Museum of Menstruation

Physiology and Hygiene of Menstruation, Kotex Company, 1928.

In this free booklet, the company demonstrates how to wear its pads and how to discard them in the toilet – by cutting them into pieces and flushing twice!. Kotex suggested that the new pads, when disposed of properly, would not clog the pipes, a discreet alternative to leaving them in the trash. Flushing pads appealed to women’s desires for convenience and secrecy but continued to have a bad effect on plumbing, despite Kotex claims.