See a Pursettes booket for teenagers (late
1950s?).
The Pursettes black
plastic tote
(carrier) with tampons. (An ad sold the tote,
and an enthusiastic customer mentions the
tote in her testimonial.)
Tampax keeps an eye
on its competitor Pursettes:
Tampax tampon inter-office
memo with attached ads, U.S.A., 1964
Want to be a SCHOOLEBRITY
in the know? (Huh, you say?) Read
Are you in the know? BOOKLET collection
of the great
pad & etiquette tips for teens Kotex ran
for decades (but without the ads) (1956)
Booklets
menstrual hygiene companies made for girls,
women and teachers - patent
medicine - a list
of books and articles about menstruation
See early tampons
and a list of tampons
on this site - at least the ones I've
cataloged.
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The Museum of Menstruation and
Women's Health
Pursettes
lubricated applicator menstrual
tampons, box of 16, 1960-70s?
Campana Corp., Batavia,
Illinois, U.S.A.
The early (1930s?-40s)
no-applicator Dale
tampon (with an ad) also had a
lubricated tip, rare
among menstrual tampons.
I thank
the contributor!
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Below:
The instructions
are on both sides of a sheet
measuring 4 13/16 x 8" (12.2 x
20.4 cm).
If I had faced these
instructions I would have said, "Forget it! Back
to
Kotex!" Not only does the
verbiage
match the mechanical dexterity
demanded by
the origami
tampon it appears in very small type.
Maybe that's
why Pursettes seemed to
concentrate on young women; they
had stronger
eyes. Maybe also that's
why it failed.
Left column:
The first small paragraph talks
about tampons
in general, not Pursettes
in particular.
Middle
column: Because of its
declared high absorbency, I wonder
if Purilon
was associated with toxic shock
syndrome as other
high-absorbency tampons were (like
Rely).
Scroll down for more on Purilon.
Under Placement
(middle column): the *#^*#$ tampon
took
so long to get in the woman had
time to change
her hairdo from
the first picture to the second.
Right column:
The lubricants
on the tampon and applicator are still slippery
when wet; I tested them.
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Below:
The bottom diagram and Purilon
text, enlarged.
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Purilon:
The FMC Corp. registered
the name Purilon with the
U. S. Patent and Trademark
Office in 1966; its first
use in commerce was 1965
but now the registration
is "dead." The Office
called it a fiber.
The second, 1972, (and now
dead) mentioned
registration was as "knit
shirts." The last (1997,
and live) registration is
for a hydrogel
for wounds from a
company called Coloplast.
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I'm not sure if the
Purilon in 1965 is the
same as the current
version, which according
to one
site "is a sterile,
high
viscosity hydrogel which
provides a superior
combination of
absorption and hydration,
and maintains a moist
wound environment
essential for autolytic
debridement." The key word
for tampon purposes is absorption.
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Below:
The other side of the
instructions.
Left column:
Pursettes came in a super absorbent
size.
Note the use of "girls,"
not "women."
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Below:
The diagram, enlarged.
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Below:
Surprise!
The instructions come out
of the box folded as
below: the crease runs
between the 2nd and 3rd
columns of the above
sheet.
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