See Australian belts and pads, about 1900, and Chinese belts and pad holders. Chinese pad and panty pad, Japanese pad, older.
Actual belts in the museum Underpants (directory of all on this site):
Early 20th-century Japanese ads from publications - open-crotch drawers, 1890s (U.S.A., from MUM collection) - Modess "Sanitary Shield" (two-band pad holder in crotch; 1970s; U.S.A.) - SheShells bikini (snap open at sides; no special crotch; possibly for menstrual pads or tampons, 1970s, U.S.A.)
See Kotex ad with a man and no woman from the Netherlands
Compare the American "Modess, because . . ." ads, a French Modess ad, a French ad featuring just a man!, and ads for teens.
See Kotex items: First ad (1921) - ad 1928 (Sears and Roebuck catalog) - Lee Miller ads (first real person in amenstrual hygiene ad, 1928) - Marjorie May's Twelfth Birthday (booklet for girls, 1928, Australian edition; there are many links here to Kotex items) - Preparing for Womanhood (1920s, booklet for girls; Australian edition) - 1920s booklet in Spanish showing disposal method - box from about 1969 - "Are you in the know?" ads (Kotex) (1949)(1953)(1964)(booklet, 1956) - See more ads on the Ads for Teenagers main page
Ads for the Kotex stick tampon (U.S.A., 1970s) - a Japanese stick tampon from the 1970s.
Early commercial tampons - Rely tampon - Meds tampon (Modess)
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.

Kotex "featherweight" menstrual pad belt in a tube (U.S.A.)
Date: probably before the late 1940s

I suspect this belt to hold a menstrual pad with tabs - those long pieces of material at either end of the covering that encloses the pad - formed one of the many offerings to women who traveled. (See Pad -n-all and Delicate and a Kotex pad from a dispenser, probably from the 1930s.).

When women wore washable pads and traveled they faced a huge problem: throw the used pad into the toilet or trash can (unlikely) or . . .? At the end of the 19th century a British medical journal advertised a portable burner for cloth pads which could replace washing the things in a hotel sink or a friend's house. But how did she dry them?

Johnson & Johnson might have created the first American commercial disposable pads (Lister's Towels) but it seems the first really successful disposable in the U.S.A. was Kotex, although women have continued using washable pads through today - but not many, I suspect. The first European maker of disposables was possibly Hartmann, of Germany, around the time of Lister's Towels.

I dated the belt as before the late 1940s because that was about the time the International Cellucotton Products Company disappeared to allow Kotex stand on its own.

I thank the retired teacher who generously donated the belt to the museum! She's given many items and much information to MUM and wants to remain anonymous.

The end of the tube showing the left-hand plug (at right).
Keeping the belt in the tube are these plugs, one in each end. I enlarged them to show the cup shape (not cup cake) of the right-hand plug.
Above: 180-degree shot of the cardboard tube containing the belt. The tube measures 4 1/4 x 13/16" (10.9 x 2.1 cm).
The rest of the degrees. "Sponsored by the makers of Kotex" is strange wording and appears on other products.


NEXT: the belt
See how women wore a belt (and in a Swedish ad) - many real modern American belts.

© 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