Sunday, March 25, 2012

Whatever Happened to Colored Toilet Paper?


I'd forgotten that colored toilet paper had disappeared until a member of one of the writer's forums I belong to posted the question. She has a baby boomer website that she calls Boomerina.

According the Stephen Lewis, columnist for the Mulsfreeboro, Tennessee newspaper the popular pale pink, blue, green and lavender colored toilet paper was banned some time ago, because at the sewage plant the dyes used in the process couldn't be filtered out of the water, which made it harmful to drink.

What happend to colored toilet paper?
Most of the time, this is now what you get.
Sewerage waste converted to drinking water? Yuk and double Yuk!! And so, I googled an enquiry. According to Wikipedia, although it is possible with modern technology to treat sewerage to the point where it is pure enough to drink, the only place this is happening is in Singapore.

There is a blog about everything, and so it is that the Toilet Paper World blog, yes indeedy deed there is such a site, gave a different explanation. According to this blog, colored toilet was first manufactured in the 1950s and was especially popular in the 1970s, at some point after that its demise began.

The reasons for this are three fold. Firstly, doctors began warning that the dye could cause skin irritation. Environmentalists expressed concerned that the dyes were not biodegradable. And of course profit was a factor. With the decline in sales and the expense involved manufacturers stopped producing color toilet paper. Scott was the last manufacturer to cease production, which happened in 2004.

However, somewhere in the United States, the website has sparse information, there is a warehouse full of colored toilet paper. The wholesaler claims it is  "Dermatologically and gynecologically tested, and does not bleed any color when wet!  Completely non-toxic, soothing tissue."

Next up, whatever happened to colored kitchen appliances?

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

I stocked up with about 0 rolls years ago and have only two left. I do not want jst plain white paper.

Anonymous said...

We were cleaning out my mother-in-law's home recently when we came across her 5 year supply of TP. In the bottom of the pile there were about 8 four packs of pink and yellow Soflin Bathroom Tissue. Wow! It took me back 40 years to my childhood and my grandmothers' bathrooms. :) I brought it home to show my kids since they have never seen colored tp. It was also a fun opportuntity to share a little bit of their great-grandmas with them.

Anonymous said...

I was putting Christmas ornaments away and came across pale yellow, blue and green toilet paper used for wrapping them. I had used the tissue as it was soft and easy to use. I reuse whatever I can from year to year and there it was. Thanks for all the information on this forgotten item.