Cotton Balls
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Cotton pads are pads made of
cotton Cotton is a soft, fluffy staple fiber that grows in a boll, or protective case, around the seeds of the cotton plants of the genus ''Gossypium'' in the mallow family Malvaceae. The fiber is almost pure cellulose, and can contain minor perce ...
which are used for
medical Medicine is the science and practice of caring for a patient, managing the diagnosis, prognosis, prevention, treatment, palliation of their injury or disease, and promoting their health. Medicine encompasses a variety of health care practic ...
or
cosmetic Cosmetic may refer to: *Cosmetics, or make-up, substances to enhance the beauty of the human body, apart from simple cleaning *Cosmetic, an adjective describing beauty, aesthetics, or appearance, especially concerning the human body *Cosmetic, a t ...
purposes. For medical purposes, cotton pads are used to stop or prevent
bleeding Bleeding, hemorrhage, haemorrhage or blood loss, is blood escaping from the circulatory system from damaged blood vessels. Bleeding can occur internally, or externally either through a natural opening such as the mouth, nose, ear, urethra, vag ...
from minor punctures such as injections or
venipuncture In medicine, venipuncture or venepuncture is the process of obtaining intravenous access for the purpose of venous blood sampling (also called ''phlebotomy'') or intravenous therapy. In healthcare, this procedure is performed by medical labo ...
. They may be secured in place with tape. Cotton pads are also used in the application and the removal of
makeup The asterisk ( ), from Late Latin , from Ancient Greek , ''asteriskos'', "little star", is a typographical symbol. It is so called because it resembles a conventional image of a heraldic star. Computer scientists and mathematicians often voc ...
. Cotton pads are soft enough that they can be used to clean
babies An infant or baby is the very young offspring of human beings. ''Infant'' (from the Latin word ''infans'', meaning 'unable to speak' or 'speechless') is a formal or specialised synonym for the common term ''baby''. The terms may also be used to ...
. Cotton balls have much of the same applications as cotton pads, and can be used interchangeably .


History

Use of cotton for sanitary purposes likely dates back to its domestication. There is evidence that
toilet paper Toilet paper (sometimes called toilet tissue or bathroom tissue) is a tissue paper product primarily used to clean the anus and surrounding anal region of feces after defecation, and to clean the perineal area and external genitalia of u ...
, made in part of cotton and/or other plant fibers such as
hemp Hemp, or industrial hemp, is a botanical class of ''Cannabis sativa'' cultivars grown specifically for industrial or medicinal use. It can be used to make a wide range of products. Along with bamboo, hemp is among the fastest growing plants o ...
, was used at least as early as 589 AD in
China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. It is the world's most populous country, with a population exceeding 1.4 billion, slightly ahead of India. China spans the equivalent of five time zones and ...
. Cotton balls have been used for applying
gold leaf Gold leaf is gold that has been hammered into thin sheets (usually around 0.1 µm thick) by goldbeating and is often used for gilding. Gold leaf is available in a wide variety of karats and shades. The most commonly used gold is 22-kara ...
since at least as far back as 1801. An artists' manual from that year recommends using a "squirrel's tail, or cotton ball" to press the gold leaf into place. There is some evidence that they were being mass produced as far back as 1816, namely an advertisement taken out of the ''
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'' by Palmer, Nichols & Co. for many different kinds of fabric and products made of cotton which lists "Cotton Balls" as an item for sale. In 1891 ''The Laredo Times'' ran a story about women who put cotton balls in their cheeks to make themselves appear less thin. An 1898 patent by Jerome B. Dillon for a new type of umbilical
bandage A bandage is a piece of material used either to support a medical device such as a dressing or splint, or on its own to provide support to or to restrict the movement of a part of the body. When used with a dressing, the dressing is applie ...
used an "antiseptic, absorbent cotton pad" to carry out its function. In 1937, Joseph A. Voss invented a machine which unraveled rolls of cotton and cut them at a fixed interval into cotton pads, starting the widespread consumption of cotton balls and pads. Companies producing cotton balls took out ads in newspapers as early as 1948 to promote their uses to the public. In 1965, the ''Opelousas Daily World'' reported that the sanitary cotton industry in the United States was worth US$60 million (US$460.4 million in 2016
CPI A consumer price index (CPI) is a price index, the price of a weighted average market basket of consumer goods and services purchased by households. Changes in measured CPI track changes in prices over time. Overview A CPI is a statistic ...
- adjusted
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). Around this time, there was industry concern that sanitary products using
nylon Nylon is a generic designation for a family of synthetic polymers composed of polyamides ( repeating units linked by amide links).The polyamides may be aliphatic or semi-aromatic. Nylon is a silk-like thermoplastic, generally made from petro ...
, labeled as cotton balls, were going to crowd out cotton balls actually containing cotton, harming cotton-exporting regions. In 1986,
Johnson & Johnson Johnson & Johnson (J&J) is an American multinational corporation founded in 1886 that develops medical devices, pharmaceuticals, and consumer packaged goods. Its common stock is a component of the Dow Jones Industrial Average and the company i ...
, a manufacturer of cotton balls, published advertisements stating that "doctors advise" cotton balls over "synthetic puffs". By 2013 however, most consumer cotton balls and pads outside of specifically labeled "100% Cotton" organic brands contained mostly polyester and only nominal amounts of cotton. In 2015, ''
Mass Market Retailers Mass is an intrinsic property of a body. It was traditionally believed to be related to the quantity of matter in a physical body, until the discovery of the atom and particle physics. It was found that different atoms and different elementar ...
'', a
supermarket A supermarket is a self-service Retail#Types of outlets, shop offering a wide variety of food, Drink, beverages and Household goods, household products, organized into sections. This kind of store is larger and has a wider selection than earli ...
and
chain store A chain store or retail chain is a retail outlet in which several locations share a brand, central management and standardized business practices. They have come to dominate the retail and dining markets and many service categories, in many pa ...
trade magazine A trade magazine, also called a trade journal or trade paper (colloquially or disparagingly a trade rag), is a magazine or newspaper whose target audience is people who work in a particular trade or industry. The collective term for this ...
, estimated that combined sales of cotton balls and pads in the United States were US$177.7 million for the year 2014, down from US$343.1 million in 1999. The change could be due to increases of sales of cheaper
store brands A private label, also called a private brand or private-label brand, is a brand owned by a company, offered by that company alongside and competing with brands from other businesses. A private-label brand is almost always offered exclusively by th ...
: in 1999, only 50.1% of sold cotton balls were store branded, versus 83.7% in 2016. The top three cotton ball brands in the United States in 2016 were ''Swisspers'' (manufactured by U.S. Cotton), ''Swiss Beauty'' (U.S. Cotton), and ''Cotton Cloud'' (Wabbit, Inc.).


See also

*
Cotton ball diet The cotton ball diet is a fad diet that involves consuming cotton balls dipped in liquids such as juices or smoothies. The cotton is intended to make a person's stomach feel full without them gaining weight. The diet has been repeatedly condemned ...
*
Cotton swab Cotton is a soft, fluffy Staple (textiles), staple fiber that grows in a wikt:boll, boll, or protective case, around the seeds of the cotton plants of the genus ''Gossypium'' in the mallow family Malvaceae. The fiber is almost pure cellulose ...


References


Notes

{{cosmetics Cosmetics First aid Personal hygiene products Cotton