You could find retro toilet paper in a variety of solid colors (pastels to start, and bolder colors showed up in the ’60s), and many offered colored patterns printed on white, too. It was super popular because people could match the roll to their bathroom fixtures, which, at the time, were often usually colorful, too.
So what happened to that old-fashioned colorful toilet paper? It all but disappeared by the end of the 1980s. There seem to have been several reasons why it was discontinued:
1) It became less popular as people were worried about the effects of the dyes, both on their skin and in the water supply.
2) It was thicker or stronger than regular white rolls, which led to it being less soft — and also meant many people had plumbing clogs and septic issues.
3) People started to buy white bathroom fixtures again (sinks, toilets, tubs) and getting colorful TP wasn’t necessary.
4) It cost more to produce colored or printed rolls, and people preferred cheaper options.
Nowadays, colored or printed toilet paper is tough to find — but a company called Renova does make colorful rolls — though they’re not cheap. But right here? Take a trip back in time, starting in the 1950s, and see bright & pastel, patterned & plain retro toilet paper, the likes of which you rarely see today!
Vintage 50s pastel Zee toilet tissue in green & orchid (1953)
Mad about color! (1956)
Scotissue in 4 pretty pastel colors — for the whole family… safe for the baby too! You’re mad for color — and now you can go all out for it in Susie’s nursery and your bath. You really can, because every pretty ScotTissue pastel is safe even for Susie’s tender skin… just as soft as ever.
Decorator-tinted tissues from Hudson (1960s)
Living orchid, french hyacinth… Blooming beauties from Hudson!
- THE 'SEXIEST' PAPER ON EARTH : Brighten up your bathroom in a colorful and scented way and make your toilet a little more exciting. All cylinders are red colored and lightly wood scented. A nice...
- SKIN FRIENDLY : Colorfast, this luxury toilet tissue roll is tested under dermatological and gynaecological control, no dye, mark or stain on your skin, made of 100% Virgin Pulp. This Renova Red Label...
- JUMBO ROLLS : This premium toilet paper comes in pack of 6 huge rolls with roll dimensions of 4" wide by 5" diam Inches. Featuring 180 sheets per roll, you get more bathroom tissue sheets than Renova...
Home Improvement (1960s)
There’s nothing timid about these bouncy prints Lady Scott’s collected for your bathroom.
MORE: 60 vintage ’60s bathrooms: Retro home decorating ideas
New! Magic oval Scotties (1962)
Now you can take one Scottie, and another floats up.
MORE: 20 glamorous ’50s housewives who REALLY loved their toilet paper
Whisper-soft Waldorf (1966)
Waldorf Tissues have a softness you can feel… yet they’re so strong. Choose from three soft pastel colors or white.
Sidekicks! Matching 2-ply bathroom & facial tissues (1966)
Pair-up our kicky prints in Antique Gold, or Bluebell Blue, Camellia Pink, and Fern Green.
ALSO SEE: Colorful Kohler bathroom suites from the ’60s & ’70s
8 styles of retro toilet paper: Cheerleaders (1967)
There’s nothing timid about these bouncy prints Lady Scott’s collected for your bathroom.
There’s one other tissue just as soft as Chiffon facial tissue — it comes in rolls. (1967)
Both the bathroom tissues and the facial tissue have the same touch of luxury — in colors as gentle as the tissues itself.
Lady Scott: Conversation piece (1967)
Start them talking with this one, keep them talking with all other designs and colors in the first collection of tissue prints.
Shaded blossoms, prints on tints in Bluebell Blue, Camellia Pink, Fern Green or Antique Gold. All in matching 2-ply facial and bathroom tissue.
All 3 styles in 5 pretty colors! (1967)
See these Kleenex retro toilet paper colors: Yellow, new French blue, white, turquoise, and pink.
ALSO SEE: 28 vintage pink bathrooms: See some wild bubblegum-era midcentury home decor of the 1950s & 1960s
Retro 60s Chiffon toilet tissue with patterns and colors (1968)
(Pretty enough to be gift wrap?)
Razzle Dazzling! (1968)
The Kleenex Boutique Collection is in… and tissues have never been so glorious.
Spirited retro toilet paper (1969)
New Kleenex Boutique tissues. Great little tissues that make a great big fashion statement.
MORE: Mr Whipple: Please don’t squeeze the Charmin! 20 years of TV commercial toilet paper drama
TP adjacent: Kleenex Double Dips tissues (1970)
Two ice cream-colored tissues in each fun box!
Kleenex puts all the fun and flavor of an ice cream cart into new Double Dips. Five yummy tissues colors doubled up with pure vanilla. Strawberry & vanilla, Blueberry & vanilla, Lemon & vanilla, Lime & vanilla & Double Vanilla
Crazy daisies from Lady Scott (1970)
Pick a crazy daisy… pink, green, gold, or blue, in new decorator boxes, too.
Lady Scott makes Crazy Daisies by the roll to match. So you can have daisies wherever you are. Crazy.
Verve-y! (1971)
The Kleenex Boutique Collection.
- INSPIRE YOUR ENVIRONMENT: Infuse your space with inspiration using the ideal combination of 140 sheets and 3-ply construction
- CHARMING AND SKIN-FRIENDLY: Enhance your bathroom's charm with this dermatologically tested toilet paper that ensures a gentle touch
- EUROPEAN EXCELLENCE: Renova Toilet Paper - EMAS & Ecolabel certified, Crafted with 100% Virgin Pulp
Mix ’em hot — mix ’em cool (1971)
Mix a mood. Any mood you like, with the brightest, boldest PaperWorks yet.
Full-size facial tissues in skinny mini boxes. Bathroom tissues that make a match. Four posh Paisley. Four super solids. Hot pink. Bold Gold. True Blue. Avocado Green.
MORE: Check out these 10 fuzzy toilet covers from the ’70s to see totally retro bathroom decor
Boutique Blooms! Kleenex Boutique Wildflowers. (1972)
Now Kleenex Boutique tissues introduce The Wildflower Collection. Wild new colors. Like Coral. And Violet. And Lemon. And Lime.
With new prints. All over the tissues. All over that famous mini-box. New Kleenex Boutique tissues. Bath tissues to match. Pick a bunch of Wildflowers. And bloom!
DON’T MISS: Soap on a rope: The old-fashioned gift that made a real splash in the 1970s
Soft n Pretty flowery toilet paper patterns (1975)
Cottonelle’s bathroom tissue (1980s)
Cottonelle’s new soft colors are changing people’s ideas about how a bathroom can look.
- THE 'SEXIEST' PAPER ON EARTH : Brighten up your bathroom in a colorful and scented way and make your toilet a little more exciting. All cylinders are red colored and lightly wood scented. A nice...
- SKIN FRIENDLY : Colorfast, this luxury toilet tissue roll is tested under dermatological and gynaecological control, no dye, mark or stain on your skin, made of 100% Virgin Pulp. This Renova Red Label...
- JUMBO ROLLS : This premium toilet paper comes in pack of 6 huge rolls with roll dimensions of 4" wide by 5" diam Inches. Featuring 180 sheets per roll, you get more bathroom tissue sheets than Renova...
Charmin Living Colors vintage 80s toilet paper in seafoam green & sunburst peach (1989)
You don’t design a bathroom around the toilet paper. But with Charmin’s Living Colors, you can have toilet paper that fits your design.
Feel the sea in this fluid arrangement of green, from the fanciful soap to the simple draping of a towel — all are complemented by the sea foam green of ACahrmin. You make your statement. We make it match.
ALSO SEE: Remember these old soap brands: Is your favorite here?
4 Responses
Thank you for going thru all the trouble of finding these images. I’ve been thinking about this subject lately. Reminiscing my youth
I miss all of these options. The coloured tissues I can find online are not pretty and pastel. They are too intense in colour and don’t give the same aesthetic as the old style papers. The patterned ones are not as pretty, either. I wish someone would just copy the old ones. I am so pleased, though, that bathroom fixture companies are starting to offer them in colours again.
Colored toilet paper is one of those things that disappeared and hardly anyone noticed. I remember patterned toilet paper, and I also remember concerns about the dyes not being good for the environment. And if they weren’t good for the environment, they probably weren’t good for your… sensitive areas either.
I remember it when I was a little kid. I also remember the frequent UTI’s I got when my parents bought it. Finally my pediatrician asked if they bought colored TP and told them to stop buying it. What a stupid idea it was just to have “pretty” tp.