More menstrual and everyday underpants
Japanese, early 20th century - "Sanitary Bloomers," 1922 (ad from Sears, Roebuck catalog, U.S.A.) - various underpants, 1928 (page from Sears, Roebuck catalog) - step-in, Hickory, 1928 (ad from Vanity Fair magazine, U.S.A.) - first Sears everyday underpants (nonmenstrual), 1935 (ad from Sears, Roebuck catalog) - various underpants (and belts), 1946-47 (page from Sears, Roebuck catalog) - various underpants, 1960s (part of Personal Digest, Modess, U.S.A.) - SheShells underpants (1970s)
See a prototype of the first Kotex ad.
See more Kotex items: Ad 1928 (Sears and Roebuck catalog) - Marjorie May's Twelfth Birthday (booklet for girls, 1928, Australian edition; there are many links here to Kotex items) - 1920s booklet in Spanish showing disposal method - box from about 1969 - Preparing for Womanhood (1920s, booklet for girls) - "Are you in the know?" ads (Kotex) (1949)(1953)(1964)(booklet, 1956) - See more ads on the Ads for Teenagers main page
Ads for the Kotex stick tampon (U.S.A., 1970s) - a Japanese stick tampon from the 1970s.
Early commercial tampons - Rely tampon - Meds tampon (Modess)
DIRECTORY of all topics (See also the SEARCH ENGINE, bottom of page.)
CONTRIBUTE to Humor, Words and expressions about menstruation and Would you stop menstruating if you could?
Some MUM site links: homepage | LIST OF ALL TOPICS | 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.

"Kotex Panti" underpants to hold menstrual pads (U.S.A., 1970s?)

Bar codes, which blossomed during the 1970s, help date these panties, as does the hairdo on the woman on the box (here).

In the 1970s the sun was setting on special underpants to hold menstrual pads, which probably started at least by the late 19th century (see a German design). Pads with their own adhesive, common today, appeared in the early 70s - New Freedom and, for example, and see an ad for Stayfree in Dutch, which compares wearing a menstrual belt with the new Stayfree adhesive pad.

Tambrands, which used to make Tampax, generously donated the panties as part of a large gift.
Harry Finley created the photos.
NEXT: the box

Above: the panty on a mannequin and holding a Kotex Plus pad (more about that pad here).
Below: the inside of the crotch of the above panties where the menstrual pad lies, its tabs - long pieces of material on both ends - held by the clasp in front (bottom of picture and in the column at right) and the elastic band in back (top and in the column t right).
  
 
Below: the Kotex Plus pad (here) is much wider than the crotch of the panties probably in order to protect the latter from menstrual blood spill, much as the wings of pads do today.
 
Below: details of the devices that hold the menstrual pad.

Above: The arrows point to the spots where thread holds the elastic band to the crotch and shows the maximum width of the holder under which the (long) rear tab of the menstrual pad slips and ties.
Below: the tab of a Kotex Plus pad (1969; see the pad here) snakes through the elastic loop.
Below: the front (short) tab of the menstrual pad slips into this clasp in the front of the panties.

The clasp (arrow), below, in use.

NEXT: the box
Japanese, early 20th century - "Sanitary Bloomers," 1922 (ad from Sears, Roebuck catalog, U.S.A.), various underpants, 1960s (part of Personal Digest, Modess, U.S.A.) - SheShells underpants (1970s) - ALL underpants

© 2006 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