See Kotex's first successful tampon, Fibs; early Kotex tampon attempts; and an early Tampax.
Tampon oddities: Sa-tips (U.S.A.. 1930s-1940s?) Sanpax (the "x" is overprinted with a "D" on the box) (Israel? Switzerland? 1970) The instructions are completely in Hebrew except for one word, sanpax. Secret (U.S.A., 1930s-1940s)
SEE the directory of all tampons on this site.
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Leer la versión en español de los siguientes temas: Anticoncepción y religión, Breve reseña - Olor - Religión y menstruación - Seguridad de productos para la menstruación.

EZO menstrual tampons
(1930s?, U.S.A.)

Tampax's genius was the cardboard insertion device, patented in the early 1930s. The vast majority of 30s tampons - the first commercial ones for menstruation - had no such applicator (Wix, for example). But EZO did! I wonder how it avoided the Tampax patent.

I date EZO to the 1930s because of such text as "THE NEXT IDEA IN SANITATION" (below) and the leaflet inside, which proclaim its novelty. As with almost all early tampons it bears no trademarks or patent numbers or information that would offer a date after some digging. And the Los Angeles address (below) contains no postal code, which first appeared in the early 1940s. (It's interesting that another tampon appeared in 1930s Los Angeles, not otherwise a hotbed of menstrual technology innovation - Hollywood, actually: Holly-Pax . Could American film actresses have wanted a handy - EASYO - version of what European theater performers had apparently used for decades? Hollywood actresses don't strike me as glad to spend an evening sewing tampons.)

The box decoration also seems art deco, a style common in the late 1920s and throughout the 1930s and into the 40s.

And the word SANITATION (on the box, below) might be unique when used with menstrual products although sanitary napkin of course is part of American menstrual culture. That suggests to me that it was abandoned early, maybe for stylistic reasons.

Procter & Gamble kindly donated the box and contents as part of a gift of scores of menstrual products.

Below: The front and back of the beat-up box are identical. The box measures 2 x 4 3/4 x 1 3/8" (5.2 x 12 x 3.5 cm).
The smaller sides are also identical.
All photos @2008 Harry Finley
 
Below: The bottom; the top is missing.
 
 
NEXT leaflet | tampon wrapped, unwrapped
Tampon oddities: Sa-tips (U.S.A.. 1930s-1940s?). Sanpax (the "x" is overprinted with a "D" on the box) (Israel? Switzerland? 1970) The instructions are completely in Hebrew except for one word, sanpax. Secret (U.S.A., 1930s-1940s)
 

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