Menstrual pad suspenders!
Menstrual panties.
See how a woman wore a belt in a Dutch ad. See a classy 1920s ad for a belt and the first ad (1891) MUM has for a belt.
See how women wore a belt (and in a Swedish ad). See a modern belt for a washable pad and a page from the 1946-47 Sears catalog showing a great variety.
More ads for napkin belts: Sears, 1928 - modern belts - modern washable - Modess, 1960s
Actual belts in the museum
More ads for napkin belts: Sears, 1928 - modern belts - modern washable - Modess, 1960s
Actual belts in the museum
See the Kotex stick tampon.
See also a Saba Ad, Pursettes ad, Kotex "Are you in the know?" ads (1949)(1953)(1964), Ads for Teens, and some older Kotex ads
And, of course, the first Tampax AND - special for you! - the American fax tampon, from the early 1930s, which also came in bags.
See a Modess True or False? ad in The American Girl magazine, January 1947, and actress Carol Lynley in "How Shall I Tell My Daughter" booklet ad (1955) - Modess . . . . because ads (many dates).
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.

Ads for belts to hold menstrual pads, U.S.A., 1949, 1955

Women wore commercial belts at least from the latter part of the nineteenth century (the earliest ad the museum has is an American one dated 1891). Because self-adhesive pads became available only in the early 1970s, if women used pads, they had to wear belts, suspenders, "sanitary panties," (underpants with hooks or tabs or something else to hold the pad in place) - or invent some way of getting the pad to stay in place.

Companies sold probably hundreds of varieties of belts in the past hundred years, but the industry almost disappeared in the early 1970s with the advent of pads with adhesive (Stayfree and New Freedom).

See also the Kotex "featherweight" menstrual pad belt in a tube.

See how a woman wore a belt in a Dutch ad. See how women wore a belt (and in a Swedish ad). See Australian belts and pads, about 1900, and Chinese belts and pad holders. Chinese pad and panty pad, Japanese pad, older. American, Sears, 1902 & 1908. German washable pads and belt, with case (about 1935-40). Hickory ads for belts, U.S.A.: 1925, 1920s.

Below: March, 1949, Good Housekeeping magazine. "Sanitary" - wink, wink, nudge, nudge - is sufficient to identify it with menstruation. Look at the safety pins, which held the pad to the belt, and which tampon ads and boxes endlessly trumpeted as obsolete.
Below: August, 1949, Good Housekeeping magazine. "'Off' days" is a new addition to Words and expressions about menstruation. "On' is more common as part of an expression - on that page, anyway.
See a booklet for girls by Beltx.
   
Below: 21 February 1955, Life magazine. "Those days" and "sanitary belt" are the menstrual hints as well as "all through the month." The garter part of course held up stockings (men wore garters too but not with a menstrual belt). $2.50 seems like a lot to pay.
 
 

Many actual belts - Menstrual pad suspenders! See how women wore a belt (and in a Swedish ad).
See a modern belt for a washable pad and a page from the 1946-47 Sears catalog showing a great variety.
Menstrual panties.

© 2007 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