See Pad-n-all,
a similar pad with belt from about the same
time.
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Delicate, a menstrual pad with belt in a
tube, U.S.A., after 1943
I don't have to tell you that
women must carry menstrual
supplies with them, something hard
to do before tampons appeared in
the early 1930s (see a very early
Tampax).
But in the 1940s (or before) a
company invented a tampon-size
sanitary napkin with belt enclosed
in an innocuous-looking tube, just
the ticket to conceal that time of
the month, a vital task in
American and many other cultures.
(But some cultures advertise
menstruation by segregating women,
parts of India,
for example.)
I sure hoped the victims, er,
users, of this product tried it
out before using it outside the
house. I can hear the curses now
as she struggled to unfurl the
darned thing - well, see the next
page for details. And older pads (here)
dwarf this one, making me wonder
if it did the job.
The Procter & Gamble
Company kindly donated Delicate
to MUM as part of a gift of
scores of old menstrual products
from its archives.
Harry Finley created the
images.
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Above:
These one-sheet
instructions wrapped
around the tube (see the
previous page). I
enlarged the back of the
page, directly above, so
you could read it - thus
the difference in sizes.
And the front side, at
left, DOES have a bluish
tint.
Left:
This is what the woman
pulled out of the tube.
I had trouble stetching
and fluffing it, maybe
because the cylinder is
60-or-so years old. I
have nothing but
compassion for the user,
especially in an
emergency.
After stretching and
fluffing, see what you
get, below.
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The pad is short but
thick. The cord
stretches a bit and
seems be the same
material as the pad
covering. You can't see
the hole in the back
tab, but the user snaked
the cord through the
holes and put that baby
on. (See
why the back tabs on
sanitary napkins were
longer than the front
ones.) Being a woman is
complicated.
NEXT:
an ad,
1953. Delicate box
and tube - See Pad-n-all,
a similar pad with belt
from about the same
time.
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