The modern commercial tampon with an applicator was invented and patented by American doctor Earle Cleveland Haas in 1931, but people had been using tampon‑like materials for menstruation for thousands of years before that.

Quick Scoop: Who invented tampons?

  • Ancient Egyptians reportedly used softened papyrus as internal menstrual plugs as early as the 15th century BCE.
  • Other ancient cultures used materials like wool, plant fibers, paper, and lint in similar ways for vaginal bleeding.
  • The first widely successful modern tampon design is credited to Dr. Earle Haas, who patented an internal cotton plug with a cardboard applicator in 1931 under the name “catamenial device.”
  • Businesswoman Gertrude Tendrich (Tenderich) bought Haas’s patent and trademark rights, then began hand‑sewing and selling tampons under the brand Tampax in the mid‑1930s, making them a mass‑market product.
  • Non‑applicator tampons (the kind you insert with your fingers) were later refined by German gynecologist Judith Esser‑Mittag in the 1940s; her design eventually became part of Johnson & Johnson’s product lines.
  • Today, innovators are still redesigning tampons for comfort and leakage control, such as spiral or helix‑shaped tampons approved in the 2020s.

Mini timeline

  • 15th century BCE: Papyrus tampons documented in the Papyrus Ebers in ancient Egypt.
  • Late 1800s–early 1900s: Internal cotton plugs used in medicine, and early menstrual tampon patents appear.
  • 1931–1933: Dr. Earle Haas files (1931) and receives (1933) U.S. Patent No. 1,926,900 for an applicator tampon.
  • Mid‑1930s: Gertrude Tendrich starts producing and selling Tampax , bringing the product to the mass market.
  • 1940s: Dr. Judith Esser‑Mittag develops a key non‑applicator tampon design.
  • 2020s: New engineering‑driven tampon designs focus on reducing leakage and improving comfort (for example, spiral/helix designs like Sequel).

Key figures at a glance (HTML table)

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Name Role in tampon history Approx. date
Unknown ancient users Used papyrus and other materials as internal menstrual plugs in early civilizations.15th century BCE and later.
Dr. Earle C. Haas Patented the first commercially successful modern tampon with a cardboard applicator.Patent filed 1931, granted 1933.
Gertrude Tendrich (Tenderich) Bought Haas’s patent and trademark, founded Tampax, and scaled tampon production and marketing.Mid‑1930s.
Dr. Judith Esser‑Mittag Developed a widely used non‑applicator tampon design later sold to Johnson & Johnson.1940s.

Today’s “who invented tampons” buzz

When people online ask “who invented tampons” now, the simple factual answer usually points to Dr. Earle Haas as the inventor of the first modern, patented, mass‑market tampon, with Gertrude Tendrich recognized as the entrepreneur who actually got it into stores. At the same time, many discussions and articles emphasize that internal menstrual products long pre‑dated him and were used by people with periods for millennia, even if they weren’t patented or commercialized.

In short: many anonymous people invented tampon‑like solutions over history, but Earle Haas is credited with the first modern tampon patent, and Gertrude Tendrich turned that idea into the Tampax brand.

TL;DR:

  • No single person “invented” the idea of internal menstrual plugs; they’re ancient.
  • The modern commercial tampon with an applicator was patented by Dr. Earle Haas in 1931.
  • Gertrude Tendrich made that design a mass‑market product under the Tampax name.

Information gathered from public forums or data available on the internet and portrayed here.