Cotton pads are pads made of cotton which are used for medical or cosmetic purposes.^[1] For medical purposes, cotton pads are used to stop or prevent bleeding from minor punctures such as injections or venipuncture.^[2] They may be secured in place with tape. Cotton pads are also used in the application and the removal of makeup.^[1] Cotton pads are soft enough that they can be used to clean babies.^[1] Cotton balls have much of the same applications as cotton pads, and can be used interchangeably^{[citation needed]}.

History

Use of cotton for sanitary purposes likely dates back to its domestication. There is evidence that toilet paper, made in part of cotton and/or other plant fibers such as hemp,^[3][4] was used at least as early as 589 AD in China.^[5][a] Cotton balls have been used for applying gold leaf 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.^[6] There is some evidence that they were being mass produced as far back as 1816, namely an advertisement taken out of the New York Evening Post by Palmer, Nichols & Co. for many different kinds of fabric and products made of cotton which lists "Cotton Balls" as an item for sale.^[7] In 1891 The Laredo Times ran a story about women who put cotton balls in their cheeks to make themselves appear less thin.^[8] An 1898 patent by Jerome B. Dillon for a new type of umbilical bandage used an "antiseptic, absorbent cotton pad" to carry out its function.^[9]

In 1937, Joseph A. Voss invented a machine which unraveled rolls of cotton and cut them at a fixed interval into cotton pads,^[10] 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.^[1] 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-adjusted dollars).^[11] Around this time, there was industry concern that sanitary products using nylon, labeled as cotton balls, were going to crowd out cotton balls actually containing cotton, harming cotton-exporting regions.^[11] In 1986, Johnson & Johnson, a manufacturer of cotton balls, published advertisements stating that "doctors advise" cotton balls over "synthetic puffs".^[12]

In 2015, Mass Market Retailers, a supermarket and chain store trade magazine, estimated that combined sales of cotton balls and pads in the United States were US$177.7 million for the year 2014,^[13] down from US$343.1 million in 1999.^[14] The change could be due to increases of sales of cheaper store brands: in 1999, only 50.1% of sold cotton balls were store branded,^[14] versus 83.7% in 2016.^[13] The top three cotton ball brands in the United States in 2016 were Swisspers (manufactured by U.S. Cotton), Swiss Beauty (U.S. Cotton),^[15] and Cotton Cloud (Wabbit, Inc.).^[13]