How did folks get adult diapers before the internet?

[Riddy]

I'm just kind of wondering how some folks here (IC, DL or whatever) got adult diapers before it was commonplace to order things online. I know some are available in stores, but stores generally don't carry any good brands. So, did you get them from medical supply catalogs, make do with what was available in stores, or something else?

 

[dpcare]

How did we get anything before the Internet?

 

[dogboy]

As a baby and toddler, I was in cloth diapers and plastic pants so that helped. I would either go to a drug store or a place like Kmart and buy the big flat cloth baby diapers along with baby prefolds, the largest size they sold. Then I'd buy the Gerber toddler size plastic pants, something I could still fit in as I only weighed 135 pounds for many years. I could put the prefold into the flat diaper and I was thin enough that I could pin the flat like I now pin on adult size prefolds. Then I'd put on the Gerber baby pants and I was in baby heaven because I was wearing real baby diapers and I could wet them and not have them leak with the prefold inside the flat.

 

[LadyOfTintagel]

How far back are we talking? Personally, I would honestly love to know how the ancient Celts or the ancient Egyptians or something dealt with adults peeing on themselves. Adult diapers of the ancient world.

Is that not what we're talking about? Ah, okay. Carry on.

 

[Riddy]

How far back are we talking? Personally, I would honestly love to know how the ancient Celts or the ancient Egyptians or something dealt with adults peeing on themselves. Adult diapers of the ancient world.

Is that not what we're talking about? Ah, okay. Carry on.

20th Century for the most part I guess. Though how it was managed in pre-industrial times could be interesting.

 

[bobbilly]

I know Tena slips back in 1997 had their own catalog, you just picked what you wanted, ring them and they would delivery them. I don't know about how my foster mother paid for them as I was only 11 years old when she first started ordering them. I still have a catalog from 2001.

 

[BobbiSueEllen]

I discovered Attends in 1988...first ones I got were at Drug Emporium, then also Fred Meyer. That stayed that way until after the turn of the century, after P&G sold out. And then all the good diapers were pulled off store shelves, only sold at sites such as HDIS. What tripe...

 

[MikeDJ]

Before internet days you had to buy it off the shelf or you could send away for them to be delivered.....It seemed once the internet got big most good diapers were indeed off all the shelves of most stores. All you see now is thin underwear and pads. or just basic stuff. I know on line ordering revolutionized buying discreetly. There are times I'd actually like to just go into a pharmacy or variety store and have a better choice of diaper bundles to just buy on the spot.

 

[Pelusos]

Before internet I went to the pharmacy, I said the size only and asked a pack of diaper, I got some brand... If I liked (or love?) them, next time I asked that. I waw nervous always but I was not in trouble with it, adrenalin was a part of the ritual.

 

[PaigeCherubiel]

Reminds me of having to ask the pharmacist for Trojans when I was in college.

 

[PaddedRita]

When I had to start wearing it was mostly at local pharmacies and medical supple stores !
Now it pretty much all on line !

 

[ade]

You let your fingers do the walking!
(Yellow Pages slogan)

Sounds like now, but it wasn't. You were restricted to your local area (unless you had access phone books outside of your area) and you had look under some headings which you wouldn't have thought of. Colostomy and Ostomy Specialists was one, but there were the fairly obvious Surgical Supplies (okay, not that obvious) and Mobility Aids (okay, no obvious ones. I don't remember seeing 'incontinence' as any kind of heading; you had to read shops ads for mentions, or just inklings, of inco stuff).
And, of course, you had to ring them first (unless you were in their whereabouts anyway) to see if they not only stocked inco stuff, but of what kinds (not all did pads, etc) and if they actually sold to the passing public (some only sold to trade).
And then, you had to make the trip and back, and sneak them in (stashed in a bush until parents in bed ).

All a bit daunting, costly and time-consuming, and (and it's a big one ) you had consider the shop's phone number showing up on the phonebill for whomever to query (cos no privacy of a mobile phone).

Other than that (which'd be mostly for AIO dispies), in the UK, Boots was a big stop for youth/adult plastic pants (their dispies were dire) or local shops for toddlers' pants.

When I first started out, at about 7, we lived in the local cornershop, so I swiped my pants from the shelf.

 

[Tommy10]

Mine were bought for me from K-Mart (Attends youth). They were on the shelf like any other item.

 

[CheshireCat]

Mail order:
Sear, JC Penney, and Montgomery Wards catalogs (reusable, later disposable)
Incontinence supply manufacturers and distributors advertising in disability magazines (reusable, later disposable)

In person: (Let your fingers do the walking!)
Surgical and Medical pharmacies (reusable, later disposable)
Surgical and Hospital Supply stores (reusable, later disposable)
Home Health Stores (reusable, later disposable)
Chain pharmacies much later (disposable)

My original primary sources were:
1. My cousin who worked for a large hospital supply distribution company (original Attends in institutional cases, ≈300/case)
2. V Jensen who advertised in the back of disability magazines (adult cloth diapers and plastic pants)

 

[dpcare]

 

[surprise35]

Wow @dpcare fantastic old Sears catalogue finds! That's how I partly discovered I was curious about diapers when I was young was looking at that section of the catalogue over and over again.
For me it was going to the pharmacy and first buying the old blue Depends briefs, then finding Attends ones too in my early days. It wasn't until a few years that I started ordering off the internet, think I got really used to having to go in person. I still enjoy the in-person experience of buying adult or ABDL diapers whenever I can, both from ABDL stores and health care stores too.

 

[Seasonedcitizen]

Forty years ago I got Ambese belted diapers at the supermarket. They weren’t bad.

 

[Nowididit]

Before the internet and online ordering came about I'd buy my diapers at the local pharmacy, grocery stores or big chain stores. It was a very nerve wracking mission that I'm so glad I never have to do again.
Before I was driving I had to walk about 5 to 6 miles one way then haul my diapers back to my hiding spot/s. I remember a lot of those excursions too, they were not fun but the payoff when mission accomplished was worth it.
When I started driving things got a little easier because I would drive to another town to buy diapers.

 

[Napincolove]

I used to get on my bike and cycle into the next village to the chemists shop with my false list of sizes needed and get what I could, being so ignorant of what was not on the shelves always left me feeling I could have done better but my nervousness just wouldnt let me say they were for me !

 

[wearforsafety]

Drug stores or through catalogs ( post order or phone call)