Wives: Does your husband use a handkerchief? If so, are you grossed out by this?

[Brenda_V]

If the issue is having a cold and having a sore nose, why not use the best of both worlds? Use cloth but only ONCE! Can’t be much different than cloth baby wipes. Use them once, throw them into a bag/pail/bucket or whatever and wash them. Sure, you’d need quite a few during cold season but in the long run it would still be much cheaper than boxes and boxes of tissues:thumbsup:

Personally I am trying to move from tissues to hankies for every day use (allergies, not colds) and then go with the Puffs or Kleenex with lotion for a cold. Puffs even has one with menthol in them, they are really nice when you have a cold! I won’t share a hankie though, everyone should keep their own microbes to themselves in my not so humble opinion .

My Dad always used a cloth hankie when I was younger(and perhaps still does). I rarely saw it washed.
Anyway when we went out, and I got some muck on my face he would spit on it and then wipe my face with it.
This is the stuff that childhood trauma is made of.

Oh, it wasn’t my dad who would do this, it was my mom and the hankie she used always had some embroidery on it. I think she kept one in her purse just for this purpose (and for the occasional time we stopped in at Church to say Hi to Jesus and we didn’t have a hat - sure better than the used tissue some of us girls would use if we went over from school!)

we prefer Puffs With Lotion for a cold, but my dad used hankies, and provided my first ironing job, as he had a sinus problem and went through 2 dozen a week.

how anybody that deals with baby goop all day can complain about laundering hankies is beyond my comprehension.

Me too. Ironing hankies was the first thing we got to learn on and they had to be “just so” as my dad was military at the time when even that may be checked if there was an inspection!

As to how any body deals with baby goop all day and then complains about hankies, well, I have to agree here too.

Now that the subject has been brought up, what brand of tissues do you all use then? I prefer the Puffs or Kleenex triple layer ones, the others, like someones husband pointed out, just don’t work. Honestly, a hankie that “holds it all” vs. a tissue that just tears and it ends up all over your hands anyway, I would take the hankie any day!

Call me and old coot, but I vote for hankie over tissue but you must get a new one at least once a day! Tissues w/lotion for a cold as long as you are good about getting them into the trash and don’t expect me to go picking them up everywhere!

Brenda V.

 

[shannyk]

I’m a nurse, and I’ve seen and dealt with any and all bodily fluids, I’ve had 3 children who have peed, pooped, bled, thrown up all over me, I’ve used cloth diapers and know what fun they are.

But, for some reason, I’m reading just past the first post, and my stomach is getting queasy. I won’t be reading the whole thread because it’s too early in the morning to be throwing up. The whole subject just GROSSES me out!!!

Kudos to you that can stand it, but Lord above I could NOT be near, much less be MARRIED to someone who uses cloth hankies. I’d be vomiting constantly. I just can’t handle it.

When I was in Kenya, I saw a mom (very lovingly) suck on the nose of her very congested toddler to get the mucous out. I promptly threw up in a bush.

Tissues, please, for my sake.

 

[gam3rchic]

I’m a nurse, and I’ve seen and dealt with any and all bodily fluids

Yeah, this goes for me too! But the idea of hankies gross me out as well. When I was growing up, my dad and older brother always used one and I used to think that was gross back then as well!

Use a tissue, a one-time-use-object, then throw it away please. I know it seems wasteful, but it’s so much more sanitary than keeping a snot-infested piece of cloth in a pocket all day long with bacteria festering within it.

 

[lizaanne]

My DH is only 30 - he does not carry a hankie, though if we are going somewhere and he’s in a suit I make sure there is one in his pocket, just in case he has to sneeze or something. A gentleman should always have a hankie in his jacket.

I have a vast collection of really lovely vintage lady’s hankies, and I use many of them. I keep one in my purse at all times, never for snotting it up , but just in case I cry, or sneeze, or have something in a contact lens that gets my eyes watering. I toss them in the wash if they look a bit used or crumpled even. I never blow in them, that grosses me out. I don’t really blow to begin with unless I’m VERY ill, so it’s not an issue with me anyway.

I actually used one (it was perfectly clean) to stop the bleading on the head of a woman who fell down the stairs at Church at Easter Vigil a few years ago - she tumbled down the steps and bashed her head on the marble holy water font at the door way!! No one had anything to press on her wound while we waited for EMS to arrive so I offered up my hankie - and offer it up I did - it was one of my favorites with little purple violets on it. But it was better than letting her blead all over the place, certainly. You just never know when it will come in handy, and tissue would have never worked in this situation!!!

For the most part, if I have “nose cleaning” that needs doing I am a tissue girl, so is DH. Tissue - the way forward!

But a well placed hankie is never a bad idea.

~Liza

 

[funnyyetsavvy]

Well, my dear grandfather was a very well dressed, dapper gentleman, and he was a hanky man…

Having said that, with my kids I carry tissues…especially the ones that kill most of the germs! (Wet wipes too - LOVE 'em)

 

[onaquest]

I’m in my late thirties and single and looking for a man who carries a hankie. I love them and find them to be endearingly proper.

 

[PRmerger]

I’m in my late thirties and single and looking for a man who carries a hankie. I love them and find them to be endearingly proper.

Ok, so what if you find a man who carries a hankie, and then he uses it to blow his nose??

Will that still be endearingly proper?

 

[surfinpure]

we prefer Puffs With Lotion for a cold, but my dad used hankies, and provided my first ironing job, as he had a sinus problem and went through 2 dozen a week.

how anybody that deals with baby goop all day can complain about laundering hankies is beyond my comprehension.

Baby goop is *sooo *different. And it’s not as though the baby can control the goop-output, but a grown man knows how to use a kleenex.

And I can’t imagine the thought of my laundry – even my dirty laundry – swishing around in all that gunk from my husband’s hanky! Hope nobody’s wearing new shoes, 'cause I’m about to urp just at the thought!

And why in the world would anyone go to the trouble of ironing something that’s for blowing your nose? :ehh:

 

[Jerrysgirl]

My DH uses hankies and refuses to switch to tissues, he claims they “won’t survive” when he blows his nose. I’m pretty horrified by the whole thing.

We reached a compromise wherein he will make sure used hankies are folded with the contents inside, and put into the hamper separately - not balled up in a jeans pocket where I won’t discover it until it’s too late, the jeans are clean, but there’s a crusty crumpled hanky that has to be put back into the hamper.

I don’t tell him they’re gross and unsanitary any more, he doesn’t argue that they’re not, and I have the right to call them “snotrags” and not “hankies”

I use tissues when I have an actual cold, but if it’s just a little drippy, I will use a hanky.

 

[Brenda_V]

Baby goop is *sooo *different. And it’s not as though the baby can control the goop-output, but a grown man knows how to use a kleenex.

And I can’t imagine the thought of my laundry – even my dirty laundry – swishing around in all that gunk from my husband’s hanky! Hope nobody’s wearing new shoes, 'cause I’m about to urp just at the thought!

And why in the world would anyone go to the trouble of ironing something that’s for blowing your nose? :ehh:

For us cloth diapering moms it is easy enough to throw those goopy hankies in with the diapers that we are sanitizing anyway. The rest of us (who don’t have a baby anymore) can just throw them in with towels that we will be sanitizing (note, using bleach and/or hot water).

As for ironing them, besides being one of the easiest things to iron properly, they fit better in the drawer and then pocket if they have been ironed .

I didn’t answer the question actually, but my husband does use a hankie - just bought him some more recently. It is getting harder and harder to find good sturdy ones too .

Wow, it is interesting to see how many find them gross!

Brenda V.

 

[duskyjewel]

My DH uses handkerchiefs.

They aren’t any grosser than washing the poop stains out of my 4 year old’s undies when he doesn’t wipe well enough.

My DH does not use them until they are disgusting. If he has used it for a day or two, it goes in the wash.

And good Lord, I have better things to do, and too dang many of them, to IRON HANDKERCHIEFS!

 

[CarolAnnSFO]

For us cloth diapering moms it is easy enough to throw those goopy hankies in with the diapers that we are sanitizing anyway.

There is a key point – those who use cloth diapers probably have some sort of system in place to remove the stuff from the diaper before putting it in the wash.

What squicks me out about cloth hankies is the idea of all that nasal exudate (great term from my 9th grade biology teacher) floating around with the rest of the laundry. Maybe we need a “hankie pail” (sort of like a diaper pail) to pre-wash the used hankies!

 

[duskyjewel]

But “nasal exudate” is no worse than poop! And hot water and soap washes it out and kills the germs… so what is the big deal?

 

[Feanaro_s_Wife]

I deal with “baby goop” all day long but cannot equate a multi-use hanky with a one time use diaper or wipe! That would be like me wiping my DD’s bum, folding the cloth wipe in on itself and leaving it sitting there for the next time…ewwwww, gross. I can’t even imagine carrying it around in my POCKET!

 

[surfinpure]

But “nasal exudate” is no worse than poop! And hot water and soap washes it out and kills the germs… so what is the big deal?

Maybe this is why I’ve never been able to stomach the use of cloth diapers, no matter how economical!

 

[Brenda_V]

There is a key point – those who use cloth diapers probably have some sort of system in place to remove the stuff from the diaper before putting it in the wash.

What squicks me out about cloth hankies is the idea of all that nasal exudate (great term from my 9th grade biology teacher) floating around with the rest of the laundry. Maybe we need a “hankie pail” (sort of like a diaper pail) to pre-wash the used hankies!

Maybe we could use something like this for that pre-washing:

http://www.seenontv.com/prod-pages/images1/WonderWasher-Thumb.jpg

Nasal exudate, good word. I’ve been looking at this for my mommy cloths but don’t know if it is worth the expense when a bucket is working just fine .

RE:Ironing hankies - I don’t do that anymore either but when I was growing up you ironed everything, your sheets even! Just the way we did things “back in the day” . (I am showing my age!)

Brenda V.

 

[lizaanne]

RE:Ironing hankies - I don’t do that anymore either but when I was growing up you ironed everything, your sheets even! Just the way we did things “back in the day” . (I am showing my age!)

Brenda V.

My mom still irons her sheets - she’s only 60. All of her top sheets are beautiful old hand embroidered hems or with crochet lace on the edge, most are from the 40’s or 50’s and are of that nice cotton that feels so good, but does get wrinkled in the dryer. She irons her top sheets and pillow cases. I only iron my pillow cases. And my hankies and my husband’s t-shirts too. And I’m 43. So I doubt you are all that old Brenda.

~Liza

 

[CarolAnnSFO]

But “nasal exudate” is no worse than poop!

Maybe not, but I’ve never known anyone to put a cloth diaper into the washing machine with ALL OF THE POOP STILL IN IT!

I wonder how many cloth hankie users put them into the wash with all of the exudate still in them.

Maybe we could use something like this for that pre-washing:

http://www.seenontv.com/prod-pages/images1/WonderWasher-Thumb.jpg

Hey, I like that – cute, does the job, and doesn’t take up much space!

Nasal exudate, good word.

Just to be sure we knew what he meant when he used that term, our biology teacher wrote the word “SNOT” on the blackboard, in large letters!

RE:Ironing hankies - I don’t do that anymore either but when I was growing up you ironed everything, your sheets even! Just the way we did things “back in the day” . (I am showing my age!)

Among the items I remember ironing when I was a kid (I did all the family ironing from age 9 onwards): handkerchiefs, sheets, tablecloths, dish towels, pajamas, boxer shorts (in addition to all of the shirts, pants, dresses, etc.) Of course, that was before the days of wrinkle-free cotton, or even “Permanent Press” or cotton/polyester blends.

 

[strngrnrth]

Maybe not, but I’ve never known anyone to put a cloth diaper into the washing machine with ALL OF THE POOP STILL IN IT!

I wonder how many cloth hankie users put them into the wash with all of the exudate still in them.
Among the items I remember ironing when I was a kid (I did all the family ironing from age 9 onwards): handkerchiefs, sheets, tablecloths, dish towels, pajamas, boxer shorts (in addition to all of the shirts, pants, dresses, etc.) Of course, that was before the days of wrinkle-free cotton, or even “Permanent Press” or cotton/polyester blends.

I throw mine in the wash basket and don’t give it a thought. If you machine wash, why not? Those things shake your clothes furiously, for a good half hour, then do the same thing to rinse them, then spin them when they’re all drained. There is nothing left on them at the end. No, I wouldn’t do that with a diaper. There are stain and obviously volume issues there. Not the same thing at all. The hankies come out clean.
No I don’t iron them. What an idea. What would that do for them?
I know people used to like to do things the hard way when they didn’t have to, and to this day my GM sometimes does things the hard way and gets indignant that no one else sees the point. I unwrinkle most clothes by hanging them as soon as they come out of the dryer. If there are wrinkles on them already I shake them and then hang them. Sometimes for a special occasion I iron something.

 

[CarolAnnSFO]

I throw mine in the wash basket and don’t give it a thought. If you machine wash, why not?

Maybe because I only ever use cold or warm (not hot) wash water, and I don’t use bleach. I’m tempted, though – I’ve seen some cute embroidered ladies’ hankies in a mail order catalog.

No I don’t iron them. What an idea. What would that do for them?

Men’s handkerchiefs had to be ironed because they were placed in the suit jacket breast pocket, and were visible to the world. Everything else got ironed in the olden days (pre-electric-dryer) because most items were just a huge mass of wrinkles without being ironed (today’s fabrics are a lot more forgiving). We didn’t even have steam irons, and had to sprinkle everything with water from a little plastic laundry-sprinkling bottle before ironing it.

Today I only iron the shirts I wear in the summer (and only the woven ones, not the knits). Everything else I wear can get by without being ironed (I only put towels and underwear in the dryer; everything else gets hung up – things last a whole lot longer that way).

The best way to avoid wrinkes, if you have a day when it will pour rain, and then get sunny and very windy, is to hang the clothes outside just in time to get rained on, hard. The, the sun comes out, and the gusty winds blow the clothes around on the line (use lots of clothespins) – clothes come out without wrinkles, and smelling great!