Whatever happened to the coloured toilet paper of the '60s and '70s?
Well, the simplest answer would be look at the most common colours of toilet paper back then themselves. Pink, Green and Powder Blue.
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| Northern and Scott were ubiquitous in EVERY home with coloured bathrooms |
Another place was the kitchen. Where appliances, countertops/cabinetry and fixtures also had to PERFECTLY match (Avocado Green anyone?)
But by the late '70s, fewer homes were made with such creepy colour matches. What looked good for one time rarely looked good in another and "colour neutral" became the trend in the '80s and '90s. And what could be more colour neutral than no colour at all?
A second answer is the environment. Although coloured and printed toilet paper began disappearing in the late '80s, it's long been said the dyes and perfumes used in coloured toilet paper then were harmful to the environment. But not a single iota of actual PROOF of this has ever been established.
In reality, the first answer is the most logical one. Times and popular taste had simply changed. Many of these old homes from the '50s and '60s underwent massive remodeling in the '80s to today and one of the first things to go was the old bathroom and kitchen fixtures.
But ironically, coloured bathroom and kitchen fixtures are making a comeback. In wilder colours than ever. And, in spite of all environmental claims about it, there's even a demand for matching coloured toilet paper again.
I had a relative pass away a few years ago, and in their basement there was a dozen of NOS colored toliet paper packages, and we go to take a couple packages home to use. So for a couple weeks I got to use the colored paper instead of the normal white kind.
ReplyDeleteI am sorry but I prefer the matching colors over the boring and tasteless uncolored crap of the last twenty to thirty years.
ReplyDeleteMaybe it became a lot cheaper and more practical to simply have white rolls instead of the colored rolls. Paper towels (like Bounty) used to be different colors as well, didn't they?
ReplyDeleteYes! I still remember the avocado green and "Harvest Gold" paper towels....
DeleteIn the UK most supermarkets still stock coloured toilet paper. The most common colours are honey (pale yellow cream) and a peach shade which is fractionally more pinkish than the honey (some shops/brands favour one, others the other). Pastel pink and pastel blue are not difficult to find either and they obviously sell, otherwise the big chains wouldn't carry them. I'm not sure about pastel green, I haven't seen it recently but I haven't really looked. A firm called Renova do a range in bright colours including lime green but these are really a novelty item and are quite expensive compared to the standard colours. I've never seen anyone stock them but you can get them mail order.
DeleteIf you come over to this side of the pond, it's ridiculous. Nothing but WHITE everywhere these days. But the expense of mail order from the UK would be a problem to most Americans (although in the end, we never really actually consider the colour of toilet paper in worst case scenarios. ;) ) I feel it's time to let go of certain things in the USA and this prejudice of coloured toilet paper is one of them. Especially from those who have no problem with eating food with artificial DYES.
DeleteI remember when it also had little flowers on the roll. I wish they would make it again.
ReplyDeleteWhere can I buy purple?
ReplyDeleteIn parts of Europe (eg France, Cyprus but not as far as I can see the UK) purple papers and green papers are easily found in most supermarkets. In the UK you can sometimes find paper with coloured patterns on a white base, even some with flowers!
ReplyDeleteWhy do we need colored toilet paper? If dye isn't good for us in our food, why would we want to rub dye on delicate parts of our bodies?
ReplyDeleteColoured toilet paper isn't anything one needs particularly, it's a personal preference thing, albeit one of the oddest. It's a niche market thing today. But in the olden days of the 1950's to the 1970s, it was surprisingly common in America.
DeleteOh lord did that bring on flashbacks of Scott TP - the 1,000 sheet stuff even - in those pastel colors. They matched nothing in our bathroom but if you had to gild the proverbial... I guess colored toilet paper was the best you could do.
ReplyDeleteI had always thought it was for health reasons. I could have sworn there were news stories about the dangers of ink in that area of the body over time, around the late 80s or early 90s. Could be mistaken though I guess.
ReplyDeleteActually the biggest reason that wasn't mentioned for the discontinuation of 'colored toilet paper' was that a lot of people were allergic to the dye in the color and it was causing irritation to their private parts. I remember my grandma telling us that she saw something about in on the news. I myself was very allergic to it too when I first bought a 4-pk. in the early 80's. P.S. I kid you not, I actually saw some in a store about a year ago. I can't remember which one but I was shocked when I saw some.
ReplyDeleteIf you ever remember where you saw it, please do a post!
DeleteThanks from Eastlake, Ohio .....
I'm not positive, but it may have something to do with the dye. Many women like myself have reactions to the dye on their delicate area. Maybe it wasn't selling as much and they decided to stop making it.
ReplyDelete(Please stop posting about this topic. So I will stop getting notifications about new posts on this topic. lol)
ReplyDeleteThere can be many reasons for the decline and fall of any product. From what I read: There were problems with allergic reactions. Apparently you can cause cancer in lab rats if you stuff them with enough colored toilet paper. (Probably wasn't great science at the time, but all it takes is scaring people for 30 seconds with a news factoid.) The colored paper supposedly wasn't playing nice with septic systems. I'm sure the Birkenstock crowd got on the bandwagon at some point and turned their pointy noses up at the pointless color and scent additives... And stuff like that.
I'm also wondering if there was eventual push back from retailers. T.P. is bulky to begin with. Then you had competing manufacturers vying for shelf space to carry not one, but up to five different colors (versions) of the same damned thing. And it's not like this was a product that created a greater market share just because it came in colors. After all - you can only poop so much no matter what the color. Of your toilet paper. I mean...
I'm sorry that I feel the need to reply even though you've requested to let this feed die off. I've just 1 question. Do you remember that tp brand named "Certain"? It was out in the '80's. I remember hating it because when "the job" was done your hand felt like it had mess on it! I just wondered if you thought maybe it just came out a few decades too soon; with premoistened toilet wipes (baby wipes for grown ups) being such a success now. Any ideas?
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