See the Wix tampon, instructions, patent, The Fascinating Story of Wix (and another version) and store instruction sheet. And read an ad in the Sears catalog for Wix and see a Wix tampon store display ad.
Early commercial tampons
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)
And, of course, the first Tampax AND - special for you! - the American fax tampon, from the early 1930s, which also came in bags.
See a Modess True or False? ad in The American Girl magazine, January 1947, and actress Carol Lynley in "How Shall I Tell My Daughter" booklet ad (1955) - Modess . . . . because ads (many dates).
CONTRIBUTE to Humor, Words and expressions about menstruation and Would you stop menstruating if you could?
Some MUM site links:
homepage | 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.

The Wix menstrual tampon and box, 1930s-1940s?, U.S.A.

Wix was one of the first American commercial tampons, appearing roughly at the same time as Tampax (early 1930s). Tampax bought the company (and Holly-Pax) later in the decade but it still produced tampons. Like many early tampons, Wix had no insertion device, something that Tampax developed and patented.

Pulling out the drawer (below), the user found four packages of three tampons each, each group wrapped in cellophane. The word Wix is raised on one version of the box (see below; the museum also has a flat version, also below); it's beautiful packaging, especially for objects so disdained by so many people.

Women could buy Wix in the 1934 Sears, Roebuck catalog (here), two years before Tampax came on the broad market.

A woman in the Chicago area kindly donated the embossed Wix box and many other items, like fax; her father sold Kotex products as a representative of the company and she found these in her mother's effects after her death. She read about this museum in an article in the Chicago Tribune after MUM opened in my house for a four-year run.

 
Above and next six views, below: The box with embossed "Wix."
Below these are four views of the flat - non-embossed - box. Neither bears a date.
The box measures 9.25" x 2.75" x 0.875" (23 x 7.5 x 2.2 cm).
F. S.  Richardson filed a patent for Wix (number 1932383 on the box below) on 28 January 1931; the patent itself bears the date 24 October 1933.
 
 
 
 
The ends of the box are blank.
 
The bureau of WHAT? Wix must have invented this.
 
The AMA objected to this claim because it implied endorsement. Wix and Tampax stopped putting this phrase on its products.
The four pictures below show a flat version of the box which was the same size as the embossed version. The tampons did not sit in a drawer; the user removed them by opening flaps on either end. The tampons within were the same as those from the embossed box.
 
 
 
Above and below: The two sides and two ends are identical.
 

NEXT: See the Wix tampon, instructions, patent, The Fascinating Story of Wix (and another version) and store instruction sheet.

© 2007 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