Kotex New Freedom towel & pantie ad (date? publication? U.K.)
Kotex staff not depressed during the Depression.
Modess "Panti-kini" (two-band holder to hold pad in crotch; 1960s-1970s, U.S.A.)
Kotex "Panti" (clasp and band to hold pad in crotch; 1970s?, U.S.A.)
Kotex Personals Protective Panties & ad (U.S.A., 1995)
German underpants (Unterhosen) made from American sugar sack twine (1945/46)
Various underpants and panties (and sanitary napkin belts), 1946-47 (page from Sears, Roebuck and Co. catalog, U.S.A.)
COMFO-GARD "pantie" (ad, 1950s?, Malen Mfg. Co., U.S.A.)
German brief panty (German: Slip, Unterhosen) for menstruation (about 1960)
Various panties, 1960s (part of Personal Digest, Modess, U.S.A.)
Pursettes tampon panty, 1968 (U.S.A.)
Read a very short history of European underpants from about 1700-1900.
Underpants & panties directory


Booklets menstrual hygiene companies made for girls, women and teachers - patent medicine - a list of books and articles about menstruation
Many more PADS, BOOKLETS - See TAMPONS, MENSTRUAL BELTS, CUPS, SPONGES, UNDERPANTS
HOMEPAGE
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? |
Email the museum |
Privacy on this site |
Who runs this museum?? |
Amazing women! |
Art of menstruation (and awesome ancient art of menstruation) |
Artists (non-menstrual) |
Asbestos |
Belts |
Bidets |
Birth control and religion |
Birth control drugs, old |
Birth control douche & sponges |
Founder bio |
Bly, Nellie |
MUM board |
Books: menstruation & menopause (& reviews) |
Cats |
Company booklets for girls (mostly) directory |
Contraception and religion |
Contraceptive drugs, old |
Contraceptive douche & sponges |
Costumes |
Menstrual cups |
Cup usage |
Dispensers |
Douches, pain, sprays |
Essay directory |
Examination, gynecological (pelvic) (short history) |
Extraction |
Facts-of-life booklets for girls |
Famous women in menstrual hygiene ads |
FAQ |
Feminine napkin, towel, pad directory |
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, towel, napkin directory |
Patent medicine |
Poetry directory |
Products, some current |
Puberty booklets for girls and parents|
Religion |
Religión y menstruación |
Your remedies for menstrual discomfort |
Menstrual products safety |
Sanitary napkin, towel, pad directory |
Seguridad de productos para la menstruación |
Science |
Shame |
Slapping, menstrual |
Sponges |
Synchrony |
Tampon directory |
Early tampons |
Teen ads directory |
Tour of the former museum (video) |
Towel, pad, sanitary napkin directory |
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 |
Read 10 years (1996-2006) of articles and Letters to Your MUM on this site.
Leer la versión en español de los siguientes temas: Anticoncepción y religión, Breve reseña - Olor - Religión y menstruación - Seguridad de productos para la menstruación.

Kotex bikini napkin holder
1960s-1970s?, Kimberly-Clark, U.S.A

sanitary napkin, tampon, pad, belts, menstruation, women's health, ads for teenagers, menstrual period, cycle, panty, hygiene, bikini

Introduction.

See a 1912 British bikini before bikinis were bikinis (but after the Roman ones); scroll to the bottom of the linked page.
And see early panties specifically designed for menstruaion: "Sanitary Bloomers," 1922 (ad from Sears, Roebuck and Co. catalog, U.S.A.).
Read a very short history of European underpants from about 1700-1900.
See more panties in the column at left and below.
I thank the generous donor, who has contributed many items since the start of MUM, in 1994!

Below: The front of the panty on - oh, I'm sorry, what's your name? It's actually a plastic mannequin from the former museum in my house.
The arrow points to what I think might have often happened: the thighs squeeze the pad out of the holder. See an enlargement below.
The donor objects to my presentation of the pad and panty. See the comments at the end of the article.
Below: The rear part.
The blue arrow points to a napkin tab not tucked inside the holder.
The red arrow indicates the same problem shown at left: the pad working itself out of the holder.
 Left: Yellow indicates the protruding pad.

Below: Putting too fine a point on it - close your eyes if you're easily offended (but then what are you doing on this site?) - I show in lurid detail what happens when the pad (arrow) gets squashed out.
The pad itself gets twisted, called roping in the trade.
 
You can open your eyes now ;)

Below: Inside the pad holder: the pad holder flaps flip up. The tab on the pad - pads of the time had a long
piece of material (tab) on either end to fasten to a belt or in this case to attach to
the pad holder
- snaked through the triangular holder. Then the wearer pressed the
metal locks together through the tab to hold the pad in place at either end.
The yellow in the lower picture is an artifact. Everything should be white.
I did NOT use a passing elephant for the background in the last picture! That's
my art portfolio.

The donor writes,

I must take issue with some of your "modeling" of it. The fact being that the mannequin you're using is not a "panty" mannequin with the crotch area between the legs being excessively narrow as compared to a live model. Consequently, the napkin holder and napkin are excessively bunched together with the problem as you present it. However, this is not true according to those that have actually worn it nor would it have ever been produced had it fit this poorly.

Rather it is a misleading presentation of a product that actually worked very well by providing a full-way support under the napkin as opposed to the tugging and pulling of a traditional sanitary belt. Indeed, there is a much greater tendency for the napkin to "rope" and twist with being pulled into place by a sanitary belt as compared to the "support" provided by the napkin holders such as the Kotex Bikini, the Comfo-Guard, the Modesty Shield and the Maxi-Kini's that I also sent. In this regard check out the Elsayx Sanitary Belts listed on Ebay. They obviously do not have the "bunching problem as you've presented it.

However, there is also the right way to put on a Kotex napkin. As it is being drawn up into place the sides should be gently squeezed together into an inverted "U" shape with the center of the napkin snugly against the body.

Unfortunately the cloth-type "support bands" such as those just referenced do not readily permit this. However, this is just one of the significant merits of he Maxi-Kini's with their elastic support band that I also sent. By comparison the cloth support bands do not really shape to the body contours as the Maxi-Kini's do.

Relative to the merits of the Kotex Bikini Napkin Holder check out the posting in the Ladies Forum of the Kotex website and the recommendation by Cindy regarding "Overnight Protection". Our you can also do a Google search for the Kotex Bikini Napkin Holder.

Note, too, that the Modess Demi Brief/Sanitary Shield is significant wider than the Kotex Bikini and would bunch together even worse per your mannequin. Also its elastic pad-holding bands tend to significantly distort the napkin as compared to the Kotex Bikini keeping it flat and smooth with virtually no distortion whatever.

END | box | bikini
Kotex staff not depressed during the Depression.
Kotex "Panti" (clasp and band to hold pad in crotch; 1970s?, U.S.A.)
Kotex Personals Protective Panties & ad (U.S.A., 1995)
German underpants (Unterhosen) made from American sugar sack twine (1945/46)
Various underpants and panties (and sanitary napkin belts), 1946-47 (page from Sears, Roebuck and Co. catalog, U.S.A.)
COMFO-GARD "pantie" (ad, 1950s?, Malen Mfg. Co., U.S.A.)
See also Ads for Teens
Many more
BOOKLETS - See TAMPONS, MENSTRUAL BELTS, PADS, CUPS, SPONGES, UNDERPANTS

© 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