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.

All of the ones saying they are disgusting, grim etc, I take it none of you get discharge in your underwear, or the odd period leak, or god-forbid skids?

It's a bodily fluid, the same as sweat, discharge, blood, vomit. You wash the handkerchief when it's dirty the same as you was underwear, clothing, bedding etc.

Unless you actually need to blow your nose, then I guess they could be useful.

Use both here, tissues are fine for big nose blow and bin but hankies are more robust for tears, handy for spills, face rubs, wetted for grazed knees etc.

Mind you I also love a good headscarf, cleaner hair, protected from sun/catching on plants or clothes pegs, emergency facemask if forgotten & even as makeshift bag.

And ironing will kill any germs left too.

@GETTINGLIKEMYMOTHER

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

Do you not have a washing machine that does a hot wash?

No tissues in this house, such a waste of money. We just have lots of cotton hankies, plus I cut up old shirts and bedding to make them. I am no great sewer, but they are so easy to make. Also, much kinder on the nose if you have a cold!

DH always has one in his pocket. I put laundry cleanser in each wash which kills bacteria. Cloth face masks, reusable period pants/mooncups for the women in the house, hankies, flannel squares rather than kitchen roll for mucky hands at the table. Satisfying to think of landfill saved and hankies are just nicer to use.

@BIoodyStupidJohnson

Yep, I prefer hankies to tissues. I have some nice tartan ones!

We do live in a world where two giant corporations — P&G and Unilever — have convinced billions of people via marketing that their bodies are disgusting and that their one-use disposable items are ‘more hygienic’ than washable cloth — tissues, disposable nappies, face wipes instead of handkerchiefs, terry cloths and flannels.

Absolutely this ^

I think they are that gross that had dh refused to stop using them when we met, it would have been a relationship breaker.

They absolutely turn my stomach.

@Taswama

When I saw the thread title, I thought this is why I love Mumsnet! I agree hankies are due a revival. I have some in a drawer somewhere and should dig them out. I think you need an awful lot of them to always have some available. We bought a load of cheap flannels when the DC were little to wipe sticky fingers and faces rather than use wipes and just threw them in the washing machine after use.

Yep. I prefer flannels for everything. Instead of make up wipes & wet wipes. I use them as napkins, kitchen counter cloths, cleaning cloths, to dab perspiration off my face when I've been for a walk (spain). And of course instead of those plastic scrubby shower puffs. I have colour coded ones for different things.

@thriftyhen Don't even get me started on scented tampons.

I agree OP. Handkerchiefs were a staple of my childhood, I used to buy pretty embroidered ones from John Lewis for my mum every Christmas.

It’s a hygiene thing. Personally, I think if I have an absolutely lousy cold, I’d rather use tissues. But for the 50 weeks of the year I don’t, there’s no reason not to use them. They aren’t unhygienic as long as you own lots and lots of them, and pop them in the laundry frequently.

I prefer hankies! They are softer on the face and more absorbent. Tissues are wasteful - once used they have to be thrown away.

Surely they are only germy if you've got a cold or something? For every day nose wiping or hayfever hankies are fine and are less wasteful. I use the washable wipes I bought when my kids were babies.

@BIoodyStupidJohnson Just marketing to get people to spend money on unnecessary stuff and the mind boggles at the environmental impact.

My husband has hayfever this time of year so has loads of hankies.

I don't know how others feel about this but he will have really wet ones drying on his desk in the office and he will also dry them under the handdryer in the toilet if he's really desperate. Would cost us a fortune in paper tissues otherwise.

He has some rather dainty lacy ones I must say!!

They aren't out of fashion here, I don't use the ones with days of the week embroidered on any more but I usually have a large clean white hanky (M&S men's), use once or twice, wash in the normal wash. Why are people so determined to use resources?

The general opinion was that tissues are more hygienic, ie you don't wrap up what you sneezed into a tissue and put back in your pocket. However my husband always preferred cotton hankies, so did my mum, so I have a good supply of them somewhere.

We do live in a world where two giant corporations have convinced billions of people via marketing that their bodies are disgusting and that their one-use disposable items are ‘more hygienic’ than washable cloth — tissues, disposable nappies, face wipes instead of handkerchiefs, terry cloths and flannels.

I don't think flannels are unpopular, are they?

But they're also not comparable to handkerchiefs - I don't blow my nose into a flannel and cart it round in my pocket all day long. It gets used to wash my face and then it gets washed - it doesn't sit in my coat for the rest of the day while I do other things!

@NatMoz

My husband has hayfever this time of year so has loads of hankies.

I don't know how others feel about this but he will have really wet ones drying on his desk in the office and he will also dry them under the handdryer in the toilet if he's really desperate. Would cost us a fortune in paper tissues otherwise.

He has some rather dainty lacy ones I must say!!

@NatMoz Does he rinse them and leave them to dry or is he drying bodily fluids?

@3Britnee he washes them in the sink first with hot water and some cleaning stuff I've decanted into a little bottle for him.

He has about 3 on rotation, to he honest he may as well get an office mini washing line

We do use them. My OH always has one in his pockets. It gets used for many other things than just wiping his noses (clean his glasses etc).
My mum embroidered his initials, on my request, on about 12 of them and I really like the look of them.
I own 3 or 4 and I would like to use them more often, but now that I don't leave the house very often I kind of find easier just to get a tissue from a box. Bad of me, as I am trying to reduce waste in our household. I should really revert to have one with me all day.

@NatMoz

My husband has hayfever this time of year so has loads of hankies.

I don't know how others feel about this but he will have really wet ones drying on his desk in the office and he will also dry them under the handdryer in the toilet if he's really desperate. Would cost us a fortune in paper tissues otherwise.

He has some rather dainty lacy ones I must say!!

If that was my colleague, I’d be horrified!

I can't see the big deal about hankies, and germs as long as they are washed. Good idea about bags for them