The first adhesive-backed sanitary napkins hit the market in 1969, introduced by Stayfree. Before that, pads had to be held in place with belts, pins, or clips, a system that had been standard for decades. The adhesive strip eliminated all of that hardware and fundamentally changed how menstrual products worked.
How Pads Stayed in Place Before Adhesive
For most of the 20th century, disposable sanitary napkins were bulky rectangular pads with no way to attach themselves to underwear. To keep them in place, women wore a separate elastic contraption called a sanitary belt. The belt wrapped around the waist, and metal clips or pins at the front and back hooked onto tabs extending from each end of the pad. It worked, but it was uncomfortable, fiddly, and prone to shifting.
Some women skipped commercial products entirely, relying on reusable cloth rags or repurposed bandages. Those who could afford manufactured pads chose from brands marketed under euphemistic labels like “protective necessities” and “hygienic towels.” The belt-and-pin system remained essentially unchanged from the early 1900s through the late 1960s.
In the 1950s, inventor Mary Beatrice Davidson Kenner patented an adjustable sanitary belt with a built-in moisture-proof pocket for the napkin. Her design improved on the standard belt and is often cited as a direct precursor to the adhesive strip, since it addressed the same core problem: keeping the pad secure without constant adjustment.
Stayfree and the 1969 Breakthrough
Stayfree introduced the first commercially available adhesive pads in 1969, marketed as “beltless feminine napkins.” The packaging made the selling point explicit: “No Belts No Pins.” A strip of pressure-sensitive adhesive on the underside of the pad stuck directly to the inside of underwear, and a peel-off paper backing kept the adhesive clean until use.
The timing wasn’t accidental. By the late 1960s, underwear styles were changing. Women were wearing lighter, closer-fitting fabrics that made the bulky belt system even more conspicuous and impractical. A pad that could simply stick to underwear solved multiple problems at once: it was more discreet, more comfortable, and far simpler to use.
The Patent Behind the Adhesive Strip
Shortly after Stayfree’s launch, the technology was formally patented. Robert J. Roeder filed a patent in May 1970 for a “method for applying pressure sensitive adhesive to sanitary napkins,” which was granted in July 1972. The patent covered the manufacturing process for bonding a strip of adhesive to the pad’s backing during production, making mass manufacturing efficient enough for widespread consumer availability.
The adhesive itself was a pressure-sensitive type, meaning it bonds when pressed against a surface without needing heat or water. It had to meet a specific balance: strong enough to hold the pad in place during wear, but gentle enough to peel off underwear fabric without leaving residue or damaging the material.
How Quickly Belts Disappeared
Once adhesive pads reached store shelves, sanitary belts lost their market dominance quickly. By the mid-1970s, most major pad manufacturers had introduced their own adhesive versions, and belts were increasingly difficult to find. The transition was one of the faster shifts in personal care product history, driven by a product that was so obviously more convenient that it needed little persuading.
The adhesive strip also opened the door for pads to become thinner and more varied in shape. Without the need for tabs to hook onto a belt, designers could reshape the pad itself. Wings, the adhesive flaps that fold over the edges of underwear for extra security, came later in the 1980s as a further refinement of the same basic idea. Today, every disposable pad on the market uses some version of the pressure-sensitive adhesive technology that first appeared in 1969.