See a Tampax
tampon ad. See a wrapped
Modess
pad from about this era, an ad from about this
time, and some pad dispensers.
Compare a more somber American ad for
Kotex from five years earlier
See more Kotex items: First ad
(1921; scroll to bottom of page) - ad, 1928
(Sears and Roebuck
catalog) - Lee
Miller ads (first real person in a
menstrual hygiene ad, 1928) - Marjorie May's Twelfth
Birthday (booklet for girls, 1935,
American/Canadian edition) - 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
See Australian douche
ad (ca. 1900) - Fresca
douche powder (U.S.A.) (date ?) - Kotique douche
liquid ad, 1974 (U.S.A.) - Liasan (1) genital
wash ad, 1980s (Germany) - Liasan (2) genital
wash ad, 1980s (Germany) - Lysol douche liquid
ad, 1928 (U.S.A.) - Lysol
douche liquid ad, 1948 (U.S.A.) - Marvel douche liquid
ad, 1928 (U.S.A.) - Midol
ad, 1938 - Midol
booklet (selections), 1959 (U.S.A.) -
Mum deodorant cream
ad, 1926 (U.S.A.) - Myzone
menstrual pain pills ad, 1952 (Australia) -
Pristeen genital
spray ad, 1969 (U.S.A.) - Spalt pain tablets,
1936 (Germany) - Sterizol
douche liquid ad, 1926 (U.S.A.) - Vionell genital spray
ad, 1970, with Cheryl Tiegs (Germany) - Zonite douche liquid
ad, 1928 (U.S.A.)
The Perils of
Vaginal Douching (essay by Luci Capo
Rome) - the odor
page
More Midol: Midol
booklet (selections), 1959, and Midol
ad, 1938
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Wrapped Kotex menstrual pad for
a dispenser
(mid 1930s)
As early as the 1920s women
could buy Kotex from West
Disinfecting Company dispensers,
which dispensed the pad shown
below. Note the cross, a feature
of Kotex, Modess and other
companies at this time, probably
to increase the credibility of
their products. But Kotex did
start out as a bandage
during World War I, and Johnson
& Johnson, which made (and
makes Modess), made bandages. The
patents for pads and tampons, by
the way, lie in the same section
as those for bandages in the U. S.
Patent and Trademark Office.
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The package
measures 10" by 4.25" (about 25.4
cm by 11 cm). At the bottom
center,
tiny type reads "Copr. Kotex Co. 1933."
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Note that users were
supposed to take the
used pad apart, cut the
gauze, and flush the
parts down the
toilet. That's a
lot to ask, especially
since this pad came from
a dispenser in a public
place, not at home. Do
you carry scissors with
you? Here are instructions
in
Spanish for a
version of that
operation. See some
other allegedly flushable
pads, and here (Society
napkins).
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See a wrapped
Modess pad from about this era, an ad from about this
time, and some pad dispensers.
© 1999 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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