See a real American douche set from the 1920s.
See also Australian douche ad
(ca. 1900) - Fresca
douche powder (U.S.A.) (date ?) - Kotique douche liquid
ad, 1974 (U.S.A.) - Liasan
(1) genital wash ad, 1980s (Germany) - Liasan (2) genital wash
ad, 1980s (Germany) - Lysol
douche liquid ad, 1928 (U.S.A.) - Lysol douche liquid ad,
1948 (U.S.A.) - Marvel
douche liquid ad, 1928 (U.S.A.) - Midol menstrual pain
pill ad, 1938 (U.S.A.) - Midol
booklet (selections), 1959 (U.S.A.) - Mum deodorant cream ad,
1926 (U.S.A.) - Myzone
menstrual pain pill, 1952 (Australia) - Pristeen genital spray
ad, 1969 (U.S.A.) - Spalt
pain tablets, 1936 (Germany) - Sterizol douche liquid
ad, 1926 (U.S.A.) - Vionell
genital spray ad, 1970, with Cheryl Tiegs
(Germany) - Zonite
douche ad, 1928 (U.S.A.)
Vaginal hygiene in
The Intimate Side of a
Woman's Life, by Leona W. Chalmers
(1937, Pioneer Publications, Inc., Radio City,
New York), with photo of American bulb syringe
from the 1960s or 1970s.
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Medical (not menstrual) tampons,
U.S.A., 1890s - 1910s
In newspaper
advice columns, an article, and in a
menu parody
Using the word tampon in medical
advice columns in newspapers (as in
the last two texts on this page),
without explanation, shows that
average reader must have been familiar
with the term. But commercial tampons
explicitly for menstruation didn't
appear until the early 1930s (see Tampax, Wix and fax).
Women
have probably always made their own
menstrual tampons. A woman told me
that she heard from a German employer
that his female relatives sewed their
own tampons around 1900.
Doctors and others have used tampons
for thousands of years. A famous mid
20th century American physician even wrote that
"tampons used to pay the office rent."
One early example is for contraception
in an ancient Egyptian text (here).
Any wound or orifice needing a
cylindrical object to carry medicine
did the trick.
I thank again the genealogist who
has contributed so many newspaper
items for these.
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Below left:
Atlanta [Georgia] Constitution, April
21, 1894. The arrow toward the bottom
of the column points to the tampon. Below right:
Trenton [New Jersey] Evening News,
November 17, 1897. The tampon is about
in the middle of the menu.
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Below:
Trenton [New Jersey] Evening News, May
11, 1921.
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Below:
Trenton [New Jersey] Evening News,
March 6, 1920.
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See the short-lived Pond medical
tampon from 1910 - Tampax tampon
from the early
1930s - Main Tampax patent -
Ad from 1936
- World War II Tampax sign
© 2006 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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