Knowing Our World | V1: From Rags to Pads

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FROM RAGS TO PADS

A periodic journey through time KNOWING OUR WORLD : VOLUME 1

• NUA FL

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F L A OW U N

Foreword The funny part about women’s history is that most of it is written by men. That’s why stories about our bodies and menstruation are covered in fiction and folklore.

But things can always turn around!

Women before us picked up pen and paper and wrote down every thought and every dream, and passed it onto the younger girls. This tradition, ever since, has never stopped.

In this guide, we will look at how menstrual practices travelling on the chariot of time - became a part and parcel of a woman’s life. Walking down the paths of history makes this edition special to us!

How did a woman practice hygiene at home?

Did she have her own space to store all the things she used during her period?

How did the world around her provide support?

What kind of products were innovated to fit her needs?

Read on to find out more!

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CHAPTER 1

ONCE UPON A TIME, DURING THE 1800s…

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Most women used rags or sea sponges as makeshift pads and sometimes, women would also bleed freely into their clothes. It wasn’t until the 1850s, when women began to pin cotton onto the flannel of their undergarments.

This was perhaps the first step towards developing sanitary products.

The 19th century wasn’t exactly a free-thinking era. Menstruation was not a topic to be talked about and a menstruating woman wasn’t welcome in a social gathering. Some women would carry sweet-smelling herbs inside their clothes to cover up the smell of period blood, while others tied pouches full of ashes around their waist to get relief from period cramps.

In India, we are all familiar with the fact that women were not allowed to enter the kitchen, the room of worship, temples, and other parts of the house when they were menstruating.

But it is also a fact that since the Vedic Ages, in certain parts of India, menarche is celebrated as a girl’s coming of age ceremony.

For the longest time, women across the world resorted to pieces of cloths, rags, or what was easily available to keep the blood flow from ruining their dresses.

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After 1850, things began to take a new shape.

Let’s look at how the very first sanitary pad was developed...

1850

1888

Sanitary aprons and menstrual belts began to appear in the European market

The first sanitary pad was invented

They were made of rubber and hung with a strip between the legs, preventing blood stains on clothes.

Nurses developed the very first disposable pad as they were looking for new methods to stop excessive bleeding.

However, they would get smelly too quickly and could often be uncomfortable to wear.

Soon after, menstrual belts became popular as they contained absorbent fabric that could be pinned on like pads.

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This idea was later adapted by commercial manufacturers and the pads were made publicly available under the name Southall Pad.

1896

Branded sanitary pads became easily available The first ones to arrive in the market were Lister’s Towels.

This was America’s very own version of Southall Pad, developed by Johnson & Johnson, and perhaps the first popular sanitary pad brand.

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Doiley Belt of the 1890s

Over the course of the 19th century, there was a boom in the menstrual hygiene industry. As science developed, concerns about bacterial intervention in a woman’s health began to rise.

This gave inventors the opportunity to turn their gaze towards personal feminine care and several products such as the menstrual belt began to attract women like never before.

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Did You Know?

Roman author and philosopher Pliny the Elder believed that a menstruating woman could scare storms away.

Imagine possessing that kind of superpower!!

3. Pliny and a woman with a confused expression Approach: Illustration + Dialouge Size: w:1120 x h:1070

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CHAPTER 2

DURING THE 1900s…

With menstrual products now entering the market, it was time to find out who makes the most suitable product of them all.

Well, the nurses were at it again!

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World War I became a turning point for everything.

The nurses who were in the battlefield providing aid and relief to injured soldiers, discovered the absorbent properties of cellulose.

They applied a blend of acrylic cotton made for bandages and cellulose on clothes to create pads that would hold blood for a longer time.

This not only made sure that they could take better care of the soldiers, but also that their own menstrual blood could be contained while they ran across fields to provide help.

Bandages

Cellulose

Acrylic Cotton

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And once again, this idea was picked up by a commercial company.

1921

Dear Sir,

Kotex became the first mass-marketed sanitary products brand The nurses wrote letters to the American Fund for the French Wounded from the trenches about how they used cellulose to make menstrual pads.

Kotex picked up the idea immediately and sanitary pads soon became a wartime inventions, along with tea bags and wrist watches.

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We have at last cracked it!

It is cellulose!

My sisters and I need more cellulose to make our pads. As you know, we are bleeding without lifting a weapon. So more pads will help us manage our bloodshed while aiding the soldiers in the field.

Cellulose, sir! We need more of it!

Menstrual cups and tampons arrived in the market Leona Chalmers and Earl Haas invented the menstrual cup and the tampon, respectively. After a lot of decision-making about how controversial a sanitary product advertisement could be, Chalmers’s menstrual cups became the first female sanitary product to be advertised. Gertrude Tendrich started a company called Tampax, after buying Haas’s tampons.

1930

Some of the catchwords for these advertisements were

HYGIENE comfort

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During World War II, women were encouraged to use menstrual products that would help them “toughen up” to help the men who were going to war.

It can be said that this was the time when women began to take autonomy over their periods.

Along with sanitary pads, women began to grow more aware about their bodies:

Mood Swings

Changing Cycles

Cramps

While there was still not sufficient supply of products to assist women in their cycles, women were gradually understanding the importance of hygiene during menstruation.

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DID YOU KNOW? Tampon advertisements were targeted at married women and not single women, because it was believed that tampons could make a woman lose her virginity!

So was your woman married?

Nah! But she didn’t mind using me during her periods KNOWING OUR WORLD : VOLUME 1 | 13

CHAPTER 3

THE 1950s TO THE MODERN TIMES...

Sanitary products came to India in the late 20th century. It was not until the 1990s that Indian women began to put on pads that weren’t attached to a belt.

Adhesive pads’ slow entry into the Indian market didn’t happen in a day.

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Women before us had to convince almost everyone that sanitary pads which had to be attached to underwear are just as safe!

Most advertisements about sanitary pads were banned in India, as claims of them being highly inappropriate ran in the newspapers. On the other hand, women did not feel safe to walk to a store and buy a pack of pads.

After all, most pharmacies were owned and managed by men.

It was (and still is) a common practice to wrap pads in a newspaper or a black plastic bag before handing it over to a customer. But the one thing that stood out in his era was the abundant supply of menstrual products.

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Women, for the first time in history, had the chance to choose her intimate care product.

Not only that, this was a whole new generation of women who were more educated and more aware than ever. These women knew their needs, bodies and minds. They could voice their ideas and thoughts as they wanted to.

For this generation of women, periods became a point of conversation and they wanted to know more about it!

10. Two Women from the 1950s talking (make it look like the ad poster from 1950) Approach: Illustration + Dialouge Size: w:1120 x h:1070

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Did You Know?

Ancient myths declared that because blood smells, during a woman’s period, it can make preserved food bad!

Truth is, preserved food will turn bad only if you don’t store it well!

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CHAPTER 4

THE 2000s, 2010s, AND THE 2020s…

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Picking up from women in the last century who were the first to enter the workforce, the first to wear menstrual products, and the first to have a chance to begin the conversation around menstruation, this century is seeing periods enter into every narrative.

Women today are taking the conversation a step ahead. Not only are they trying to make menstrual pads available for all but menstrual hygiene has become an important thing to consider.

Women before us would sometimes have to resort to disposing their garments in order to maintain hygiene. But today, we have the opportunity to choose what we want for our own intimate hygiene.

While some practices will always be the same such as:

Cleaning the vulva with water

Washing private parts after urination

Wearing clean undergarments

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Brands are becoming more transparent and honest about how they make their products. They are thinking about women, how women feel during their period, and how to help them feel better.

Women, in turn, are now more ready to talk about their problems. Period cramps, PMS, PCOD/PCOS, low moods and other topics have found a stable platform. More and more women are keeping track of their period cycles and are being more mindful about their lifestyles.

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And there is still a lot more to do...

Our journey into understanding who we are and what our periods have to contribute in our lives has only begun.

We have certainly come a very long way - from rags to pads - but we have a longer way to go!

Through these guides, we are looking deeper into our menstrual journey and how things have changed over the course of time.

If you want to ask any questions or share a tip about your menstrual hygiene, drop us an e-mail on tools@nuawoman.com.

Till then, happy reading!

BIBLIOGRAPHY • The History of Menstrual Hygiene • Periods of History - A Sanitary Revolution • The History of Sanitary Pads

IMAGE SOURCES • Tampon Newspaper ad: Thought Catalouge • Kotex Nurse ad: Jezebel • Tampax Ad: Museum of Menstruation and Women’s Health 22 | KNOWING OUR WORLD : VOLUME 1

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