Why did cotton handkerchiefs go out fashion?

[AfternoonToffee]

I am in the process of emptying my mother in law's house and have just washed and ironed a pile of her handkerchiefs. Some very pretty ones - embroidered flowers, lace, her initials etc, which will have been well used in the past.

I finished off, walked out the kitchen grabbing a paper tissue as I left. Hardly anyone uses handkerchiefs nowadays, yet the likes of period pants and reusable san-pro very much are. Why did we stop? Why did we start using paper tissue en masse? Figures are hard to come by - but it seems in 2019 the UK spent £179 million on facial and cleansing tissues - that is a lot of waste.

For the US it is estimated that the population uses 255,360,000,000 tissues a year. I know in the middle of a pandemic is perhaps not the best time but is the next eco turnaround this?

I will try and use them - if not all the time there are times I easily could.

My husband puts a clean hanky in his pocket every day. He doesn't use it for properly blowing his nose, more dabbing away the odd dew drop and catching sneezes in. I used to use them when I was a child, and I think it was one of the rules of Brownies that we had a clean hanky in our pocket!

I suppose it's the thought of carrying your own wipings around in your pocket that puts people off, but as you say we're not so squeamish about other similar secretion catchers.

I love cotton hankies and always have at least one on my person! They are much gentler on the nose than any paper tissue, I wouldn't go back. Funnily enough much of my collection came from my late mother-in-law too!

I use them as does my teen son. I get very dry skin around my nose and mouth with a cold and paper ones aggravate it.

My son has an allergy that means he often has just a little nasal drip all the time. He has some sensory issues due to his SN and can only use cotton ones.

I do use paper ones if I have a particularly bad cold for blowing my nose but for the drip I use the softer cotton ones.

I was given some when i was younger as a gift and was skint. The same time I was given terry nappies too. I equated them as the same way to be better for the environment so kept up with my cotton hankies.

Because washing snotty handkerchiefs - if they’ve been used for anything other than a delicate dab - is gross.

I have, and use handkerchiefs. However I still use loo roll as a staple when I've a cold.
I also use cloth sanpro. However I don't tend to carry that around in my pocket

I’ve gone back to them too. So much nicer than tissues, especially when your nostrils are raw from a cold.

Because they are gross and unhygienic.
I don’t want to walk around with a germ infested snotty piece of cloth in my pocket.
Disposable tissues are much more hygienic.
Catch it, bin it, kill it as the slogan says.
There are many other ways we can and should reduce waste, recycle, and protect the environment.

We have hankies!
No tissues in this house.

I use them, but if I have a cold or very runny nose I'll use tissues instead. One big advantage is it doesn't matter if you forget to take one out of your pocket when it goes in the washing machine!

I did also once bind up a grazed elbow with one too until we could get to the first aid tent. I felt like I was in an Enid Blyton book.

My dad is never without one!

So much better for hayfever, no cotton dust up your nose making you sneeze.

I used one of my Dad's hankies at his funeral.

Hankies are lovely and I hope you enjoy MIL

I found if I had a really bad cold they were so much better especially the men's ones

@GETTINGLIKEMYMOTHER

Because washing snotty handkerchiefs - if they’ve been used for anything other than a delicate dab - is gross.

No more disgusting than washing pants. It's all mucous.

Cotton handkerchiefs are only equivalent to reusable sanpro if you wash the handkerchief after every use rather than putting it back in your pocket. Do you?

Nobody puts bloodied sanpro in the cupboard to put back on. They wash it after each use. It just happens that one use of sanpro lasts longer than one use of a handkerchief.

I just had sinusitis and I think I'd have needed a full house load worth of cotton hankies. It's just not practical. Also once you blow your nose say it is absolutely full of mucus it then goes onto your pocket all squidgy and cold? No. Fuck that

Are respiratory infections passed on through menstrual blood?

We use them.

Ds with SN used to regularly get skin infections around and under his nose when he got a cold. They just didn't happen using a cotton hanky. And when he gets a cold, he really does get streaming cold.

Just stick them in the wash with regular washing, no biggie.

Cotton hankies are gross but people are reluctant to see the end of mask wearing.

You don't think it is disgusting to have a dirty mask full of your sneezes and bacteria out of your nose and mouth directly against your face everywhere you go indoors.

OK then

If you have a streaming cloud that you are going through lots of tissues unless you ate washing you hands between, chances are it's going straight though the thin tissue onto your hand. With a cotton hanky you fold it it meaning the germs are caught in the middle and you have a clean bit of tissue to use and clean tissue inside your pocket.

Typos blush

I haven’t seen cotton hankies for years. I’ve kept DD’s old muslins from when she was a baby and we use those if we have colds, much gentler around the nose.

I don’t get why people are so grossed out by washing hankies. Like someone said upthread, we wash underwear which may have some mucous. A great proportion of us have cleaned babies bums and cleared up all manner of bodily fluids from our offspring.

I read somewhere that other nations cannot understand why we'd want to empty our nostrils into a piece of cloth then put it in our pocket or bag and carry it around all day. Tissues are so much more hygienic because you use them once and throw them away.

Except in my experience people don't they reuse them anyway.

As a long term severe hayfever sufferer if I used a fresh tissue every time I'd disappear under my own paper mountain. I have a big secret stash of big hankies some inherited from my Dad and I don't go anywhere without at least one. I save paper tissues for when Im in polite company.

Dh and I still use them. Dh has a clean one every day. I use one as and when needed. No squeamishness here 're washing them, and no obvious spreading of infections either.

I suppose the catch it, wipe it, bin it campaign hasn’t helped sales either. I personally wouldn’t use them even if they came back. When I do see them used, they often look crumpled like they’ve been in pockets for a long time, perhaps reused over multiple days. Yuck!

My OH has loads of them and my 10 year old prefers a hanky to a tissue.