In 1931, Earl Haas, a physician in Colorado, developed a cardboard applicator tampon that was meant to absorb menstrual blood. He made the tampon inside the applicator from tightly bound strip of dense cotton that was attached to a string for easy removal.
While Dr. Earle Haas patented the first modern tampon in 1931, tampons had been used for thousands of years prior to that by women across the globe. The Papyrus Ebers, the world's oldest printed medical document, describes the use of papyrus tampons by Egyptian women as early as the 15th century BCE.
As a general guide: For people new to menstruating, start with a junior tampon. For a light flow, use a light or regular tampon. For a medium flow, use a regular or super plus tampon.
Tampons were originally invented to help stop bleeding caused by injuries and to apply medication. However, in the early 1920s, a basic tampon was invented specifically to manage blood flow from menstruation. These basic tampons were less practical and comfortable than modern tampons and often leaked.
In the 1980s, versions of modern maxi pads and pads with wings hit the market. Tampons continued to increase in popularity. But a massive health concern about them made news when over 5,000 cases of Toxic Shock Syndrome (TSS) were reported between 1979 and 1996 (7).
The Victorian Period (And Beyond)
From the 1890s to the early 1980s, people used sanitary belts, which basically were reusable pads that attached to a belt worn around the waist – and yes, they were as uncomfortable as they sound.
The short answer is that most people with periods used cloth rags as a kind of DIY sanitary pad. Linen was a particularly good material for that purpose. But there's also evidence that some people used a particularly absorbent type of bog moss.
The earliest records of period management suggest that women in the Stone Age (circa 30,000 BCE–3,000 BCE) had rudimentary pads made of leather and linen-wrapped moss and sand. Ancient Egypt had reusable loin cloths and basic tampon-like devices made of papyrus and grass.
If you notice your tampons get soaked through in a couple hours, or you see blood on the string when you change it after a short time, you might need a larger size. You may need to size down if the tampon is mostly dry after wearing it for a few hours.
Elsewhere, there are anecdotes of tampons being used during World War I and II, but nothing specifically written from the era. Still, there is no definitive information that they were used as treatments for life-threatening wounds.
1900s: Sanitary Pads Become Popular +Tampons Invented
As sanitary pads became a successful product, many were still discreet about buying them in public. In fact, many women still wanted to hide and forget about their periods. These culturally-inflicted views helped lead to the invention of the modern tampon in 1931.
Initially, tampons were not widely used and were often stigmatized due to cultural taboos around menstruation. However, the popularity of tampons began to grow in the 1960s and 1970s, as women became more vocal about their desire for greater freedom and mobility during their periods.
Disposable menstrual pads grew from a Benjamin Franklin invention created to help stop wounded soldiers from bleeding, but appear to have been first commercially available from around 1880 with Thomas and William Southall's pad.
The letters on tampons stand for their absorbency level. 'R' means 'Regular. ' 'L' stands for 'Light. ' 'S' stands for 'Super.
Dr. Farah Kroman: Yes, tampons can be used from the first period, as soon as the tampon user is comfortable with this. Make sure your daughter reads and understands the instructions and changes the tampons every 3-4 hours, earlier if they fill up or at a maximum of 8 hrs.
As most of you will hopefully know, the letters on tampons actually denote their absorbency level. With “R” for “Regular,” "L" for "Light," and "S" for "Super." But Evan's joke prompted many women to text their boyfriends and ask them what the letters on their tampons stood for.
Try not to worry if your tampon string does get wet. Urine is sterile, so there won't be any health repercussions if you do pee on the string. Worst case, you can squeeze the string with a small piece of toilet paper in order to dry it off before pull up your pants.
When your period flows out of the little hole in the cervix, it tracks along the side of the tampon rather than the central top area so the blood only appears on one side of the tampon. No worries!
On rare occasions, some have not been able to find string to pull it out. I have shared the story before of my friend who could not get the tampon on her own. She called her doctor and went in and they got it out, painlessly. I have great news for you: You can't put a tampon "too far" in!
Among Australian aboriginal, Polynesian, African, and Native American peoples, the first menstruation of a girl was often observed with seclusion in a separate dwelling, accompanied by female-only ritual practices and practical support from other women.
A woman's monthly bleeding, otherwise known as “courses”, was believed to be the womb ridding itself of excess blood. If this did not happen the womb could become overrun with blood and could possibly drown the woman .
Chloe Christos got her first period at age 14...and it lasted until she was 19. "I knew it wasn't quite right, but I was also embarrassed to talk about it. I felt very different and pretty alone," the Australia-based stylist and art director told ABC.
In the third book of the Pentateuch or Torah and particularly in the Code of legal purity (or Provisions for clean and unclean) of the Mosaic Law (Leviticus 11:1-15:33), it is stated that a woman undergoing menstruation is perceived as unclean for seven days and whoever touches her shall be unclean until evening (see ...
The Aztecs and Mayans believed that the menstruating woman was considered to be the most important person, who was treated with respect by society. In other civilizations, however, menstruation was associated with numerous myths surrounding witchcraft and the ability to ward off storms!
According to the Cherokee, menstrual blood was a source of feminine strength and had the power to destroy enemies. In Ancient Rome, Pliny the Elder wrote that a menstruating woman who uncovers her body can scare away hailstorms, whirlwinds and lightning.