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Anyone got any ideas for washing handkerchiefs

(110 Posts)
Whitewavemark2 Tue 25-Aug-26 17:16:16

My DH has never used anything else but white mens hankies.

They get washed with all the other whites at 90c.

midgey Tue 25-Aug-26 17:06:06

I just lob them in my machine!

Wheniwasyourage Tue 25-Aug-26 17:01:46

I don't use cloth hankies but haven't bought tissues for years. If I'm out for a coffee or a meal, I keep the paper napkin (unless it's covered in curry) and bring it home for use as a tissue - after all, the restaurant staff will just throw it away. Napkins are also usually bigger than tissues, so more use for a cold or a seriously runny nose. In the summer they end up in the compost bin and in the winter they go in the fire. During lockdown, I bought a packet of cheap paper napkins for the same purpose.

I shall now retire behind the sofa and wait for someone to say that they find that disgusting or something.

dalrymple23 Tue 25-Aug-26 14:35:10

I inherited my mother's preserving pan - the only thing I have ever used it for is boiling handkerchiefs!

Sarnia Tue 25-Aug-26 14:30:32

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.

grannyjan2 Tue 25-Aug-26 14:10:50

I read of a machine cleaning regime somewhere, involving soda crystals on a 90º wash cycle. So I do this every 3 months or so and put the hankies, as they are, in for that cycle.
2 jobs in one.
I needed to have enough hankies to see me through that long.

MT62 Tue 25-Aug-26 14:01:25

Just put them in a bucket of Milton solution, or unbranded sterilising solution. Then I would wash In one of those net bags (mine end up in the rim) with your whites.

valdali Tue 25-Aug-26 13:55:48

I use a mixture of Hankies & tissues I'm like you, very phlegmy in summer.
Soak them in washing powder solution (cool), rinse then wash them with the rest of the load is what I do.

Septimia Tue 25-Aug-26 13:54:50

At home I usually make do with a piece of kitchen roll but like to have a proper hanky when going out, so I use them frequently.

I soak them overnight in bio liquid or powder and then they come out of the machine nice and clean even after a 30degree wash.

Notagranny44 Tue 25-Aug-26 13:50:08

I've just been filling in a survey on my local council's waste management strategy and it has made me wonder how we can reduce our use of single-use items.
I always seem to have a runny nose and/or phlegmy throat, so use quite a lot of tissues. I would happlily move to using handkerchiefs, but have early unpleasant memories of washing them before my Mum had a washing machine!
Would soaking them before washing in a bucket of salty water or bio wash powder mean that I could just put them in the machine to get them clean.
Any thoughts anyone?