Fibs (U.S.A., Kotex, 1930s-1940s)
first succesful Kotex tampon - tampon
& box (about 1937) - ad - many newspaper
ads, 1935-59. And I had a cat named Fibs (more
cats).
LOX theatrical tampon (U.S.A., 1930s-1940s?)
Tampons (with an applicator), box, instructions.
Lotus (U.S.A., late 1930s? - 1940s?)
box, non-applicator tampons, witty comments
 
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Moderne Women, early tampon for menstruation,
cellulose in cotton gauze, early 1930s?
The Sealtex Company, Chicago, Illinois, U.S.A.
(Is it the International Cellucotton Products Co., aka Kimberly-Clark, in
disguise?)
You're looking at one of the first commercial
tampons - maybe the first - in the U.S.A. and probably the world.
But if you looked at Nunap and fax
tampons (compare fax and Moderne Women
instructions) you'd also be looking at perhaps the first tampon: they might
be the same tampon under different names and from different manufacturers
- or all from the maker of Kotex. A neat puzzle!
As you'll see, this tampon is made of cellulose, probably Cellucotton,
which Kimberly-Clark made for its Kotex. I suspect K-C decided to try Cellucotton
in a tampon. And the company is SealTEX; K-C also made KleenEX.
But I believe it seems to have failed maybe because of the lousy "string" - and because it lacked an insertion device (the genius of Tampax
that this maker added in a later version known as Kotams)
which forced Americans to stick their fingers into their vaginas, something
probably few relished. (But Europeans have done
that from almost the beginning - but so did Americans,
both undoubtedly to avoid violating the Tampax patent;
Tampax entered the European market in the 1930s.)
Note the pretentious spelling of modern,
probably a way to make it seem more sophisticated and fashionable by making
it seem oh so French. Those French! Those Americans!
This might be the most cheerful box for menstrual products in its first
several decades (it's hard to top this one from
1991). The yellow and blue reflect the beautiful Swedish flag. Hm, there
were a lot of immigrant Swedes in the upper Midwest, probably in Chicago,
Kotex's stomping ground . . . .
The plot thickens.
I thank Procter & Gamble for donating this box!
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Below: The cardboard
box measures 3.25 x 2.5 x 1.13" (8.5 x 6.3 x 2.8 cm).
I believe "deodorizes" means that
its internal position keeps the menstrual discharge away from the air and
therefore your nose rather than suggesting that there's a chemical that
kills the menstrual odor, which is nowhere mentioned. But it wouldn't have
been the first time - nor the last - a company did not list an ingredient.
"Modern Woman's Best Friend"
appears in an ad for fax tampon, strengthening the
notion that the same people and or company were behind these products (and
Nunap) - probably Kimberly-Clark, later in the guise
of the International Cellucotton Products Co. But
read further for more proof.
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"Why fax is absolutely safe"
appears on the fax box. Things are adding up.
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Below: The facing sides and ends are identical so I show only one of each.
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Fibs (U.S.A., Kotex, 1930s-1940s) first
succesful Kotex tampon - tampon & box
(about 1937) - ad - many newspaper ads, 1935-59. And I have a cat named Fibs (more cats)
|| LOX theatrical tampon (U.S.A., 1930s-1940s?) Tampons
(with an applicator), box, instructions. || Lotus
(U.S.A., late 1930s? - 1940s?) box, non-applicator tampons, witty comments
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