So the other day in the office, the topic of toilet paper came up. Yeah I know, that's how we are, ha. Anyway, someone mentioned "do you remember colored toilet paper"? Of course.
Well the younger people in the office thought we had lost our minds. Toilet paper in colors?
WHAT THE...?
So when I got home that night, I just had to find some pictures online to show the. Now that was a down the rabbit hole moment that I spent an hour reading about toilet paper, ha. Anyway, I found these that made me remember them distinctly...
Green...
Blue...
And of course pink...
And another brand in pink...
And yet more pink...apparently pink was a very popular color for bathrooms.
And look at this magazine ad! Who knew toilet paper was so GLAMOROUS and FABULOUS?!?!
The Northern brand is the one I remember. I think my Mom bought the pink many times. And blue. I seem to remember blue. Somewhere along the way where we lived, we had blue. They were big in the 60's when bathrooms in matching colors were all the rage and lasted well into the 70's and 80's. Near as I can tell, they started to fall out of favor in the late 80's. From what I've found online, fear of dyes and health risk, lack of interest in matching your toilet paper to your decor, environmental issues and thoughts by a newer generation that it was weird "using" colors on your backside, led to their eventual downfall and falling out of favor.
But look at this. We realize there are gimmick/gag gifts of toilet paper with images, camouflage, politics, holidays, etc and have been for years. But (or is that butt) it seems that, as with so many other things where "everything old is new again", there are companies making the pastel colors today! Above is a sample of some I found for sale online now.
And look at these. Some very BRIGHTLY colored rolls for sale as well (not sure about brown though). Still, they seem to be a niche thing (and kind of pricey). Maybe nostalgia is making them sell? I'm sure that one downside to these is that everyone has their own favorite "brand"...you know the whole "quality factor". No one wants to use "tissue paper" quality that isn't going to, um, hold up.
Hmm, I wonder if 2nd Man would think I lost my mind if we had colors someday at the farm?
Anyone remember colors?
Would you do it today?
I remember in the 70s we always bought the cream/beige colour. Someone I worked with back then went to somewhere in the Caribbean and brought back samples of toilet paper she had found in public washrooms. There was black, dk. purple and dk. green-not very appealing!!
ReplyDeleteGood grief! I remember colored TP! That's a blast from the past. Ask those young kids if the know what a (Oscar Mayer) weiner whistle is!
ReplyDeleteOk, honestly, I really didn't know that there used to be colored toilet paper. My mom always had white or corn cobs :) (just kidding on the corn cob bit)
ReplyDeleteNot many kids now days probably wouldn't know how to use a rotary dial phone either.
Those I do remember that you could get in different colors but ours was usually black but when I got married we had a gold colored dial phone
I am a Scottish person recently moved to Wales and yes,we DID have tartan toilet paper in Scotland. You couldn't usually get your own clan tartan but there was some satisfaction in using a rival clan's tartan for this purpose!I love your blog which I have just discovered. Never been to the U.S.unless you count Ohio which I am sure you do,but would love to visit Texas,and my husband sees himself as an authority on the Civil War and would love to visit the historical sights. Maybe some day.
ReplyDeleteI was so excited when I was 13. We moved and the bathroom my sister and I shared was an off white ceramic tile bathroom. We had yellow, blue and green towels and had toilet paper matching those towels. I thought we were beyond cool because our bathroom was changeable.
ReplyDeleteI definitely remember the colored tissue paper because one of our bathrooms - the girls' bathroom - was pink. Pink everything - sink, bathtub, toilet, counter top, cabinets, towels, and of course pink toilet paper. It was my mom's favorite color. And yes, there was a boys' bathroom that my dad and brothers used. Thankfully with white fixtures.
ReplyDeletei totally forgot about colored toilet paper...and for a good reason. i always hated that stuff. busy day at work?
ReplyDeleteI remember colored paper. My mom would only buy white or creme because the dyes killed fish!! All I ever wanted was a pink & black bathroom with pink paper . . . . You could even get pink fridges & stoves - as well as green, yellow & blue ones to match your bathroom at one time. I was on a waiting list at one time for an apartment in a building that was built in the early 50s . Each apartment had a pastel theme. I wanted a pink one with the black & white floors, pink fridge & stove, tub,toilet,sink & black & white tiles. The main floors were all hardwood with closets built in everywhere. No balconies but gorgeous interiors!!! You know, I think I would buy pink paper . . .
ReplyDeletePersonal hygiene is, well, a personal thing. My first ten years the services were provided by a honeysuckle covered outhouse. After indoor facilities were installed my parents "splurged" on the most ghastly medicated TP which, although semi transparent, in texture resembled glossy gift wrap to which nothing adhered. My parents were loyal to this horror all through the pale blue and pink era to which their friends flocked so I was spared contamination by the dyes. As a visiting adult I always brought my own supply of something softer and more efficient.
ReplyDeleteSusan - Your parents TP sounds similar to the awful stuff at my Primary School (years 1 - 8) - beige and shiny, and not very absorbent. My paternal grandparents had the coloured stuff, and I remember the white with "things" printed on it in the late 1970s. Just had a quick look at online grocery shopping here, only white or pale, non-bleached available here now.
DeleteMichelle in Wellington, New Zealand.
my parental unit's house was built in the mid-50s. it had a pink & black tile bathroom. I remember my mother buying pink TP.
ReplyDeletethere were also green/blue/white/yellow colors back in the day. I would buy rainbow TP!
We had coloured toilet paper as a child. Sometimes we had white with prints. The weirdest thing is crossword and Christmas toilet rolls. The worst was the stuff was the stuff we had at school. It was shiny and slippery on one side and like sand paper on the other.
ReplyDeleteI remember colored toilet paper. It just seemed to disappear. When we moved to Topeka, Kansas, in 1967 (I think), the previous owners of the house had obviously loved pink. The bathroom in our house had cabinets that were painted pink. One bedroom had pink carpet, and the exterior of the house was painted pink. It wasn't long before my parents got rid of the pink and painted everything green. I kind of liked having a pink house. I could tell people that we lived in the pink house on Avalon Lane and everyone knew where it was. No one else had a pink house.
ReplyDeleteLove,
Janie
In my first apartment in the 70's, the ENTIRE bathroom was blue......toilet, sink, counter, tub, 1/2" floor tiles, and even had one of those metal hampers built into the wall. Anyone else remember those? Needless to say, my toilet paper was also a lovely shade of blue! Seems cringe-worthy now, doesn't it?
ReplyDeleteI traveled to Australia back in 2004 and was surprised to see flowered toilet paper still for sale in the grocery stores.
ReplyDeleteI remember the colored TP.. there was one brand that even came with little flowers on it. And a lot of it was perfumed... that one really got people going with UTIs and contact allergies in a bad spot where you can't scratch the itch in public...
ReplyDeleteI do remember colored tp, and all the guilt that was spread far and wide when we all got in line with the ecological goals and gave up colors and textures, for things that are more degradable and eco-servicable. I'm all for being ecologically sound, but it seems like sometimes we're missing some of the fun stuff we used to have.
ReplyDelete