Thanks all for replying
70sPampers said:
@Maia, I have mentioned this before, but to me, it seems that you and I have similar sentiments about a bygone feature of a favorite product that we simply cannot understand why it was changed/discontinued (you miss the diamond/taffeta embossed plastic for plastic pants, and I miss a similar type of plastic that used to be on baby diapers).
I guess so, yes.
It’s just frustrating the hell out of me to be robbed of a perfectly good and affordable commodity that I depend on and have that replaced with expensive garbage, and to add insult to injury,
being told that garbage is better.
Like you, for the life of me, it just doesn't make any logical sense to me that manufacturers would discontinue using that kind of diamond embossed textured plastic for diapers (or for plastic pants). There is no advantage that I can spot for going with smooth-typed plastic instead of the diamond-embossed type for either product that I am talking about right now.
There’s two sides to it. Most discussed here is that people like you and me simply like it. It doesn’t matter for what reason. The sweet *zing* of shyness mixed with feeling secretly proud made it so much easier for me to deal with incontinence.
Everyone in this topic has their reasons.
But there’s also an objective reason why textured is better. It’s way more comfortable and causes less irritation because the texture prevents the plastic clinging or sticking against the skin.
It’s basically for the same reason as that a suction cup won’t hold on a brick, but it will hold on a glass pane.
The embossed pattern in the plastic makes it more skin-friendly. If you need to wear plastic pants all the time that adds up to quite a difference.
Textured plastic ideally feels like satin or silk, but glossy plastic feels like microwave film or trash bags. For a garment that’s worn everyday that choice should be so obvious that I can’t imagine anyone with a working pair of brains deciding to use smooth foil for a plastic pant, unless they want to punish people for being incontinent.
70sPampers said:
Like you, I believe it simply seems that manufacturers decided to make the switch and nobody batted an eye either way without protesting.
Indeed. Well, I’m still trying to find a “why” now and then - like now
I could maybe accept it if there was a good solid reason. But, there isn’t one.
70sPampers said:
It may not be much consolation for either one of us, but at least for both of us, vintage diamond-embossed diapers and plastic pants can 1): still be purchased on sites like eBay if one is willing to part with hard-earned money, and 2): many companies at least still make plastic diapers for adults and plastic pants for both adults and babies--even if the coveted diamond-embossing is missing for both types products in question.
Indeed, I’m afraid that doesn’t help much.
For me goes that I really use them, so that they need to be the right type and size as well.
Even if I could those, from what I’ve heard the cost is in the collector’s items range, which is something like 10 - 20 times the actual value. That’s just beyond my budget for an everyday commodity. I don’t collect them, I use them.
And even though I take care of them as well as I can, they won’t nearly last as long as a collector’s item would.
70sPampers said:
And, I cannot speak for you, but for me, I cannot live without my diamond-embossed plastic diapers,
Of course I can just give in and start wearing the usual terrible disposables. I sometimes have to. I profoundly hate them: they leak, the tapes become unstuck. It sucks.
But it works. Kind of.
But I do have an alternative: DIY. I found someone who bought the inventory of a plastic pant manufacturer who had quit business years ago, and he sold me a length of pvc foil. This stuff is actually embossed, but with a yet different pattern. It’s better than nothing, in any case. I’ve been working on creating usable plastic panties from that using a heat sealer. It’s a LOT of work. But indeed better than nothing.