Handkerchiefs vs tissues?

se999

Everyone's heard of the disposable nappy debate, but what about paper tissues?

OH hates them and will only use 'proper' hankies.

But suddenly realised it's saved us tons over the years, they just go through with the normal hot whites wash at zero cost!! They last for years!!

To be honest we only bother with the standard mansize ones, little lace ones don't work when I've a streaming cold or hayfever.

Paper tissues do biodegrade easily, but they're normally not made from recycled paper, so enviromentally not brilliant.

It used to be the in joke about old aunts buying socks & hankies as presents; but maybe it could be worth asking for some next time.

Are you a dedicated tissue user, or a hankie fan?

Badgergal

I'm all for stuff like that normally, even reusable sanitary products are something I am willing to try.

But I just got over an awful cold and I got through nearly two boxes of tissues (and I was trying not to use too many)...I'm not sure I would ever have had enough hankies to cope, and if I did they would have had to have a very hot wash all to themselves....

Might have worked just in normal life or a less bad cold, but this was a stinker! Plus I would have worried about hankies harbouring germs etc, and would have wanted to put one in the wash every time I so much as dabbed my nose, to stop myself getting reinfected etc...(not usually fanatic about germs, but I am when I have a cold!)

16011996

i'm not quite a convert. i use hankies at home, and for day to day, but i do keep a pack of pocket tissues in my bag for when out somewhere, cos i hate pulling a hanky out, esp as its not really clean after the first use. all kids have hankies in there bags for school, but we do use tissues if one of us has a cold, as i don't like to think of germs lying orund in the hankies.

exlibris

Like 16011996 I keep a packet of tissues in every handbag and some pockets but also keep hankies too. (Is this overkill?)

I have inherited loads of hankies from elderly rellies to the amusement of my siblings. I also purloin OH's tatty ones for colds.


Moan alert

OH insisted that his hankies werewashed and ironed even though he had only uesd them to wipe his glasses

until

I was seriously ill and he had to do the washing and ironing.

I have not ironed his hankies since he recovered as he didn't then!

Rikki

Hankerchiefs are definitely better than tissues if they are left in your trouser pocket and accidently washed. :rotfl:

nightsong

Rikki wrote:

Hankerchiefs are definitely better than tissues if they are left in your trouser pocket and accidently washed. :rotfl:

This is so true

Having said that, while hankies are obviously money-saving and environmentally better, they are just too gross to contemplate IMHO. Unless you just use them for dabbing delicately at your eyes when crying of course.

Bargainloverbec

Bit of a mixture for me; hankies on a day to day basis for 'delicately dabbing' as nightsong puts it and 'light usage'.

But when you've got a heavy cold there's really nothing for it but a big box of mansize tissues is there!?

se999

Hi,

My OH liked his hankies neatly ironed too, but I don't like ironing, so he's adjusted his ideas

Yes even with starting this thread the rest of the family do use tissues sometimes, my pet hate is when they grab a few just in case and you find the soggy mess in the pocket after washing, and the bits everywhere. Sometimes they haven't even used them!! Admittedly we do have some delicately dyed light denim hankies from being washed in jeans pockets

Same goes for the ones that get too grubby or fall apart in the handbag and have to be thrown without being used, the cloth hankies just go through a quick wash.

We have also suffered from the bin target practice idea with litter of any kind, when the aim isn't good I don't like cleaning up the dirty tissues, for some reason the hankies seem to get to the wash bin easier. Also dirty tissues fall out of pockets and down the sides of sofas etc;, and people don't seem to notice they've lost them, whereas they do notice if they've lost a hanky. So for us it's slightly more hygienic to normally use hankies.

But I did cringe the first time I dealt with dirty hankies in the wash, but then thought are they any more germy than the briefs and underpants they were going through with!

calleyw

My husband uses cloth hankies and this may sound really grim to some. But some where even his dads. And they are still going strong.

My husband suffers a recurring problems with polyps up his nose. So he sounds like he always has a cold. And of course it gets worse if he has a cold.

So it would cost us an arm and leg in tissues for him. And as he does not have cold it maybe be a bit germy but he is not re-infecting himself as it is not a cold.

I bought a twin pack of boxed tissues when we moved in to our new house back at the tail end of March. I put out one box in the living room and it is still there not even half gone. If he used tissues that both boxes would be long gone.

I make him deal with washing off the hankies before they go in the washing machine as I don't do snot. Can you tell I don't have children don't do puke, snot or poo. :rotfl:

Yours

Calley

Hunnymonster

Can't stand tissues when I have a streaming cold - the fibres in the paper really rub the skin off my nose - so it's cotton handkerchiefs for me all the way. Mind you I've not had a cold serious enough to warrant nose blowing for ages (so I'll be down with one by 3pm now lol)

mightymo_2

Now - this is my habit/obession - where ever I go, I must have a hankie. Because if I don't I will get the sniffles! So it's hankies all the way for me! Always one in my pocket, my bag, under my pillow... can't live without my trusty hankie.

But.... if I get a streaming cold, I use those lovely coated tissue which don't hurt the nose so much! But of course, I would have a hankie with me too just in case I ran out of tissues!!!