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
 
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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.
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The end of the tube showing the left-hand plug (at right).
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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.
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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).
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The rest of the degrees. "Sponsored by the makers of Kotex"
is strange wording and appears on other products.
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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
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