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 sun and water in the beautiful
Swedish flag. Hm, there
were a lot of immigrant Swedes in
the upper Midwest, probably in
Chicago, Kotex's stomping ground.
. . .
And the
addresses for Moderne Woman,
Nunap and fax tampons
are all within 9-15 minutes
driving distance of each other
- today, anyway, as was at
least one
Chicago Kotex pad address in
1922.
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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