See how women wore a belt (and in a Swedish
ad). See a modern belt
for a washable pad and a page from the 1946-47
Sears catalog showing a great variety.
Read a Personal Products booklet for older girls from about this time,
The Periodic Cycle (1938). See similar
booklets on this site.
See a Kotex ad advertising a Marjorie May
booklet.
See many more similar booklets.
See ads for menarche-education booklets:
Marjorie May's Twelfth Birthday (Kotex, 1932),
Tampax tampons (1970, with Susan Dey), Personal
Products (1955, with Carol Lynley), and German o.b.
tampons (lower ad, 1981)
And read Lynn Peril's series about these
and similar booklets!
Read the full text of the 1935 Canadian edition
of Marjorie May's Twelfth Birthday, probably identical to the American edition.
More ads for teens (see also introductory
page for teenage advertising): Are you in the know? (Kotex napkins and Quest napkin powder, 1948, U.S.A.),
Are you in the know? (Kotex
napkins and belts, 1949, U.S.A.)Are you in
the know? (Kotex napkins, 1953, U.S.A.),
Are you in the know? (Kotex
napkins and belts, 1964, U.S.A.), Freedom
(1990, Germany), Kotex (1992, U.S.A.), Pursettes (1974, U.S.A.), Pursettes (1974, U.S.A.), Saba (1975, Denmark)
See early tampons and a list of tampon on this site - at least the ones I've cataloged.

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Venus compressed menstrual napkins,
traveling package (1930s - 1940s?, U.S.A.)
Before disposable pads (which appeared in the late
19th century in the U.S.A. and in Germany and
England), menstruating women found traveling troublesome. Where would
they wash and dry their cotton pads? Sometimes they must have burned them
- if they could afford to. (In the late 19th century an English medical
journal reported about a portable menstrual pad burner.)
These pads appear to be all cotton, not the cellulose of Kotex (Cellucotton).
They must have been more expensive than Kotex, probably appealing to a richer
clientele.
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I pulled the end flap out of the box, showing the instructions
(to avoid standing on your head, read below).
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At least two people wrote on the the back of the box, above,
at an unspecified time, probably to show a sale price - maybe well after
the 1940s.
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The Venus pad, right out of the box. Safety pins fasten the long ends
on either side of the pad to a napkin
belt (see such a belt, probably from the 1940s).
See how women wore a belt (and in a Swedish
ad). See a modern belt
for a washable pad and a page from the
1946-47 Sears catalog showing a great variety.
© 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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