More Modernizing Mother Episodes: #1, #3, #5
Other Modess ads: another from 1928, 1931,"Modess . . . . because" ads, the French Modess, and the German "Freedom" (Kimberly-Clark) for teens. Ad for "Growing Up and Liking It" booklet (1963, Modess) - Actress Carol Lynley in "How Shall I Tell My Daughter" booklet ad (1955)
Meds tampon (Modess)
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CONTRIBUTE to Humor, Words and expressions about menstruation and Would you stop menstruating if you could?
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Read 10 years (1996-2006) of articles and Letters to Your MUM on this site.
Leer la versión en español de los siguientes temas: Anticoncepción y religión, Breve reseña - Olor - Religión y menstruación - Seguridad de productos para la menstruación.


The Museum of Menstruation and Women's Health

Modess menstrual pad ad, November 1929 (U.S.A.)
Woman's Home Companion magazine
"THEY'RE CUTE, MOTHER--A COTTON NIGHTIE IS PRIMITIVE"
MODERNIZING MOTHER. . . . Episode Number Nine

Johnson & Johnson's ads for this menstrual pad series give insight into the wild 1920s and the era from which it came, a time when women mostly washed their menstrual rags, often made of bird's eye (although there were disposables at least by the 1890s, and in Europe).

The first paragraph makes great reading, not least for the daughter's "gay philosophy" (the word has an interesting past) and for her demanding "the best and nothing but the best" when that very month the stock market collapsed.

Two paragraphs after that you read how Modess used cotton whereas Kotex employed Cellucotton as the absorbing material, which its manufacturer created from trees for bandages: Kotex meant cotton-like texture.
More Modernizing Mother Episodes: #1, #3, #5
Read how Modess, which battled Kotex for decades (and lost), started, and see some early ads.

I thank the donor of the ad!


Below: The height of the page is 9 5/8" (24.5 cm).



Below: Yes, I know what you're thinking: they're pulling a giant menstrual pad,
probably for night. That can't be, even though the standard pad of the time was
huge (and uncomfortable).
It must be pajamas or another mysterious piece of women's clothing -
or the nightie? Aren't women a puzzle?

The printer probably created the "halo" around Mother's head to differentiate it from
the background.



Modernizing Mother Episodes #1, #3, #5 || Other Modess ads: ad for "Growing Up and Liking It" booklet (1963, Modess) - actress Carol Lynley in
"How Shall I Tell My Daughter" booklet ad (1955) - another from 1928, 1931,"Modess . . . . because" ads, the French Modess,
and the German "Freedom" (Kimberly-Clark) for teens. Pad directory.
© 2011 Harry Finley. It is illegal to reproduce or distribute work on
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