How did people back then deal with periods?

Question

Assuming they didn't have pads and all that...

Answer 1

"When they menstruated, they left a trail of blood behind them."
What did European and American women use for menstruation in the 19th century and before? (With an addition about Muslim law.)
Many people ask me what women did in earlier times about menstruation. It's usually impossible to say for sure for most cultures, although women have used tampons, pads ("rags" and commercial ones), sponges, grass and other absorbent materials probably for thousands of years.
In European cultures, the history of women, especially their everyday affairs, is inadequate; men ruled the roost and women were "good" for a limited number of things, few worth recording - at least, so thought the men.
Dr. Monica Green, of the Duke University history department, warned me of this lack of information right before I opened the actual museum, in 1994. I had written her after seeing her quoted in a New York Times article about ancient contraception.
But read why I have concluded, in May 2001, that most European and American women probably used nothing at all, bleeding into their clothing.

Sabine Hering and Gudrun Maierhof, in Die unpäßliche Frau ("The Indisposed Woman," Pfaffenweiler, Germany, 1991), write that German women almost never used commercial menstrual pads in the late 19th century [see a German disposable from that time]. They write,
"Most women seemed to have made their own pads or, like rural women, wore neither pads nor underpants. When they menstruated, they left a trail of blood behind them." [My translation of "Die meisten Frauen scheinen sich mit selbstgenähten Stofftüchern beholfen zu haben oder wie die Frauen auf dem Lande gänzlich auf Einlagen oder Unterhosen verzichtet zu haben. Menstruierten sie, so zogen sie eine Blutspur hinter sich her." The authors don't say what their sources were.] [See German patterns for homemade menstrual gear from this time.]
Read also more evidence for bleeding into clothes from another German source here.
I lived in Germany for 13 years and know that in the recent past Germans worried less about body odor than Americans did, who seem to object to any odor at all (I'm an American). And I think that a hundred and more years ago body odor was much more apparent. I suspect that the smell of menstrual blood was much more common and, I suspect, the sight of it, too (read more about menstrual odor).
Telling the story of women who fought as soldiers in the American Civil War, the authors of "They Fought Like Demons: Women Soldiers in the American Civil War" (DeAnne Blanton and Lauren Cook Burgess; Louisiana State University Press, 2002) remark that most of these women were from working class backgrounds and couldn't write, thus not leaving written records, which would be the case with menstruation if our German sources are correct - not that literate women would eagerly record theirs.
I wonder how this "open" menstruation influenced the behavior of men? It seems likely that women had to conceal both blood and odor before they were able to extensively participate in male business society. The relationship between men, women, menstruation and women's health is unendingly complex - and interesting.
Extrapolating, my guess is that in "European" America and Europe a certain - large? - percentage of women in the 19th century and before (and into the 20th century) bled into their clothing, especially those from the rural and lower classes, and American women migrating westward, "pioneers." (See a more detailed discussion, with pictures, of why I believe this is so.) After all, America and Europe were mostly rural, and the standards of living were low. American slaves might have also bled into their clothing. And there apparently are societies today, in India, for example, where women do not try to absorb their bleeding with anything special, or hide the process. But these are just my guesses. [See some 19th-century Norwegian knitted pads and Italian washable pads, probably from the 19th century.]
By the way, Megan Hicks, Curator of Health and Medicine at the Powerhouse Museum, Australia's largest, wrote me that cloth menstrual rags from a 19th-century women's prison are on display at that prison. It could be that rags were used to maintain hygiene in this enclosed environment, something perhaps less necessary if the women were free. It seems likely that Australian customs for women of European origin were similar to the European ones of the time, just as in America

Answer 2

Before the 20th Century, most women used cloth pads or "rags" during their menstruation. Disposable pads didn’t become common in America until after WW II. Among rural and low-income women they didn't catch on until the 1960's. As with diapers, there have always been people who prefer cloth to disposable.

Answer 3

According to my mother during their days w/o pads, they are using a square cloth about 1ft x 1ft in size hand woben from a cotton tree, similar to the flour sack called in our country Philippines as "pasador". They fold it into four and put underneath theirs.

Additional info: They dont take a bath and dont even wash theirs due to belief that they might get out of their mind or get crazy. he he he sounds funny but true.

Answer 4

They used rolld up rags....I also remember taking a field trip to a very old native american village and the tour guide saying when a woman got her period, they sent her to this special hut until she was "clean" then she could come out and be with the rest of the village

Answer 5

you do no longer might desire to tell your mom, merely once you prefer greater pads/tampons. For cramps I reccomend Midol, advil, warmth, and water, Icecream enables too :) For the noise of the pad ripping, no one cares in a females bathing room, once you're nevertheless self concious approximately it you're able to do it whilst the faucets or blow dryers are on or you ought to use tampons that are quieter. you will get used to them. For the heavy flow you are able to merely get those that say for heavy flow on them. maximum sessions final 3-8 days and a few greater effective days isn't a great deal, different than being a soreness. all people hates their era yet all of us might desire to suck it up and attempt to no longer be a b*tch approximately it. determine you do no longer permit a pad start to sniff or leave a tampon in for greater effective than 8 hours. attempt to drink as lots water as obtainable. think of happy ideas. do no longer subject approximately it, you will get used to it yet i are conscious of it would not look like it now. in general, do no longer think of approximately it, it makes it worse. Advil and midol are the excellent Tylenol would not artwork o.k..

Answer 6

Native Americans used rolled up hair as tampons for centuries.

Answer 7

My mother said that way back they used to use special rags that they would wash out and reuse. I don't know when Modess and Kotex came into use.

Answer 8

yea i know right,
But i heard that they had leaves and stuff then they roll it up and use and tampons. And something about girl have to sit on some cloth or something like that.

Answer 9

my mom told me,when she was younger they didn't have pads,she said she had to sew pads out of material,white materiel,and had to wash and bleach them.

Answer 10

i know that people just didn't talk about it, even if they were really hurting, you had to suffer on your own.
my grandma told me that they wore dipers and washed them afterward.
my mom told me that she had pads, but they were straped on a belt, and she said they gave you killer wedgies! lol