The History of Period Products
By: Mihika Iyer // April 2025
It is well known that period products have a long history—starting from ancient times to the regular pads and tampons we have today. The earliest documented period product starts in Egypt, where they used material such as papyrus, wool, and other adsorbents to hold menstruation discharge. In many other undocumented groups, the idea of ‘free-bleeding’ was highly prevalent, where women had certain garments or clothes they would wear, celebrating a natural occurrence.
The stigma around periods only grew wandering into the middle ages, all the way to the 19th century. Period products were still not prevalent, women used rags and cloths in order to absorb the blood—and it was a highly taboo topic. Many would keep it a secret, many would not talk about it at all. It was extremely stigmatized and was an unspoken natural occurrence in almost every household.
In the late 19th century is when period products started to become prevalent. Lister’s towels were the first, commercially produced period product to be widely used in the US—introduced by Johnson & Johnson. This allowed women to have a hygienic alternative to the homemade rags and cloths. The pads were made out of cotton and gauze, sewed up with stretchy rubber, enabling easier movement. They also were composed of a belt system to hold the pad up to the waist—preventing it from slipping down. However, Lister’s towels had its fallbacks. First, it was not accessible to all women because of the stigma around the topic. Second, it was not as absorbent as it needed to be—the gauze did not absorb as much as it should have.
However, during World War I, they discovered that a different material—cellucotton—absorbed blood much better than regular gauze and cotton. They discovered this by dressing the wounds of World War I soldiers. The cellucotton would absorb the blood much faster and more effectively than cotton. They then transferred this to menstrual pads—which led to the Kotex brand—a much more effective and hygienic pad.
In the 1930s, the invention of the tampon began to be manufactured—Tampax being the primary manufacturer in the US. It was targeted towards women who were more active and mobile—marketing on these factors.
Things like adhesive strips and better wearing options were manufactured in the next 50-60 years, but no major changes happened until the 1990s-2000s. It was the birth of menstrual cups and different types of pads to accommodate those with heavier or lighter flow. The stigma around periods also significantly reduced since the 1930s—accommodating more women and more body types with different materials of pads—cotton, cellucotton, etc.
Today, movements against period poverty and period stigma have grown and accommodations for all women have increased significantly. Technology is also used today to measure skin types, period cycles, and period health. Today, we have tampons, pads, menstruation cups, and many other options for period hygiene.
However, despite these advancements, periods still remain one of the most taboo topics of the modern world—many women still do not have proper access to products and hygienic care. This is an ongoing issue and has been going on for many years—but organizations such as Love for Red are actively working against it.
The history of period products is a long and interesting journey—period products have significantly improved over the years in both hygienics and engineering. We continue to advance as a society everyday to improve period life for all of those who mensturate.
Sources:
https://www.history.com/articles/world-war-i-inventions-pilates-drones-kleenex?
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Feminine_hygiene?
https://allianceforperiodsupplies.org/the-history-of-period-products/