Who Invented The Tampon?

Probably it's been rediscovered again and again since time immorial.  We know that ancient Egyptians used softened papyrus (sort of like paper) as tampons.  Greeks in the 5th century BBC used lint wrapped around a small piece of wood, which is noted by the historian Hippocrates. Other tampon materials have incluced hemp, wool, paper, linen, sponges, grass, cotton and rayon.  Certainly in 1920s America you could buy ready made tampons with strings on them in shops.

The modern tampon with applicator was invented in 1929 by an American, Doctor Earle Haas.  He patented his idea in 1931, and later trademarked Tampax as the brandname (from "tampon" and "vaginal pack") Tampax were first sold under that name in 1936. The word tampon is French for towel, by the way.

The o.b. tampon comes from Germany; o.b. means "ohne Binde" (without pad).  O.B. tampons were applicator-less, and were bought out by the American conglomeate, Johnson & Johnson, in the 1970s.

Modern tampons are usually made of soft cotton or rayon.  A modern and more ecofriendly alternative is to insert silicon or rubber cups to catch menstral blood, either the Moon cup, or The Keeper,