Dr White's looped sanitary towels

absolute pain of the belt and loop rubbing the top of my arse crack.

I came across this in my mum and dad's bedroom. I asked mum what it was and she told me. A couple of times I heard a crunching sound and went to investigate and it was our cat chewing on the clips of the sanitary belt as it was on the floor.

I tried the sanitary belt on and was embarrassed at the idea of it going up my arse crack and collecting any stray poo. I thought it would be uncomfortable to wear under pants.

I got my first period in my last year of middle school. A teacher discretely asked if I had my period. I said I had.

I know the flush in the school toilets wasn't that powerful and wasn't flushing away the mini-mattress sanitary pads that were available in the late seventies.

I worked up the nerve to use tampons and was patient with myself learning how to insert them comfortably. My mum used Tampax. I did too. A friend used Lil lets. She didn't like applicator tampons. I can't get along with non applicator tampons. I need to launch it into my vagina or I can feel it working it's way towards the front like a late arriving guest in a crowded theatre.

I used the modern sanitary towels that were around in the eighties, including the ones made for thongs.

However, when I needed to use sanitary towels, I rummaged out some big old sanitary towels because that's what I wanted.

Didn't get along with the sanitary towels with wings as I gave myself an impromptu Brazilian every time I sat down.

I remember Deenie had the misfortune to get her period the day her Milwaukie brace was fitted - imagine having to struggle with belt and loops while wearing a back brace.

So in the even older days would women have a belt and fabric sanitary towels that they washed?

My friend had a belt and looped towels. This would be around 1978. I had sticky pads but swiftly moved onto lilets.
The sticky pads would easily become unstuck and work their way up the back of knicker and tight to start emerging at the back. Horror!
I never knew that's what those boxes on toilet walls were-incinerators.

@PleaseStopCallingMe

That looks like some sort of Midieval chastity belt.

Ah Judy Blume -that brings back memories

Are you there God? It's me Margaret
Then again, maybe I won't
Deenie
Superfudge
Fudge o mania
Otherwise Known as Sheila the great
and many more.

I think I had devoured her books by the time I was 14/15 and as I was a late starter I remember being very confused by all the period talk -plus some of the American-ism's

How did the looped bit work - what did it loop around?
You wore an elasticated belt and the loops hooked onto some tape hanging from the belt. The pads were comfortable but very bulky and i was very pleased when slim sticky backed ones were developed. I am amazed they are still on sale!

Oh gosh I had forgotten about these, I started my periods in 1964 and had the trauma of those horrible stinky pads and belts, I went on a holiday to Spain in 1968 and mastered the art of inserting a tampon for the sake of wearing my bikini on the beach!
As an aside I had my final period in 2015, what a relief thats 5 flaming decades!

Micky Flanagan has got a hilarious stand up routine on the Dr White's pads. Well worth a watch!

I remember those......they did stay in place better than the stick on ones.

My DAunt worked for Dr Whites. One day when I was a teenager she called in when we had other relatives staying and handed me a clear plastic bag about the size of a dustbin liner filled to the top with some straight off the production line. They weren't even in packaging. I'm not sure who was more embarrassed, me or my male teenage cousins.

I couldn't use tampons at first because I didn't know my own body well enough to find where to put them. After I had my first sexual experience at 16 I could do it.

I remember being shown these when we had our talk from the Period Nurse at primary school in the late 80's but as far as I know I don't know of anyone who ever used them and don't remember ever seeing them in any shops. My mum was born in 1958, when I was little she always used tampons or panty liners. My nan didn't ever discuss her own periods so no idea what she used.

We got given a pack of about 3 or 4 of those big thick oblong shaped sticky pads by the nurse at school in preparation for our periods and they were pretty uncomfortable wedged between your legs. Bless my lovely nan, after I started my periods she took it upon herself to become my SP Provider, she seemed to pick me up a pack of Always for me every time she went to the shops so I always had loads!

Does anyone remember Cameo tampons?

I used to love the pink box they came in.

I used the belt at first,the pads were gauzy then,no water proof backing.when I got bold enough I went to buy my own and found the stick on pads,my mum was a quick convert too but hadn't noticed them.This was mid 70s.
You had to wrap them in paper to bin them ansd at school bring them home in the bottom of you satchel.I didn't use tampons as I wasn't sure where to stick them,worked it out at 18 when I realised it that could go up there so could a tampon.

Are you there God...' because in my version from the 90's it's sticky pads that are mentioned.

Nooo! That's as bad as Dame Slap being updated to Dame Snap in The Magic Faraway tree!

Couldn't they have put an explanatory note in the front?

@PleaseStopCallingMe Never seen anything like that. The ones I used looped onto a narrow elastic belt. That one looks rather grand by comparison.

In the 80’s pads were thick and paper and cotton wool. DM said I was to rip them up and flush them away.

I went to a boarding school and the ones we got there were pink and white striped or blue and white striped. Enormous thick things. They fell apart and clumped after a hours or so of wear.

Things were much easier when I used tampons. DM didn’t have any weird ideas about girls not using them thankfully. Although she did have a gem of “its ok to eat with us while you have your period!” Some strange unclean issues I think.

Dr Whites were around then but DM said they were awful and I wasn’t going to be using them.

I too used them (once). Then dr whites stick on ones arrived. My dm looked askance at them, till my sister told her to try them. She was transformed.

Oh the horror of the periods! I was 12 when I started mine, and found them to be a complete nuisance!! I did a huge amount of sport, ballet, swimming and gymnastics and having to miss at least one week a month of these Activities was miserable. I kept a box of the smallest Lillets and tried to use them every month but couldn’t - all my friends kept saying “oh you must be able to, you’re not a virgin anymore cos you can do the splits...” 😲
I was horrified that someone might tell my Dad this shameful thing about me! Oh the innocence of youth!😃
Eventually I was finally able to use them and life became ‘normal’ again. I remember some girls still using the belt and loop thingy, but sticky pads had arrived by that time... still very visible through leotards etc☹️ Kotex was my brand, hated pads, they ruined everything and were awful on bike rides!!

I remember women buying these sanitary towels in my local corner shop, which was actually on a corner come to think of it, they'd sidle up to the counter and whisper 'a packet of Dr Whites please'. It all seemed very mysterious to me when I was a child.

I started my periods in the summer of 1962. I learned what Dr Whites were and about the belt that they hung from and, god, were they awful.

I don't know if I was doing something wrong, but I found that every time I leaned forward the towel would gradually slip backwards leaving it halfway up my back and allowing blood to seep out past the front of the towel onto my knickers.

Awful, awful things. The fact that the belt was made of elastic didn't help as it just stretched every time you moved.

Stick on ones seemed like heaven by comparison. Although, having said that, I never got the thinking behind the whole 'wings' thing. As far as I could see, it just allowed blood to seep down the side on your legs.

Can't believe a shop still stocks them. They must have been sitting on that shelf for years. Chemist shops can be funny places though, a lot of small chemist shops seem to stock things you never see anywhere else. There must be some weird specialist chemist shop suppliers somewhere that only those shops know about.

I was really confused reading the posts about 'Are you there God...' because in my version from the 90's it's sticky pads that are mentioned. But it makes sense if they updated it since the original publication. I'm going to be a hypocrite now because I HATE when they 'modernize' books (Why are the Famous 5 buying things in pounds and pence - why can't kids today learn about old money?!) but having said that I think with the sanitary towels thing it's good for girls to be able to relate better to what they're reading. Life is confusing enough at that age without worrying about mystery belts and looped sanitary towels and not necessarily being brave enough to ask your mum or whatever if they're still a thing, and feeling anxious that you might have to deal with them.

I had forgotten the incinerator and quite a few other things mentioned on here. What I haven't forgotten is the absolute pain of the belt and loop rubbing the top of my arse crack.

Aah those bags in Ladies Loos, kind of waxed paper with a lady in a crinoline on them - I used to wonder what on earth they were for. Were you expected to poo in them?

At uni (mid 70s) we used the showers in the student's union. There was one person who used to come in and hang her mid-use ST (and belt) up for all to see while she was in the shower. The very definition of TMI.