See San-Nap-Pak sanitary napkin ads from
1932 and 1945 and Ads for teenagers.
See the roughly contemporary Cashay tampon, box,
instructions. (Procter & Gamble donation,
2001), and
Dale (U.S.A.,
1930s?-1940s?) Tampons, box, instructions.
(Procter & Gamble donation, 2001)
And, of course, the first Tampax AND -
special for you! - the American fax
tampon, from the early 1930s, which also came
in bags.
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).
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San-Nap-Pak menstrual tampon, U.S.A., late
1930s-early 1940s?
Box
I can roughly date this tampon
from wording that indicates maybe
the 1930s ("a new, improved aid to
feminine hygiene . . . ." and "This
new simple device replaces belts,
buckles, pins, and any other
accessories of any kind and permits
the wearer complete protection with
nothing to chafe and complete
convenience."). Companies were
emphasizing the newness of tampons.
But it does use the word tampon,
lacking on most earlier boxes
because women probably wouldn't have
known what a tampon was (you see
phrases like fax's"internal
sanitary napkin"). About this time a
report
extensively addressed the chafing
problem and more; pads at the time
were big (read here about
the 1920s).
But a second box (below) shows a
written date of 1938, so my
estimate was good.
The box's color is close to Kotex
blue, common for the early menstrual
products, which the history of
Procter & Gamble called
"hospital blue"; Dr. Lillian
Gilbreth didn't like it, as she reported
to Johnson & Johnson in 1927.
The Procter & Gamble
Company kindly donated this tampon
along with dozens of other early
American menstrual devices.
Harry Finley - your MUM - created
the inconsistently colored scans.
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