Anyone got any ideas for washing handkerchiefs

A very hot wash now and then seems to leave the washing machine smelling great.

All detergents have much the same in them, especially the bio ones but obvs you need heat as well.
It’s best to have a lot of hankies if you use them so you can do several weeks worth in one wash.

It just strikes me that if you’re using things to soak them then other things to wash them, especially at high temps, how is this eco-friendly?

Sarnia we also had a pan specifically for handkerchiefs.
I confess I don't like boiling them up really and am grateful for tissues.
You do need to buy expensive tissues though if you want them to be soft I find.

I do use a handkerchief for weddings and funerals. They go in with the sheets.

The pan has been used since - but only for melting wax.

Like someone else here I use loo paper and flush it afterwards.

Ironing will kill anything left after washing.

It's a combination of heat and chemicals in detergent that kills bacteria and viruses- doesn't have to be 90 deg. (I'm a retired microbiologist).

It’s the heat that kills bacteria not the brand of washing powder.

Oh the luxury of having freshly ironed handkerchiefs. That means not me washing or ironing them. I have seen older, still, married men of 80+ using them.
Nowadays, I’d soak them as I did nappies to kill the germs and then wash them in the machine with one of the new low temperature soaps.

Farmor15

Washing at 90 degrees isn't very environmentally friendly! I wash OH's hankies with normal 40 deg wash (use tissues myself but he insists on cotton hankies). Modern detergents deal with snot fine - but I don't use lower than 40 degrees for anything, despite all the ads suggesting washing in cold water.

You’ll never convince some people.
Detergents have come a long way since Daz and OMO.

That gets rid of any bacteria.

Mum likes a hankie or two so I asked her advice.
Wash them on their own in the machine at 90 which is like a boil wash for at least an hour with a spoonful of bio powder.

They are disgusting things. Use good quality tissues. Handkerchiefs turn my stomach. 🤮

Washing at 90 degrees isn't very environmentally friendly! I wash OH's hankies with normal 40 deg wash (use tissues myself but he insists on cotton hankies). Modern detergents deal with snot fine - but I don't use lower than 40 degrees for anything, despite all the ads suggesting washing in cold water.

Just put in the washing machine on 40 degree wash. Gosh surprised anyone washs at 90 degrees now, bad for clothing and for the environment and your purse!
Always preferred cloth hankies to tissues as they just disintegrate with any liquid on them, usually used for cleaning mucky little faces and hands, spills and not really used for proper purpose but do have another one for real purpose in my handbag.

Always use tisduesir kitchen roll as don't like using a hanky when its already been used for nose blowing etc. Prefer to dispose of the tissue to get rid of any germs that may be lurking in the paper. No doubt someone will tell me that the germs will be non active once in the tissue.

Hankie brigade here. Soaked overnight and then washed with other white items, no problem.

Witzend

Sorry, but IMO fabric handkerchiefs are gross.
I’d have to boil them, but preferably chuck them on to an open fire.
Thank goodness for tissues!

I’m all for reducing waste and recycling, BTW, but there are limits…

I totally agree. Sorry I don't want snotty hankies up my sleeve or in my washing machine. I upcycle and recycle many things but draw a line at that. Unlike wipes I'm sure tissue ( as it's paper pulp ?) degrades and isn't a problem.
I'm sure I read somewhere that someone was making fabric toilet wipes to wash rather than toilet paper - even more horrible at least it's soft now not the rough Izal from a kid or newspaper....

Always used hankies … and even in the 70s80s used to boil them in a saucepan first… now they just go into the washing machine. My sons keep trying to get me to use tissues instead!
No thank you.

welbeck

I wrote
pocket square. above.
But my phone is too young to have heard of them so presumes to correct me.

Oh so true🤣🤣

I just don’t find a cotton hankie very absorbent. They are indeed quite disgusting, sorry, I’m all for - a tissue especially when I have a cold.

Sarnia

Back in the 1950's when I helped my Granny with the washing she had an old saucepan which was kept just for boiling handkerchiefs. She added a chunk of Sunlight soap to the water and let it simmer for an hour or two before rinsing.
I'm sure times have changed since those days, Notagranny44 but you have brought back a fond memory of post-war wash days.

I used to boil the hankies in a saucepan when I first got married, just as his mother had done.
I had to go away for a few days, and on my return, he happily told me that he had done the hankies, but couldn’t find the saucepan, so had done them in a casserole dish in the oven.
It’s take me over 50 years to wean him off the disgusting things and use tissues.

My husband and I always use hankies (as well as tissues) and I just put them in with the other washing. They come out fine. If they've got blood on them I soak them in salted water first.

Really !!!

I find this thread really, really disgusting! Buying additional potentially toxic products to 'cleans' the hankies isn't eco friendly either.