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Menstrual napkin belts and pads from the 1902 and 1908 Sears, Roebuck catalogs (U.S.A.)
Actual belts in the museum Underpants (directory of all on this site):
CONTRIBUTE to Humor, Words and expressions about menstruation and Would you stop menstruating if you could?
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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.


The Museum of Menstruation and Women's Health

Menstrual sanitary aprons, underpants, etc. in mail-order catalogs from 1918 - 1941 (U.S.A.)
The Charles William Stores catalog, 1918, New York City

Sanitary aprons, aprons made of waterproof material worn under women's dresses to protect them from stains (as from menstrual blood), seem to have been a hot item in the first half of the 20th-century in America. My guess is that menstrual pads, tampons and other devices to absorb menstrual discharge must not have worked very well, a thought that an early visitor to the museum in my house supported.

The black woman from Washington, D.C., said that blacks tend to gush blood the first couple days of their periods. She saw the sanitary apron on a mannequin hanging from the ceiling and said, "THAT would sell BIG in the African-American community here!"

I had thought sanitary aprons disappeared in the early 20th century but the contributor of these scans found one in a 1941 Sears, Roebuck catalog. Women were used to wearing cumbersome clothes in these years; I doubt many women today would tolerate them. Just try jogging in this "Athletic Hip Confiner and Girdle" (bottom of page).

See washable pads and ads for them, early Kotex, "sanitary underpants & panties" and more belts.

I thank again the generous contributor from Oregon for these scans and his research!

Below: Page 153, from which the pictures below it are taken.
See how a woman wore the sanitary apron.
 
 
 
Below: The pads in tubes in the Tourist Set remind me of a later American pad in a tube, Delicate, which had a belt attached. Traveling women must have had a difficult time while menstruating. Before disposable pads they undoubtedly burned or otherwise tossed the washable pads.
Try jogging in the "Athletic Hip Confiner and Girdle" (bottom of page).
 

NEXT 1 2 3 4 William catalog, 1919 | See excerpts from the Butler Bros. catalogs, 1916-30 & the Savage catalog, 1930 | Menstrual napkin belts and pads from the 1902 and 1908 Sears, Roebuck catalogs (U.S.A.) - Actual belts in the museum - Underpants (directory of all on this site): Early 20th-century Japanese ads from publications See how women wore a belt (and in a Swedish ad) - many real modern American belts.
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© 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