More about Pursettes:
A different Pursettes tote.
See the Pursettes
booket for teenagers (late 1950s?).
 
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Plastic tote filled with 3
Pursettes tampons (lubricated, no applicator, 1960s-70s?)
(Campana Corp., Batavia, Illinois, U.S.A.)
history, tampon, women, menstruation, lubrication, tote
The Campana company used plastic in at
least three cases: a plastic box of 40 tampons,
and two plastic containers that women could carry in their purse (thus Pursettes)
that held three tampons each. One
is below and the other here.
Pursettes extolled its virtues in many very readable
ads often aimed at young women.
But its virtues were old ones: a no-applicator
version (unlike Tampax, the queen of applicators)
that recalled the earliest commercial tampons;
and small size since the long tubes were missing.
But its almost unique feature was a lubricated
tip that made it easier to insert - but not
for all. You can see the lubrication in a photo
- and it's still slippery when wet! I've seen only one other tampon with
lubrication, an earlier American one called Dale.
Pursettes started in the 1950s but failed in the 1970s, actually a long
run compared to some early American tampons (see all
tampons on this site).
I thank Tambrands, the former company that made Tampax,
for this donation from its archives.
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Below: The plastic tampon carrier (tote)
measures as shown
2 1/8 x 2 3/4 x 5/8" (5.3 x 6.9 x 1.7 cm).
Bottom: Take off
the pull-top and you see the 'pons peeking out of the carrier.
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Below: Special for the menstrual
nobility! You?
Who would have guessed Pursettes had a coat of arms?
Or almost. It would fool many males into believing it held
cosmetics or something equally enigmatic belonging to that
mysterious race, WOMEN.
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Below: Cellophane snugly wraps the tampon
all these years.
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Below: The 'pon unfurled. The plug
- the absorbent part - measures 2 1/4 x ~1/2" (5.7 x ~1.4 cm). The
tote and Time have flattened it. The string
stretches 4 3/4" (11.7 cm).
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Below: The fastening is a simple,
clever and common way to attach tampons to removal strings. You see
how the tote squashed the tampon.
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Below: Pull the top
off and raised lettering reveals itself on the plastic box.
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© 2011 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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