Many more American menstrual pad belts
Old Japanese menstrual pad belts ads (panties)
See how a woman wore a belt in a Dutch ad and
in a Swedish ad.
Kotex "featherweight" menstrual pad belt
in a tube.
Washable pads
19th-century Norwegian washable pads
19th-century Italian pad
How Japanese made washable pads
Modern bowl for soaking used washable pads
Disposal bags for used pads from everywhere!
"Our grandmother's name was on thousands of women's lips [um, the other ones]."
Booklets menstrual hygiene companies made
for girls, women and teachers - patent medicine
- a list of books and articles about menstruation
 
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Wonderform menstrual napkin belt with pins,
U.S.A., 1940s?
Kotex, Kimberly-Clark Corporation
sanitary napkin, tampon,
pad, belts, menstruation,
women's health, ads for teenagers, menstrual period,
cycle, panty
Women have probably used menstrual pad belts for centuries, maybe thousands
of years. We know that the ancient Egyptians
used tampons (at least for drugs).
The first American belt I've seen advertised is from 1891.
Sears advertised some a little later, 1902 &
1908.
My date for the box stems from the lack of postal zone and ZIP codes
in the address and the low price. Postal zone codes started in 1943, ZIP
codes in 1963.
Many more American menstrual pad belts.
19th-century Norwegian washable pads
19th-century Italian pad
How Japanese made washable pads
Modern bowl for soaking used washable pads
I thank the generous donor, who has contributed many items since
the start of MUM, in 1994!
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Below: The panty-pad
shaped box (long before panty pads appeared)
measures 3 x 3 7/8 x 1/2" (at its fattest) [7.8 x 9.9 x 1.27 cm).
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Below: One side is blue, the other green;
neither has text EXCEPT when you
pull the green flap out - then you see the
situation below.
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Below: No, one end is not bigger than the
other. Having pulled the flap out and squinting,
I thought I saw tiny printing
in the damaged area above MADE IN U.S.A. - WOW!, a menstrual
mystery! Maybe a secret message
from, um, Irving Nurick, like, "Hi
there, ladies! Your friend, Irving"? You know those artist types.
So I scanned it at a zillion percent.
Naaa. It WAS just a damaged area.
Darnit.
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© 2010 Harry Finley. It is illegal to reproduce or distribute any
of the work on this Web site in any manner or medium
without written permission of the author. Please report suspected violations
to hfinley@mum.org
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