Vintage 1940s Sentinel Hygienic Towels Ad – Women’s Health Print Ephemera

🔍 eBay Listing Spotlight

Item ID: 297240836281
eBay Seller ID: britishfareasttraders
eBay Store Link: View this item
Category: Collectables:Advertising Collectables:Other Advertising Collectables
Condition: In decent condition. Please check our images.

Vintage 1940s Sentinel Hygienic Towels Ad – Women’s Health Print Ephemera

A rare and evocative piece of wartime women’s health advertising — ideal for collectors of feminine hygiene history, WWII-era ephemera, and British social history.

Measurements: approx. 1 3/4 x 5 1/4  inches
Dates: n/a
Condition: In decent condition, please see images. 
Internal notes: QC passed

Imagine a post-war chemist’s window in 1940s Nottingham — nestled between ration books and tonic bottles, a proud poster proclaims: “Every wise woman knows that only the best is good enough!” This small but poignant advertisement for Sentinel All-Cotton Wool Hygienic Towels evokes a time when dignity and discretion were delicately interwoven with practicality and care. The beaming face of a confident woman suggests reassurance, while the bold fonts and clean layout speak to the era’s direct and honest advertising tone.

Produced by Splendor Ltd., Nottingham, manufacturers of baby and sanitary wear, this piece is more than a health product ad — it’s a mirror to the evolving conversation around women’s health and hygiene. Available in four sizes, including maternity options, and described as “soluble with loops”, the towels reflect a quietly revolutionary step in female sanitary innovation during the 1930s–40s. Measuring approximately 1 3/4 x 5 1/4 inches, it stands today as a historical artefact of empowerment, designed not just to sell a product but to reassure a generation of women navigating motherhood, menstruation, and modernity.

To collect this is to honour a time when advertisements were more than marketing — they were messengers of care and social progress. In preserving such ephemera, we safeguard forgotten conversations and quietly powerful moments in the history of gender, wellness, and daily life. Let this rare advertisement remind us how far we’ve come, and how far we still have to go in understanding the personal histories tucked between the pages of public life.