page_title: Sanitary napkin
section_title: History
hierarchical_section_title: Sanitary napkin / History
caption_attribution_description: Hartmann's ad for "Towelettes" for women
context_page_description: A sanitary napkin, sanitary towel, sanitary pad, menstrual pad, or pad is an absorbent item worn in the underwear when menstruating, bleeding after giving birth, recovering from gynecologic surgery, experiencing a miscarriage or abortion, or in any other situation where it is necessary to absorb a flow of blood from the vagina. A menstrual pad is a type of feminine hygiene product that is worn externally, unlike tampons and menstrual cups which are worn inside the vagina. The pad has to be changed several times in 24 hours depending on whether menstrual flow is heavy or light.
  Menstrual pads are made from a range of materials, differing depending on style, country of origin, and brand. US brands include Kotex, Always, Equate, and Stayfree. Lil-lets are available in several other English-speaking countries. The pads are not the same as incontinence pads, which generally have higher absorbency and are worn by people who have urinary incontinence problems or experience stress incontinence. Although menstrual pads are not made for this use, some people use them for this purpose.
context_section_description: Through the ages women have used different forms of menstrual protection. Menstrual pads have been mentioned as early as the 10th century, in the Suda, where Hypatia, who lived in the 4th century AD, was said to have thrown one of her used menstrual rags at an admirer in an attempt to discourage him. Before commercially available feminine hygiene products, most women used pieces of cloth to absorb their menstrual flow. 'On the rag' is a term that originally referred to menstrual rags, but its modern usage is as a menstrual euphemism.
  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 1888 with the Southall's pad. The first commercially available American disposable napkins were Lister's Towels created by Johnson & Johnson in 1888. Disposable pads had their start with nurses using their wood pulp bandages to absorb their menstrual flow, creating a pad that was made from easily obtainable materials and inexpensive enough to throw away after use. Kotex's first advertisement for products made with this wood pulp (cellucotton) appeared in January 1921. Several of the first disposable pad manufacturers were also manufacturers of bandages, which could give an indication of what these products were like.
  Until disposable sanitary pads were created, cloth or reusable pads were widely used to collect menstrual blood. Women often used a variety of home-made menstrual pads which they crafted from various fabrics,  or other absorbent materials, to collect menstrual blood. Even after disposable pads were commercially available, for several years they were too expensive for many women to afford. When they could be afforded, women were allowed to place money in a box so that they would not have to speak to the clerk and take a box of Kotex pads from the counter themselves. It took several years for disposable menstrual pads to become commonplace.  However, they are now used nearly exclusively in most of the industrialized world.
  The first of the disposable pads were generally in the form of a cotton wool or similar fibrous rectangle covered with an absorbent liner. The liner ends were extended front and back so as to fit through loops in a special girdle or belt worn beneath undergarments. This design was notorious for slipping either forward or back of the intended position.
  In 1956 Mary Kenner obtained a patent for an adjustable sanitary belt with an inbuilt, moisture-proof napkin pocket. However, the company that first showed interest in her invention rejected it after they discovered that she was African American.
  Later an adhesive strip was placed on the bottom of sanitary pads for attachment to the crotch of the panties, and this became a favoured method with women. The belted sanitary napkin quickly disappeared during the early 1980s.
  The ergonomic design and materials used to make pads also changed through the 1980s to today. With earlier materials not being as absorbent and effective, and early pads being up to two centimetres thick, leaks were a major problem. Some variations introduced were quilting of the lining, adding "wings" and reducing the thickness of the pad by utilising products such as sphagnum and polyacrylate superabsorbent gels derived from petroleum. The materials used to manufacture most pads are derived from the petroleum industry and forestry. The absorbent core, made from chlorine bleached wood pulp, could be reduced to make slimmer products with the addition of polyacrylate gels which sucks up the liquid quickly and holds it in a suspension under pressure. The remaining materials are mostly derived from the petroleum industry, the cover stock used is polypropylene non woven, with the leakproof barrier made from polyethylene film.
caption: An advertisement poster for Hartmann's pads, dated circa 1900. "Accouchement" means childbirth, and "puerperal fever" is a postpartum infection.
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