A few days ago, we went to Costco and we picked up some toilet paper for our friend Anne. Like just about everything you buy at Costco, there was a lot of toilet paper. I don’t know how many rolls, but I could barely get my arms around the package. After I finally got the toilet paper loaded onto the cart, and Claire was continuing to shop, I got to wondering…. this toilet paper reminded me of something we don’t have in our houses anymore. I know that includes lots of things, like phone books, typewriters, etc., but what came to mind was colored toilet paper. I remember around the time I was in high school that you could buy toilet paper in various colors, like blue, green, pink, yellow, and so on. I’m not sure why some marketing guy thought people needed colored toilet paper, but I remember it being fairly popular for a while. Apparently you can still buy colored toiled paper, but I don’t remember seeing it in any of the local stores.
When I was in high school, Maysville, Oklahoma alway had a big homecoming parade every year — usually sometime in September or October, corresponding the homecoming football game. Even though Maysville was a very small town and the high school wasn’t large (there were 22 students in my graduating class) for some reason they went all out for this annual parade. It was usually attended by many from neighboring towns. Each class had a float as did various organizations and businesses. Back then the way to build a float, was to make a frame out of (usually) “broomcorn slats” and use chicken wire to finish the “shape” of whatever the float was supposed to be. Then toilet paper was punched through the holes in the chicken wire to finish the design. Most floats used various shades or colors of toilet paper. I don’t know if Maysville sill carries on that homecoming tradition, but if they do, I wonder how they mange without colored toilet paper.
I think I heard once that colors went away because someone decided that the dye used for coloring was bad for your skin — but I suspect it just went the way of colored appliances… you don’t see bright red toasters much anymore.
So somewhere between the 1950s and today, colored toilet paper faded away. If it hadn’t, I imagine 2020 would have done it in. Buying any toilet paper that year was a challenge — imagine trying to find pink… or blue… or yellow?
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