Handkerchiefs, do you use one, do they still make them?

Ronni

Well-known Member
Location
Nashville TN
I want to talk about hankies. Handkerchiefs. Those little, usually white squares that I grew up with, that my Mum would tuck up into my sleeve, tuck in the waistband of my pants, make sure I always had in my uniform pocket when I left for school. I spurned them as a young adult because, y'know, I was growed! ;) And they were a childhood thing. But I re-discovered their value when I became a Mom myself.

I have carried a hankie in my purse for as long as I can remember, more durable than a piece of paper towel or a tissue, and so handy. Sure, you can blow a runny nose with one, but I've also used my trusty hankie as a tourniquet, a dip-stick wiper, a windshield de-fogger, a binding for a wound, a grandkid face wiper, and a sun shield on a naked neck...to name just a few things. Very versatile and reusable too after a quick run through the wash. I estimate I have the hankies I currently cycle through for...oh....15 years now? One's getting a bit thin, guess I should add more to my wishlist.

Do they still even make them? Do you still use one?
 

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I gave up hankies while still in single digits - they're kinda gross in my estimation. You blow your nose with it then carry it in your purse or pocket all day, where you touch it every time you reach for something else in that pocket or purse, plus it contacts everything else in your pocket or purse.
Disposable wipes are very handy in the car though. And a couple of years ago I moved back to cloth napkins (but hubby still uses paper).
 
I never did get into the hankie thing, but older folks on both sides of the family lived with one tucked into their pants pockets (the men), and some of the women did the same, tucking theirs into their bras, etc.

I was one of those moms that always kept one of those compact Kleenex Tissue packs in my purse, so when a little nose needed wiped or honked, I was there.
 
I always have a folded cotton handkerchief in my left back pocket. They're so compact that I never notice them there and when I want to use it for something, they unfold to 21 ins square. Over the years I've been very glad indeed to have one handily available when it's needed. I probably have 2 dozen or more; I iron them and have permanently loaned 3 or 4 to other people who needed a handkerchief when they were in distress.
A young mother whose small child had just vomited in a grocery store checkout line.... a fellow tourist who fell in Tel Aviv and suffered a bloody nose..... a lady in church who began sobbing for some reason......a good friend who untidily spilled a drink on herself in public....to say nothing of numerous little chores like wiping away perspiration from my face......all these are times that I was glad for a handkerchief. I always have one available.
 
they're kinda gross in my estimation. You blow your nose with it then carry it in your purse or pocket all day,
A guy I worked with had it down to a science
He'd unfold it
Blow his nose
Fold it another way
Put it in his back pocket
He musta had a dozen folds, strategically arranged

When I was old enough to stand in the front seat of my gramma's '50 chevy, she'd put her hanky in front of my face and say 'spit on this'
Then wipe my face with it, starting with my ears, no less
This procedure got my entrance into Monkey Wards

Me? No hankies
If a shop towel is handy, well, it becomes many things
Otherwise, I have a short roll of TP handy in the Jeep and pickup
 
i always carried a hanky when i was young--i would embroider on them and no one was allowed to use them-my sister took one to make me mad--but i paid her back-i cant say how i did it it would make you vomit
 
I haven't seen a "hanky" since I was a small child. I've never seen my father use one.
My mother always had those little packs of Kleenex in her purse.

I can see how a men's sized handkerchief would be so handy in the situations mentioned above, but not for nose blowing.

Carrying around a cloth containing germ-y mucous makes me feel ill.
Me, too, but I used keep a plastic bread bag in the car for dirty diapers when we were out, and I was perfectly at home with that, so I don't know why the snot-cloth thing grosses me out so bad.
 
Handkerchiefs? Handy for some folks, but working men
carry Bandanas-you can wipe your nose with them, but few
actually blow their noses with a bandana.
You can use them for masks, as you saw in old western movies,

1. Masks when in dusty area, (riding drag when herding cows). Currently can be use as substitute for masks when
going to store...
2. For wiping forehead
3. For typing around head, functioning as a sweat guard
4. Men are always looking for a rag, a bandana fits that need.

There just very handy, not suitable for evening wear,but
those that carry bandanas rarely get dressed up.
Sizes 20 x20, 27 x27 are the most common sizes.
 
I want to talk about hankies. Handkerchiefs. Those little, usually white squares that I grew up with, that my Mum would tuck up into my sleeve, tuck in the waistband of my pants, make sure I always had in my uniform pocket when I left for school. I spurned them as a young adult because, y'know, I was growed! ;) And they were a childhood thing. But I re-discovered their value when I became a Mom myself.

I have carried a hankie in my purse for as long as I can remember, more durable than a piece of paper towel or a tissue, and so handy. Sure, you can blow a runny nose with one, but I've also used my trusty hankie as a tourniquet, a dip-stick wiper, a windshield de-fogger, a binding for a wound, a grandkid face wiper, and a sun shield on a naked neck...to name just a few things. Very versatile and reusable too after a quick run through the wash. I estimate I have the hankies I currently cycle through for...oh....15 years now? One's getting a bit thin, guess I should add more to my wishlist.

Do they still even make them? Do you still use one?

The still make men's white. I have three colored and three white. Two of them I have used for mask.
Also carry a paper towel for the nose.
 
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I still have a few. Most of my working years I carried one inside my jacket pocket, or if no jacket in my left front pocket, folded neatly, ready for most any emergency. During a most embarassing moment, it was a hankie that came to the rescue. I always ironed mine when working.
 
I always have an hanky in my right rear pocket....just use it to clean my glasses occasionally. If I have a head cold, I usually stay home, close to a box of Kleenex. I quit carrying a "snot rag" around many years ago.
 


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