The sanitary pad is no doubt the most popular and widely used product for us gals when it comes to menstruation. It’s accessible, easy to use, and pretty straight to the point. Today, the pads we use are a combination of mostly synthetic fibers, Chlorine, and other chemicals but have you ever thought about what the first pads were like? what were your great-grandmas using as pads? It's Menstrual Monday so let’s look at the history of the menstrual pad.

Before the invention of what we know as the disposable sanitary pad, most women made use of rags, cotton, rabbit fur, sheep’s wool, grass, and even wood in their undergarments to soak up the flow of menstrual blood. The first disposable sanitary napkin was made of cotton and gauge in 1896 but was successfully commercialized in the United States until 1921. As the availability of material became unavailable, there was a need to find a material that was easily available and cost-effective. Later, wood pulp was incorporated since it was an absorbent material from softwood.

Although we’ve been bleeding way before the 1800s pads were originally used by men and were created by former president Benjamin Franklin. Yes! Men were officially the first B*tches lmao! I’m just kidding! Haaaa! But yes Benjamin Franklin invented the first pads for men made out of wood pulp bandages and used them to stop bleeding soldiers who were on the battlefield.

French nurses were then inspired because they noticed how well the wood absorbent stopped excessive bleeding for men at war. This is when the first disposable pads were finally available to women and were available for purchase in the 1890s. But because of patriarchal society and the shame we’ve been taught around our menstrual flow, it wasn’t spoken of. Even when it came down to marketing sanitary napkins it was advertised as “unmentionables”.

In 1921, Kimberly-Clark changed the game by breaking the silence around our periods by getting women to ask for the pads by the brand Kotex, which is short for cotton-like texture. The name is still synonymous with sanitary pads today. 

Women who were embarrassed to approach the male clerk for Kotex had another option: Boxes of the disposable sanitary pads were placed on the cashier's countertop, so women could simply pick up a box and drop money into a special payment box – making Kotex one of the first self-service items in America.

Mary Beatrice Kenner was a black inventor of many products that we use today her first patent was in 1957 for the sanitary belt. While she originally invented the sanitary belt in the 1920s, she couldn’t afford a patent. Over time she improved her earlier version and other versions that were patented before hers. The sanitary belt aimed to prevent the leakage of menstrual blood on clothing, which was a common problem for women at the time. The Sonn-Nap-Pack Company got word of this invention in 1957 and contacted her intending to market her invention, however when they discovered that she was Black, they declined. Beltless pads were invented in the 1970s and, as tampons became more popular, women stopped using sanitary belts.

As for tampons, the earliest version can be found in ancient Egyptian records, which described tampons were made from the papyrus plant. I'm sure the papyrus plant was better than what we are using today. But they didn’t always use papyrus and they weren’t always used for period protection. Tampons were used by the Romans and Egyptians as contraceptives. Back then they would create a tampon out of elephant or crocodile poop and insert it inside the vagina to avoid pregnancy. Even though they probably avoided getting pregnant I'm sure this couldn’t possibly be healthy for the vagina /uterus.

Tampons were also used as pessaries for delivering medicine into the vagina and cervix – through the effectiveness was highly questionable, considering these were reportedly soaked in substances that ranged from goose fat to opium.

The modern tampon with its applicator was created in 1929 by Dr. Earle Haas, who invented and patented the design. He later sold the rights to businesswoman Gertrude Tendrich, who went on to start the company behind Tampax. 

The tampon without applicator, however, was created in the late 1940s by German gynecologist Judith Esser-Mittag. The name "ob" is short for "one binde", which means "no napkins" in German.

I hope that you enjoyed todays menstrual Monday post and that you learned something today. I know I did! Shout out to Mary Beatrice Kenner and all the other bad ass women who’ve helped pave the way for us to have pads with wings and other period products today. What is your preference when it comes to your period? Do you wear pads, tampons, menstrual cup? Comment below and if you’re a goddess who cares about what’s in her pads and want to switch to something more natural check out our Organic Pads located in our online shop!

Source:

https://cnalifestyle.channelnewsasia.com/women/women-history-periods-menstruation-sanitary-pad-tampon-215361

https://femmeinternational.org/the-history-of-the-sanitary-pad/