A few weeks ago, my baby sister called me crying. She had a migraine (she gets them a lot). When I asked her if she’d taken anything, she said she stopped and bought herself some headache powders. She’s so much like our daddy and doesn’t even realize it. 

Goody’s Powder or BC was what daddy reached for when he came down with the sick headache. He swore by them. You’d find them in his car, back pockets, and lying around the house. For the life of me, I can’t remember him ever taking anything else. It had to be headache powders.

Daddy’s go-to headache cure has deep roots here in North Carolina. We might as well be the headache powder capital of the USA. 

Goody’s Manufacturing Company produced Goody’s Powders in Winston-Salem from 1936-1995. Unfortunately, the production moved over to Memphis, Tennessee, after the company switched hands in 1995. Since 2012 the powders have been produced by Prestige Brands.

BC has a similar story – the headache powder was created in 1906 at the Five Points Drug Company in Durham. Today, it is also owned by Prestige Brands and produced in Memphis.

Goody’s and BC are still really popular here in North Carolina, where they have cult followings. Do you swear by headache powders too?

**Information in Headache Powders came from several websites including, NCPedia, North Carolina History Project, and Carolina Coast Online.