March is Women’s History Month! To celebrate, we wanted to spotlight two little-known but influential women who inspired our Pinkie founders and shaped modern menstrual products as we know them today.
A quick history of sanitary pads
Before the mid-20th century, period products were, to put it gently, a work in progress:
→ Johnson & Johnson attempted to market a disposable sanitary napkin as early as 1896, but it never took off.
→ The next leap in period pads came in 1918 from Kotex, which leveraged cellucotton — a new material developed during World War I for surgical wounds. Cellucotton was made from wood pulp, which was then enclosed in a gauze sheath to provide more absorbency than cotton.
→ Around the same time, Sfag-Na-Kins innovated a pad from sphagnum moss, which boasted antibacterial properties and could absorb 20x its own dry weight in fluids. While it claimed to sport greater absorbency than cotton, these pads also never quite caught on.
→ In lieu of adhesive, which wasn’t commonplace yet, many used sanitary belts. These featured straps with uncomfortable metal clips that would attach to the cellulose pads or menstrual rags to hold them in place.
While on the right track, these products were still quite a ways away from the comfort-minded products we know (and love!) today.
Meet Mary Beatrice Davidson Kenner: Inventor of a new, adjustable sanitary belt
Mary Beatrice Davidson Kenner was born in 1912 into a family of inventors. Her father had patented a clothing press that folded into luggage; her grandfather actually invented a tricolor light signal for trains — though that patent was stolen and filed by a white man. Neither made much money from their work, but Mary grew up surrounded by the spirit of invention. (Her sister Mildred would later patent and sell a family board game!)
In 1956, after decades of refining her design and saving to afford the costly patent process, Kenner received her first patent for an improved sanitary belt. Unlike the metal-clipped versions already on the market, hers featured easily adjustable straps that could fit more body types comfortably — no poking, no chafing. She later updated the design to include a moisture-proof pocket that allowed for easy pad insertion and helped prevent leaks.
The Sonn-Nap-Pack Company heard about her invention and reached out with interest in manufacturing it. In Kenner’s own words, “I was so jubilant… I saw houses, cars, and everything about to come my way. Sorry to say, when they found out I was black, their interest dropped.” She faced the same racial discrimination wherever she turned. Without a partner to finance her product, Kenner’s patent eventually expired — and other companies could legally manufacture and sell her idea without paying her a cent.
She never made money from the invention, nor received formal recognition. But her innovations, the adjustable fit, the moisture-proof pocket, marked a genuine leap forward in menstrual comfort, and her influence lives on in the pads we use to manage periods today. Between 1956 and 1987, she went on to receive five total patents, the largest number held by a Black woman at the time.
A quick history of tampons
Tampon-like devices have actually been around for millennia — used in ancient Egypt, Greece, and Rome to deliver medicine, stop bleeding, or manage menstrual flow. By the late 1800s and early 1920s, rudimentary internal products existed, but they were often difficult to insert, messy, or primarily intended for medical purposes rather than menstrual care.
While several patents were filed in the late 1920s and early 1930s for tampons, the product that changed everything was patented by Dr. Earle C. Haas in 1931.
He had been inspired after a trip to California, where a friend had shared that they used a sponge placed inside the vagina to absorb menstrual blood. So he developed a system where a plug of cotton would be inserted via two cardboard tubes.
Dr. Haas’s invention marked a big shift from previous designs. For the first time ever, his design used a paper-tube applicator to allow for cleaner, smoother, easy-to-use insertion. He applied for a patent for his “catamenial device” on November 19, 1931, and was granted the patent on September 12, 1933.
Meet Gertrude Tendrich: The woman who made tampons mainstream
After receiving almost no interest in his invention, including a dismissal from Johnson & Johnson, Dr. Haas sold the patent and trademark in October 1933 for $32,000 to German immigrant and Denver businesswoman, Gertrude Tendrich.
In 1934, Gertrude Tendrich founded the modern tampon titan: Tampax. As the first president, founder, and visionary for Tampax, Tendrich is largely credited with making tampons a mainstream menstrual product.
She created the first boxes of Tampax tampons out of her own home, using a sewing machine and Haas’s compression machine. The tampons Tendrich made, based on Haas’ design, were first sold in the US in 1936.
Her efforts didn’t stop there though. The success of tampons was largely due to her massive marketing push, which included sending nurses and educators to schools and fairs to teach women about the safety and benefits of tampons, as well as the “very first Tampax [print] ad to appear in a magazine, welcoming women to a “new day for womanhood.”’
Period products for women, by women
At the end of the day — women get women’s health. And we’ll always be our fiercest advocates and allies in delivering health care that truly supports women. That’s the reason we started Pinkie!
Founded by Fiona Simmonds and Sana Clegg, two moms with young daughters on the verge of puberty, Pinkie pads were designed with ease + comfort in mind: free from the toxins and bulk of traditional pads, and sized for tweens, teens, and all women. Our goal: to destigmatize period health and empower women with menstrual care designed by women, for women.
