See Delicate, a similar pad with belt from about the same time.
Pad directory
See a Modess True or False? ad in The American Girl magazine, January 1947, and actress Carol Lynley in "How Shall I Tell My Daughter" booklet ad (1955) - Modess . . . . because ads (many dates).
CONTRIBUTE to Humor, Words and expressions about menstruation and Would you stop menstruating if you could?
Some MUM site links: homepage | MUM address & What does MUM mean? | e-mail the museum | privacy on this site | who runs this museum?? |
Amazing women! | the art of menstruation | artists (non-menstrual) | asbestos | belts | bidets | founder bio | Bly, Nellie | MUM board | books: menstruation and menopause (and reviews) | cats | company booklets for girls (mostly) directory | contraception and religion | costumes | menstrual cups | cup usage | dispensers | douches, pain, sprays | essay directory | extraction | facts-of-life booklets for girls | famous women in menstrual hygiene ads | FAQ | founder/director biography | gynecological topics by Dr. Soucasaux | humor | huts | links | masturbation | media coverage of MUM | menarche booklets for girls and parents | miscellaneous | museum future | Norwegian menstruation exhibit | odor | olor | pad directory | patent medicine | poetry directory | products, current | puberty booklets for girls and parents | religion | Religión y menstruación | your remedies for menstrual discomfort | menstrual products safety | science | Seguridad de productos para la menstruación | shame | slapping, menstrual | sponges | synchrony | tampon directory | early tampons | teen ads directory | tour of the former museum (video) | underpants & panties directory | videos, films directory | 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.

Pad-n-all, a combination menstrual pad and belt
(1930s-1940s? U.S.A.)

Before today's adhesive pads (which started in the early 1970s - see an early example), women had to wear a pad with a belt or some other means of holding it against her vaginal opening, a tougher task when underpants were not tight against the body, as before about 1935.

Pad-n-all consists of an elastic belt attached permanently to what looks like a cotton pad, which measures 7.5" x 3.25" (about 19.5 x 8.3 cm), and sure looks like a disaster to me. But in a pinch I guess it would work; I know some things women have used in emergencies. It reminds me of the single adhesive pads found in airplanes, but the latter seem more reliable.

One thing I've learned from the museum is that, physically, it's much more complicated being a woman than a man, and often more dangerous, what with having babies, etc. In many ways men have it easy.

The Procter & Gamble Company kindly donated Pad-n-all to MUM as part of a gift of scores of old products from its archives.

 

 

 
The lack of a postal zone in the address on the package insert, above, suggests the pad predates 1943, when the zones appeared in the U.S.A.
See Delicate, a similar pad from about the same time but which required more trouble to use.
© 2001 Harry Finley. It is illegal to reproduce or distribute work on this Web site in any manner or medium without written permission of the author. Please report suspected violations to hfinley@mum.org