Handkerchiefs.

Nope. Just no. 🤢🤮

Oh we should bring them back! All the care we are asked to give the environment, this would surely help?

I bought some cotton hankies for my mum a couple of Mothers Days ago, and got some for myself. I do like them, but they are the dainty 'ladies' ones (with the embroidered corners) so aren't much good for a cold. I always have a small pack of tissues in my bag, too.

No,but I still have them from when I was little. My dad always used proper cotton hankies

MiniMoon

I like a cotton handkerchief. Maybe not as hygienic as tissues, but much nicer, and softer for the nose.

My thought too - I sometimes revert to using them if my nose is sore when I have a cold! I just worked my way through a big pile and give them a hot wash!
The pretty little ones with lace etc are really not practical, but I’ve got a collection of slightly larger ones, in brighter colours and check and tartans that I used for years. I just picked up a clean one every day. I didn’t think it was any less hygienic when having a tissue stuffed up my sleeve, or in a pocket.

I used to have the prettiest of hankies - I still have one somewhere …

I use tissues. DH uses hankies and tissues.

I am in both camps. always have tissues available, and used to keep some for patients use in my car . Have them in strategic places in the flat, but still keep a large mens hankerchief under my pillow, and also have similar ones in coats or trousers, for when I used to go out walking, especially for longer walks. I always thought those silly little ladies hankies were neither use nor ornament. I used to find the army and navy stores had good sturdy hankies at reasonable prices. and I find nice clean hankies and tea towels calming and cheering as the ironing gets done.

My poor children are still traumatised ( not really ) as small children my OH always spat/ licked his hanky to wipe them clean if we were out or any emergency cleaning was required!
It’s mentioned regularly.

DH uses them... i cant bear them..especially getting them out of washing machine on cool wash....yuk.....

ferry23

Both my parents used "proper" ones. I still have some of my Mum's pretty, lace edged ones. And I remember it became more & more difficult to find the rolled edge ones my Dad used to use.

They did both use tissues as well though. I think my Mum had one in every pocket and tucked up every sleeve!

Tea towels and handkerchiefs - the first step in learning how to iron!

Did anyone else wear those navy blue Chilprufe (wool) school knickers that had a little pocket at the front for your hankie?

I buy them regularly for younger family members they use them as they are green. They are easy to get lots of cheaper stores sell them. It’s nice to see an old fashioned thing having a younger following.

My elderly boss would tie a knot in the corner of his hanky as a reminder of something he had to do after work. However when he got home he couldn't always remember what it was he was supposed to remember.

We sometimes resort to kitchen roll but it's not recommended to flush it down the loo. One Boxing Day we summoned Dyno Rod to clear a wodge which had accumulated in a drain wrapped round other nasties. I suppose it was living up to its reputation of not falling apart when wet.

I still have some of my mum's hankies in a bedroom drawer. They are very old, but so soft after many washings and boilings. Funnily enough, the borders and embroidery hasn't faded much.

She always used a huge blue enamel saucepan to boil them in our skullery (we didn't have a kitchen as such when I was younger) along with my dad's white underpants. I can also still remember the soapy, bleachy smell pervading the house when she boiled my baby sister's terry towelling nappies every day (after soaking them for a few hours with bleach in a bucket in the garden!)

We all use proper hanky’s in our house as my adult kids are allergic to tissues.

I love old fashioned handkerchiefs-not to blow my nose on ,but to dab with scent .

Only use tissues occasionally -normally use men's large spotted handkerchiefs better for the environment and don't disintegrate in the pocket when walking dogs in the rain!

I have used men's size cloth hankies all my adult life and have no intention of stopping. I cannot stand either the smell or the feel of tissues ag ainst my nose.

I wash my hankies with underpants and face flannels, towels and bed linen. If I have a cold, I put them in a bucket of cold water and salt first, scald them and then put them in the machine. This kind of washing is always on the hottest cycle, as few germs and no vira are killed off under 70 degrees as a minimum.

I don't use real hankies, but my husband does. I give them a good hot wash and he can iron them or not, as he wishes! I prefer the aloe vera type tissues as I find that they stop me getting a sore nose.

Yes I do and keep them in a handkerchief sachet. Anyone else remember those?

.

I only now only use tissues but my husband insists on using cotton handkerchiefs.

I do insist on him using tissues though when he has a heavy cold, and to flush them away. If it's serious enough to confine him to bed then he has to have a small plastic sandwich bag (Tesco) next to him for his debris. When full the bag is tied and binned.
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I use cotton hankies most of the time but also have a box of tissues handy, they’re not as easy to find these days!
aldom that’s a pretty hankie holder!

I haven’t use handkerchiefs in years. I have one beautiful, cotton embroidered one which a rather elderly student gave me years ago. She died years ago and I have kept it as a memory. It is always paper tissues for me. However, OH uses cotton ones. He launders them himself at 90 degrees, but doesn’t iron them. We do our own ironing.

Slightly off piste, but I remember going into Harrods with my DM in the 1960s to buy embroidered hankies for my Aunts. They were individually selected, then the assistant took them behind a curtain to be freshly ironed and folded before being wrapped separately in tissue and a bag! The hankies were very expensive and so they only received one each!

I use cotton handkerchiefs as I have perpetual rhinitis and would use a box of tissues a day.
I can't even use dainty lady's ones, I am using DH'S which thankfully I did not bin when he died.
Washing is not a problem and they get ironed on the hottest setting.