See how women wore a belt with a pad - Swedish ad showing pad with belt - belts sold in the U.S.A. in 1928 - Washable pad with belt - belt packaging, probably from before 1930
See packages of many belts.
CONTRIBUTE to Humor, Words and expressions about menstruation and Would you stop menstruating if you could?
Some MUM site links:
homepage | MUM address & What does MUM mean? | e-mail the museum | privacy on this site | who runs this museum?? |
Amazing women! | the art of menstruation | artists (non-menstrual) | asbestos | belts | bidets | founder bio | Bly, Nellie | MUM board | books: menstruation and menopause (and reviews) | cats | company booklets for girls (mostly) directory | contraception and religion | costumes | menstrual cups | cup usage | dispensers | douches, pain, sprays | essay directory | extraction | facts-of-life booklets for girls | famous women in menstrual hygiene ads | FAQ | founder/director biography | gynecological topics by Dr. Soucasaux | humor | huts | links | masturbation | media coverage of MUM | menarche booklets for girls and parents | miscellaneous | museum future | Norwegian menstruation exhibit | odor | olor | pad directory | patent medicine | poetry directory | products, current | puberty booklets for girls and parents | religion | Religión y menstruación | your remedies for menstrual discomfort | menstrual products safety | science | Seguridad de productos para la menstruación | shame | slapping, menstrual | sponges | synchrony | tampon directory | early tampons | teen ads directory | tour of the former museum (video) | underpants & panties directory | videos, films directory | Words and expressions about menstruation | Would you stop menstruating if you could? | What did women do about menstruation in the past? | washable pads
Leer la versión en español de los siguientes temas: Anticoncepción y religión, Breve reseña - Olor - Religión y menstruación - Seguridad de productos para la menstruación.

"Classic" Sanitary Napkin Belt, U.S.A., about 1945

The word "classic" conveys comfort, solidity and security, and implies a long history. Sports people sometimes misuse the word, in naming tournaments, for example, that have never been played before!

See a German belt with washable pads from just before this time.

See many more belts.

Large images, long download time!

 

Tabs from a disposable menstrual pad snaked through the buckles of this American menstrual napkin belt, worn around the waist; it's probably from the 1940s. Disposable pads gradually replaced washable pads in America in the 1920s and 1930s. Catalogs and stores of the time, and until the early 1970s, sold dozens of models. Adhesive pads appeared in the 1970s, almost killing the belt-and-tabbed-pad industry.
See a Swedish ad showing pad with belt and a side view on an anatomical model used by the old Tampax company (1945).

 

At left we see the back of the package of the belt; at right, the front. This museum has an almost full dealer's case of the packages, bought from a seller of medical antiques.

See how women wore a belt with a pad - Swedish ad showing pad with belt - See many more belts.
belts sold in the U.S.A. in 1928 - Washable pad with belt -
See the roughly contemporary Cashay and
Dale tampons, and very early Tampax and fax.

Copyright 2006 Harry Finley