See an actual set
of the company's early Mon Docteur douche
apparatus from the 1920s.
See the company's Daintette
menstrual cup
See instructions
for the cup; information
about the Dainty Maid douche apparatus; and
covers of Mon Docteur and Daintette booklets.
Why shouldn't you douche?
The Perils of
Vaginal Douching (essay by Luci Capo Rome)
- the odor page
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Last, stick it in your ear
Testimonials for the
Dainty Maid douche, enema and
ear irrigation ("earigator") apparatus that
could be
sold in Tupperware-like parties
First testimonial
page (probably from the last 40 years)
In twentieth-century America, and
probably in Europe, douching the
vagina at home - flushing it out,
usually with a special apparatus - was
very popular, as least to judge from
the advertising (see some ads in the
links column at left). But just as
with the sanitary napkin belt and
thick pads - the industries making
them almost disappeared (see a Sears catalog
page from the 1940s advertising
the gear women used, and the early
beltless pads New
Freedom and Stayfree) -
douching has declined, fortunately.
Flushing out the vagina rids it not
only of odor but of bacteria necessary
to keep the tube acidic, the acid
reducing the number of harmful
microorganisms that can survive there.
Douching is normally bad.
The Dainty Maid Company, starting
probably in the 1920s in Meriden,
Connecticut, made douche apparatus and
a menstrual cup that company
representatives could sell at
"parties" of neighborhood ladies,
relatives and friends. My mind reels
at the thought. According to the
testimonials below, sales people could
earn enough to send their kids to
college and for cars. I suspect this
form of selling things was more common
than we might think.
In 1998, an unidentified person in
Middlefield, Connecticut, the
company's last home, faxed me what
look like package inserts or
promotional material, below.
See an actual set of the
company's early Mon Docteur douche
apparatus from the 1920s and the
company's Daintette
menstrual cup.
Read testimonials for an old
American patent medicine, Cardui.
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NEXT
Dainty Maid testimonials 1
2 3 and description of products
See an actual set
of the company's early Mon Docteur douche
apparatus from the 1920s and
the company's Daintette
menstrual cup.
© 2006 Harry Finley. It is
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work on this
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Harry Finley is the
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maintains this site.
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