butts have pushed their way into the $10 billion self-care industry recently? Surely this particular focus on our posteriors can’t be entirely earth-inspired.

Claire Chang, M.D., of Union Square Laser Dermatology in New York City, says we can thank the rise of the “belfie” (that’s “butt selfie,” for the uninitiated) and the Kardashian-Jenner clan for the rise in butt-care products, and not necessarily our disdain for polluting our planet. “There has been a growing interest in body treatments over the past few years,” Chang says. “This can be seen even within just the sheet-mask industry, which started off with just face masks but now includes the neck, décolletage, lips, hands, feet, and yes, the buttocks as well.”

Bawdy Beauty, which claims to have created the original butt mask, is one such company taking butt care to a new level. With marketing that looks similar to Bippy (which, honestly, looks similar to all of the other butt-centric companies), Bawdy Beauty sells the modern-day butt-curious woman or man “a touching and feeling experience, especially in current times where we touch electronics more than our own body.”

The world of quirky T.P. takes skin seriously as well. No. 2 says its wackily wrapped bathroom paper is better for the butt, delivering 95% less “butt crumble.” (I didn’t know what butt crumble was until I saw a video of the brand demonstrating it by using a guy’s beard, and now I don’t know if I’ll ever be able to not think about it when I see a dude with facial hair.) The T.P. companies and butt-cheek skin-care companies are united in wanting to leave your behind in better shape than their competitors do.

Part of me feels empowered: Sure, let’s pay more attention to our butts. Who wouldn’t reach for a soft triple-ply roll boldly wrapped in paper designed by a hipster artist over the single-ply crap your office stocks?

But another part of me feels like I’m walking into a trap. What is wrong with my butt as is? Is it not hygienic enough? Is it not hydrated enough? Does it not glow? Are there wrinkles? Is there cellulite? Should I feel bad about it the way I am told to feel bad about my neck, arms, legs, stomach, laugh lines, etc.? Do I—do we—really need to practice yet another form of self-care? I feel like for the cheap price of $10-ish per mask and the steep price of my therapist, I can skip out on this trend. But then again, should I? Chang says it depends on how much I care. “I would not say caring for our buttock skin is more important than other areas of the body, but similarly important,” she says. But until I’m rich enough to afford both face facials and butt facials, there can be only one.

As far as toilet paper goes, I’m kind of a sucker for cutely wrapped bathroom goods that are good for the planet. But I’m also an executive-card-carrying member of Costco, and none of these T.P. brands can be purchased in stores…yet. Hey, Peach, you listening?

Caroline Moss is an author, a freelance writer, and the host of the podcast Gee Thanks, Just Bought It! Her two newest titles for kids are out March 3 wherever books are sold.

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