Menstrual management has been a necessity throughout human history, with methods evolving alongside technology and cultural norms. For generations, people relied on improvised, reusable materials, which were often uncomfortable and inconvenient. The concept of a commercially produced, disposable item for menstrual flow is a modern invention that profoundly changed personal hygiene and mobility. This shift transitioned from makeshift solutions to the specialized, mass-marketed product known today. The story of who created pads is a progression of material science and design, not the work of a single inventor.
Early Menstrual Management
Before the advent of commercial products, women managed their menstrual flow using whatever natural and textile resources were at hand. In ancient civilizations, materials like papyrus, wool, animal skins, or moss were utilized for absorption. For instance, the Roman physician Soranus of Ephesus mentioned the use of wool as a common absorbent material in the second century.
The most common practice for centuries involved reusable cloth pads, often called “rags,” typically made of cotton or flannel. These cloths were folded, placed in undergarments, and washed and reused after each cycle. While economical, this method was inconvenient, required laborious cleaning, and often led to discomfort and hygiene challenges. These homemade solutions generally lacked secure attachment, requiring tight undergarments or rudimentary suspension systems to keep them in place.
The Shift to Disposable Products
The disposable pad emerged not from a single inventor, but from wartime necessity and industrial material surplus. The innovation involved repurposing a highly absorbent material originally designed for medical use. During World War I, French nurses discovered that Cellucotton, a wood pulp-based material used as surgical dressing, was effective at absorbing blood and could be cheaply discarded.
This wartime use demonstrated the potential for an inexpensive, disposable menstrual product. Although earlier commercial attempts existed, such as Johnson & Johnson’s Lister’s Towels in 1896, the post-war availability of Cellucotton changed the market. The Kimberly-Clark Corporation seized this opportunity, introducing the first widely marketed disposable sanitary napkin, Kotex, in 1920.
The material, made from bleached cotton and wood pulp, offered new levels of absorbency and convenience. These early pads were bulky and lacked adhesive backing, requiring users to pin them to undergarments or secure them with a separate sanitary belt. Initial marketing was discreet, often involving subtle mail-order campaigns or allowing women to pay by dropping money into a box at the store.
Key Innovations in Pad Design
Once the concept of a disposable pad was established, development focused on improving user comfort and security. The design remained unchanged for decades, still relying on the cumbersome sanitary belt for attachment. This changed fundamentally with the introduction of the adhesive strip in the 1970s, which allowed the pad to stick directly to the user’s underwear, eliminating the need for a belt.
The 1970s and 1980s saw significant advancements in the internal composition, moving away from simple wood pulp layers. Manufacturers began incorporating super-absorbent polymers (SAPs), granular materials capable of absorbing hundreds of times their weight in liquid. This development allowed pads to become significantly thinner while maintaining or increasing absorption capacity, addressing the issue of bulkiness.
A further enhancement to prevent leakage and improve fit was the addition of flexible wings, which wrap around the sides of the undergarment. Introduced in the late 1980s and early 1990s, wings provided a more secure anchor and better side-leak protection. These structural and material improvements completed the transition to the highly engineered consumer product available today.