HOMEPAGE CONTRIBUTE to Humor, Words and expressions about menstruation and Would you stop menstruating if you could? Some MUM site links: HOMEPAGE | MUM address & What does MUM mean? | Email the museum | Privacy on this site | Who runs this museum?? | Amazing women! | Art of menstruation | Artists (non-menstrual) | Asbestos | Belts | Bidets | Bly, Nellie | MUM board | Books: menstruation and menopause (and reviews) | Cats | Company booklets for girls (mostly) directory | Contraception and religion | Costumes | Menstrual cups | Cup usage | Dispensers | Douches, pain, sprays | Essay directory | Extraction | Facts-of-life booklets for girls | Famous women in menstrual hygiene ads | FAQ | Founder/director biography | Gynecological topics by Dr. Soucasaux | Humor | Huts | Links | Masturbation | Media coverage of MUM | Menarche booklets for girls and parents | Miscellaneous | Museum future | Norwegian menstruation exhibit | Odor | Olor | Pad directory | Patent medicine | Poetry directory | Products, some current | Puberty booklets for girls and parents| Religion | Religión y menstruación | Your remedies for menstrual discomfort | Menstrual products safety | Seguridad de productos para la menstruación | Science | Shame | Slapping, menstrual | Sponges | Synchrony | Tampon directory | Early tampons | Teen ads directory | Tour of the former museum (video) | Underpants & panties directory | Videos, films directory | Words and expressions about menstruation | Would you stop menstruating if you could? | What did women do about menstruation in the past? | Washable pads | Read 10 years (1996-2006) of articles and Letters to Your MUM on this site. Leer la versión en español de los siguientes temas: Anticoncepción y religión, Breve reseña - Olor - Religión y menstruación - Seguridad de productos para la menstruación. THE MUSEUM OF MENSTRUATION AND WOMEN'S HEALTH Sea Pearls menstrual sponge (2007), U.S.A.) (company Web site) Selections from the company literature Sea Pearls sponge and some literature from 2000. This Web site and museum do not endorse this product, nor do they profit in any way from it (except for the gift of the sponge and literature). It's simply information for site visitors and part of history. Cleaning sponges Museum board member and menstrual safety expert Dr. Philip Tierno, Jr. wrote me in October 1999 about cleaning sponges: Dear Harry, Yes, indeed, soap and water will not effectively clean the sea sponge. The odor emanating from the used and washed sponges represent the action of surviving vaginal bacteria and their degradation of menstrual debris that survives the wash. The only effective way to sanitize those sponges is by boiling for about 5 to 10 minutes. This will kill ALL bacteria there. Interestingly, looking back in history, women used to boil their menstrual "rags" to get them clean. This is an analogous circumstance. Best regards, Phil Sea Pearls Web site See older commercial menstrual sponges in this museum. NEXT: The contemporary Gynotex (from the Netherlands) menstrual sponge The later Sea Pearls (2007) (from the U.S.A.) menstrual sponge The contemporary Gynotex (from the Netherlands) menstrual sponge Cardboard American sponge can with sponge. Red can with sponge. Black can and sponge. Beautiful (Australian?) sponge can with sponge lacking a net. Anna Health Sponge (U.S.A., 1940s?) The contemporary Sea Pearls (from the U.S.A.) menstrual sponge Main sponge page Read the main Hartmann early disposable pad page and see similar early U.K. towels (menstrual pads) by Mosana. Washable pads - Menstrual sponge - Swedish advertisement for a belt and pad and adhesive pad Suspenders for holding pads (U.S.A., 19th century) © 2007 Harry Finley. It is illegal to reproduce or distribute any of the work on this Web site in any manner or medium without written permission of the author. Please report suspected violations to hfinley@mum.org