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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