See a Pursettes
booket for teenagers (late 1950s?).
The Pursettes black plastic
tote (carrier) with tampons. (An ad sold
the tote, and an enthusiastic customer mentions the tote in her testimonial.)
Tampax keeps an eye on its competitor Pursettes:
Tampax tampon inter-office memo with attached
ads, U.S.A., 1964
Want to be a SCHOOLEBRITY in the know?
(Huh, you say?) Read
Are you in the know? BOOKLET collection
of the great pad & etiquette tips for teens
Kotex ran for decades (but without the ads) (1956)
Booklets menstrual hygiene companies made
for girls, women and teachers - patent medicine
- a list of books and articles about menstruation
See early tampons and a list of tampons on this site - at least the ones I've cataloged.
 
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Pursettes menstrual
tampons box of 40, 1960s?
Campana Corp., Batavia, Illinois, U.S.A.
teenage, women, health, menstruation, no applicator,
lubricated tip
Campana seemed to aim Pursettes (small enough to fit in a purse) at
young users; the ads
emphasize that (more ads in the column at left).
That has to do with the tampon size and its lubricated
tip, which would sneak into the vagina through the often narrow hole
in the hymen of a virgin or at least that of a women who has not had children.
Hey, the instructions discuss this, not just me.
Pursettes apparently didn't survive the 1970s, when Johnson & Johnson
bought the German tampon o.b., which also lacked
an applicator. Was it because Americans didn't like
to put their fingers into their vaginas? Tampax eliminated that closeness
as explained at length in a German pamphlet (translated).
Menstrual cups and sponges
would seem to also have that problem. European women possibly had less of
a problem with that (o.b.).
Pursettes did, however, offer a tampon with an applicator
- a lubricated applicator, probably in the 1960-70s.
The early (1930s?-40s) no-applicator Dale
tampon (with an ad) also had a lubricated tip,
rare among menstrual tampons.
I thank the contributor!
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Below: P. 2. The stained
box (from water?) measures - lessee, where's
my ruler - 4 x 2 1/2 x 2 1/2" (about 10 x 6.5 x 6.5 cm). It looks as
if it has a thin, shiny, hard plastic coating overall.
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Left: This is one of two identical ends of the box you see below.
At RIGHT:
Just to make this more exciting (!) I added the top
of an identical 40-pack from the same donor
(at right) that
shows a different price and different numbers
above but also from Jordan Marsh.
Jordan Marsh was once a an important chain
of department stores in the U.S. It disappeared after Pursettes did.
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Below: One large side of the box.
"NO APPLICATOR NEEDED": Many
tampons before Pursettes had no applicator - European like o.b.,
American like Lotus, A.C.C.
Tamponettes, Secret, Sa-tips,
San-Nap-Pak and Daints,
For the Woman of Charm, which I hope includes
YOU. Tampax ruled the applicator market with
few exceptions that included LOX theatrical tampon.
And the early (1930s?-40s) no-applicator Dale
tampon (with an ad) also had a lubricated tip.
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Below: Bottom of the box.
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Below: Second large side of the box.
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Below: The top flap.
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© 2010 Harry Finley. It is illegal to reproduce or distribute any
of the work on this Web site in any manner or medium
without written permission of the author. Please report suspected violations
to hfinley@mum.org
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