Vintage sanpro: anyone remember giant towels with loops and belts?

[SocialConnection]

The first ones mum gave me were huge affairs with an elastic waist belt. There were these loops at each end that you threaded through to wear - felt like you were straddling a hammock and made you walk like a jockey. The horror.

Then there was the Bunnies incinerator at school - a terrifying steampunk monstrosity that you fed the used towel in and it would make an appalling noise as it mashed it up. Oh, I wonder if that was why mum called towels 'bunnies'?

I quickly discovered Vespre towels - someone had the rather bright idea that regular press on towels always bunched into a particular curved shape in use, so why not make them in that shape? I liked those.

I was a late tampon adopter - started at 18. Tho I liked the ones with the pull-out compact applicator (Compak??), I always wondered - who the hell thought those sharp plastic teeth was a good idea??

I went meno before mooncups happened, sadly so I can't comment.

Ah, memories ...

.

I did! started periods 39 years ago.
I tried the stick on but there were no wings yet then and I flooded so much it always leaked over the sides of the pad which had invariably bunched up. I tried the belt and pads to help with that. It didn't. I just flooded regularly and bled all over my clothes all the time. It was awful. Medication helped slow the flow a little.

so you don't do you! No one does.

Oh, and SandraCD is the unusual poster who has revived this zombie thread.

Yes, but also, when my great uncle died, my mum tore up his brushed cotton nightshirts and told me to use those.

I’m 46 and my mum had an old looped belt that she showed me - she definitely didn’t suggest I use it though! I started my period around the time the shaped Bodyform pads came out - IIRC I used them for about 2-3 years before Always were launched and everyone got the new ultra-thin pads with wings, etc. My mum was very helpful and very modern in outlook, and I had lots of sisters, so I was well informed and she just got me whatever pads I wanted.

I remember carrying a little bag with my Bodyform pads in my school bag, with tissues and spare pants in case. I didn’t mind the Bodyform pads - they were weirdly comforting in some undefinable way - but I developed a system of wearing one pair of knickers with the pad in, with the “wings” folded around, then another pair of knickers on top to keep the “wings” in place, and then my tights, just to keep everything secure.

My mum used non-applicator tampons and bought some for me to try, but I couldn’t get on with them at all. They hurt and I could feel them and they were very dry. It wasn’t until I discovered the applicator ones, and specifically the “Lite” ones, when I was 18, that I really got into using tampons - if I’d tried the applicator ones a bit earlier I’d have had a much more comfortable teenage experience. Once I started using tampons I used them almost exclusively until I had my DD in my 30s, and periods were much, much easier that whole time.

Or if they’d had period pants then! I bought some period pants a few years ago and they were a revelation. If they had been around when I was a teenager, how much easier it would all have been (but I always had quite a light flow so I would only have needed one pair of period pants per school day. I appreciate that they aren’t as ideal for heavy flow, or if you need to change them during the day).

DD is 11 so I’ve got her a little bag ready with a variety of different products for when she starts her period, plus a copy of Milli Hill’s book My Period which she’s already read. She’s quite small and sporty, though, and looks like starting her period is a year or two off yet.

Oh didn’t realise this was a zombie thread. Gah.

Me too. I looked back and realised I'd already posted here

I started my periods in the late sixties and we’ll remember the belts with the loops and the bulky pads. I think I started using tampax by the mid seventies. My Mum found out and was horrified because that meant I wouldn’t be a virgin on my wedding night.

Oh shit, zombie.