Inside of Period Nirvana’s new brick+mortar retail store in Asheville, NC is a free museum exhibit featuring 100 Years of Menstrual Technology. Inside of our two cases you will find significant pieces of period product history showcasing the many advances made, as well as highlighting how little has changed. Products dating to the 1920s, 1950s, all the way up to the 2020s are exhibited in our two museum grade cases. The collection has been self-funded by Kim Rosas over many years of research into the history of reusable menstrual products.
You can visit the exhibit in person and see these highlighted objects, as well as the ones not shown in this video. Find our hours and location information and plan a trip to Asheville, NC.
Case 1 Tour: 1930s – 1970s Period Technology
The tour begins with the Venus Sanitary pads, a product that was sold at department stores in the Northwestern US states. Venus sold multiple sizes of their sanijtary napkins, and our boxes are the older napkins that were not compressed. The pads would be secured with a sanitary belt and our collection has several examples of these devices in the case as well from the 1930s through the 1960s.
A 1930s Sanitary Sponge – very hard to procure – is a great example of the way that women would use contraceptive devices for period flow management. The natural sea sponge was placed inside of a netting with a long string – the netting made sure the sponge stayed intact and pieces weren’t left behind, and the string helped it remove easier.
The oldest mentrual cup in our collection is the Daintette – the box we have dates to about 1942 and it sold for $2.50 at the time. That is nearly $50 today with inflation. The Daintette cup is made of natural rubber and has a design that could be sold in 2025 – the cup has a removal stem and even suction holes. I am still in search of other older menstrual cups for our exhibit, the elusive Tassette or Hy-Kup brands are high on my list to acquire!
The scary spine-like contraption in our case is called a Diaphragm Inserter from the 1950s. It was used to insert and remove contraceptive diaphragms. I have included diaphragms and this device in our case because diaphragms were also used to collect period flow. Many people have commented that this device looks handy and is an accessibility tool – it certainly could be used that way. One brand in Europe still sells a diaphragm inserter but otherwise it’s not a readily available device.
I always enjoy sharing the Modess tampon box, sold for just $1.39 in the 1950s. The tampons look identical to brands you can still buy today. They have a cardboard applicator and come packaged in individual paper sleeves. Tampons were first sold commercially in the 1930s with and without applicators. Our musuem has some examples of multiple brands over the decades but they all pretty much look and work the same as tampons today.
Tassaway’s story is a tragic one. After Leona Chalmers sold her IP and company Tassette to Robert Oreck, there was one last attempt as making the Tassette cup a success. Despite a huge investment into advertising, including a Times Square billboard, the product didn’t take off. Oreck blamed the reusability of the product as its failure so they redeveloped the cup into a “one time use” product and relaunched in the 1970s as Tassaway. Boxes of 8 were sold and customers were told to dispose of the cup after one wear. Instead, customers rinsed and reused them anyway. The brand eventually had to dissolve and with it, the entire product category of menstrual cups went with it.
Can you believe that beltless sanitary napkins weren’t invented until the 1970s? The Stayfree pads in our exhibit are one example of this new and exciting advancement to menstrual technology. While it doesn’t seem like a big deal, the upgrade to self adhesive backed pads was a massive quality of life upgrade for pad users who would have had to thread in their sanitary napkins through belts.
Case 2 Tour: 1980s – Today Period Technology
Rely tampons reflect the darker side of menstrual product development. These tampons used super absorbent polymers and were promoted to “even absorb the worry.” Instead, the product was connected to multiple deaths and dozens of toxic-shock syndrome cases in the 1980s. TSS is a deadly infection now most commonly contracted through wearing tampons or other internal period products, but it can infect both men and women in other ways as well. P&G were aware of the risks but kept the product on shelves. Only after lawsuits from victims were filed did they finally acknowledge their product’s role in TSS. They eventually pulled the item from shelves and had to pay out to victims. The Rely tampon and the increase of TSS cases it caused led to the FDA’s involvement in tampon safety standards. Now, tampons have standardized absorbency ratings across all brands. The Rely tampon caused a huge dip in tampon sales and use that also ushered in a new interest in safer alternative period care options.
In the 1990s a new style of period product, the Insync Miniform, hit the market. These mini “padettes” were worn between the labia to catch light period flow and bladder leaks. The brand took a bold approach with their package design and marketing. The Insync Miniforms didn’t last long and today you can not find mini labial pads in a disposable form. You can find interlabial pads made of cloth.
The Keeper, a rubber menstrual cup brand, resurrected the product category in 1987. Lou Crawford was a former Tassette Cup user and wanted to revive it. She was given permission by the owners of Tassette to revive the concept and thus Keeper Cup was born. Keeper Cup found its customers at healthfood stores, co-ops, and by mail-order. They also expanded through distribution. Keeper distributors were found in many countries. Our Keeper Cup in the museum exhibit was found in the UK. It was sold by the Menses distributors who mailed their customers a cup inside a pouch (no box) along with a pamphlet and letter to the customer. The pamphlet calls out the Keeper as “the only intelligent choice” and highlights why menstrual cup users were so often labeled as “holier than thou” by others.
A first of its kind menstrual product was Instead Softcup. This plastic disc was inspired by the diaphragm, but sold in boxes individually wrapped and intended as a one-time-use product. These discs were inserted and worn in the same was a a diaphragm but their disposability meant “convenience” and the larger basket held more period flow – 70 mL. First sold as Instead SoftCup, they were later sold as SoftDisc to help reduce confusion around the product type. The product found a surprisingly level of success and is still a cult favorite, but it has never reached the adoption of pads or tampons.
Lunapads were one of the first reusable cloth pad brands to see commercial growth and success in the 1990s. They also invented period underwear as we know it today – with an absorbency section backed by a layer of waterproof fabric. Now, period underwear has become an extremely popular period option and we have Lunapads, now known as Aisle, to thank.
The final product highlighted from our musuem tour is the Callaly Tampliner from 2020 – a quite peculiar looking item. It is a tampon and liner in one- designed to catch any leaks when using a tampon. It was inserted digitally through the plastic sheath (thus keeping the finger clean) and the liner hung from the sheath against the vulva. The design wasn’t without its flaws and it cost a significant amount to manufacture. During Covid the brand stopped production, however its founder still hopes for a comeback. For now the company is focused on medical product development in the womens health category.
Learn More and Visit the Period Museum in Asheville
If you enjoy learning about the history of menstrual products take a deep dive into the Internet’s leading source on the topic: Mum.org. And if you’re keen on the nitty gritty details or even want to research this topic for your academic pursuits, the MUM Collection archive is now digital – access thousands of documents and items via the Smithsonian.
And be sure to visit the museum exhibit in person. We are located at 315 Haywood Rd in Asheville, NC. Find our hours on Google Maps or visit our hours and location page.
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