Welcome to Period Pieces, our journey through the bizarre and beautiful cultural history of menstruation. Inspired by #throwbackthursday, we serve up our favorite ads, images, and factoids about periods throughout the ages.

Ever wonder what the first tampon brand was? While women have been stuffing absorbent materials (including wool, moss, and softened papyrus) into their vaginas since Ancient Egypt, the first commercial brand on record appears to be Fax, an "internal sanitary napkin."

[caption id="attachment_3163" align="aligncenter" width="272"]via A History of Tampons via A History of Tampons[/caption]

Even in the 1930s manufacturers were featuring white swimsuits to sell menstrual products, it seems!

About the author of this post:

tracypuhl is the owner of GladRags and is passionate about period positivity and empowering women everywhere. When she's not in the office, you might find her attempting to run a faster 10k, traveling, practicing yoga, or pointing out how cute her cats are being right now.