term, this may make them less expensive to buy or make by hand compared to disposable pads. Difficulties Washing reusable pads requires water and detergents, and also electrical power if not hand-washed. Bloody cleaning water must be disposed of safely. Cloth menstrual pads need to be washed with soap, properly dried, and cared for. Special care may need to be taken if the user has a candidiasis (yeast) infection. Pads can cause reinfection if not sterilized. Initial cost for reusable menstrual products is typically higher per pad than for disposables, although total cost of usage is much less. Blood-borne pathogens such as hepatitis C are present in the menstrual pads of infected patients, and pose risk of infection if not sealed in leak-proof containers. History Through the ages women have used different forms of menstrual protection. Women often used strips of folded old cloth (rags) to catch their menstrual blood, which is why the term "on the rag" was used to refer to menstruation. Disposable menstrual pads appear to have been first commercially available from around 1888 with the Southall's pad. More widely successful disposable menstrual pads had their start during the World War I, when French nurses used Kimberly-Clark's wood pulp bandages as a menstrual pad that could be thrown away after use. Kotex's first advertisement for products made with this wood pulp appeared in 1921. Until the advent of disposable pads, women used a variety of sewn or makeshift pads made from a variety of fabrics, often leftover scraps, to collect menstrual blood, although some women have used anything absorbent. Fabrics could generally be washed and used again. When disposable pads were introduced, they were too expensive for many women to afford. When they could be afforded, women were allowed to place money in a box so that they would not have to speak to the clerk and take a box of Kotex pads from the counter themselves. It took several years for disposable menstrual pads to become commonplace. However, they are now used nearly exclusively in most of the industrialized world. Cloth menstrual pads made a comeback around 1970. With the number of cloth pad manufacturers and online communities devoted to this increasing in the 1990s and the early 2000s, they appear to be gaining popularity. See also Menstrual Hygiene Day Menstrual hygiene management Pantyliner References External links Museum of Menstruation Feminine hygiene Reuse