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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

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Original poster

to think that hankies are possibly the most disgusting thing ever?

75 replies

TheBloodManCometh · 05/07/2014 19:37

A lot of older people I know seem to have a sticky, crusty rag stuffed up their sleeve and in their pocket which they whip out to cough into and/or empty the contents of their nose into.

Surely this isn't hygienic or even useful? What makes it better than tissues?

OP posts:

libertytrainers · 06/07/2014 23:29

they all join together to make yankee candles

NoArmaniNoPunani · 06/07/2014 23:36

The most environmentally friendly way to deal with snot is to sniff it up and let your stomach acid deal with it. No germs get spread around, no tissues or hankie are required. I don't understand why this method isn't more socially acceptable

SistersOfPercy · 06/07/2014 23:40

You are so so nbu!

Dh is a hanky man, drives me bonkers. I can keep up with the ones he leaves under his pillow but the ones the car are just rank. I've known them to crunch when he opens them

He'll also be half way round Sainsbury, pull out his hanky and blow his nose so loudly everyone spins round to look.
I had to tell him about it in the end, I live him dearly and we've been together 21 years but the whole hanky thing is just horrible.

SuburbanRhonda · 06/07/2014 23:40

Perhaps because it's more disgusting than carrying a hanky could ever be, noarmani?

babybat · 07/07/2014 09:15

I don't find hankies gross in the same way that I don't find face flannels, reusable nappies, mooncups or underwear gross. I don't think using disposable everything is a good idea, and a very hot wash will deal with the germs. I use a fresh hanky every day though, and I don't have really icky yellow phlegm. Perhaps the issue with men leaving gross crusty hankies around is a male hygiene problem, rather than a hanky issue!

JoeyMaynardsghost · 07/07/2014 09:20

My OH uses hankies, I prefer tissues. His hankies go in a hot wash along with undies and he uses a clean one every day (both!) but the thing that made me retch was he had a hanky with an initial on it, not his initial, so I asked him and it was his ex-FIL's hanky fgs who hands down hankies?

I can accept his own hankies but each time the initialed hankies came through the wash those ones got binned. None left now.

BadgersBum · 07/07/2014 09:37

I'd rather my DS had hankies than tissues as it would save me hours of picking bits off his school fleece every time I wash it and inevitably forget to check the pockets!

DH always has a hanky in his pocket, I just crack them open and bung them in with the rest of the washload, so he occasionally has one that has been dyed pink or blue!

Bouttimeforwine · 07/07/2014 19:39

just crack them open

waterducksback · 07/07/2014 19:57

Even more disgusting is when an old lady takes a used hanky out of her cardi 's sleeve, spits on it and then proceeds to wipe your child's face with it.
Just a 'bit of a clean' m'dear.
It used to be really common to do this at one time.
urrrrrgh.
So much for the Good ole Days.

waterducksback · 07/07/2014 20:00

I think hankies are disgusting.

Especially when you see people inspecting the snot encrusted hankie closely - trying to find a clear spot that doesn't already have gunk on it.
A Gunk-free area.

Sallystyle · 07/07/2014 20:00

I don't use them.

I wipe my snot on the walls init!

waterducksback · 07/07/2014 20:04

Truly disgusting and guaranteed to turn your stomach, are those people that block one side of the nostril with a finger and then blow as hard as they can out the other side - so that the snot sprays out onto the pavement or road.

I saw this happen a lot on holiday recently. (won't say which country)

NoArmaniNoPunani · 07/07/2014 20:17

Perhaps because it's more disgusting than carrying a hanky could ever be, noarmani?

Why though? It stops germs from being spread about

londonrach · 07/07/2014 20:24

I find tissues yuk...

waterducksback · 07/07/2014 20:26

By the end of the day the hanky must get really 'full' gag and seem bigger and ever so slightly warm from all those lovely excretions. mmmmmmmmmm.

I can't wait to go out and buy one!

Seriously, you wouldn't carry a whole days worth of used toilet paper around in your pocket - this is no different really.
It's bodily waste.

Artandco · 07/07/2014 20:44

We use them. We also used reusable nappies and wipes on the kids when babies, still use the wipes to wipes their faces after eating.
Much more environmentally friendly and cheaper

People often say how much new expensive stuff is on here but then list their weekly shopping containing kitchen roll, detol wipes, face wipes, tissues, etc etc all very simple things I've never brought. Use a cloth and hot soapy water for most things. Not 101 chemicals either just basics. Add reusable nappies/ wipes/ etc and it's hundreds of pounds savings.

Artandco · 07/07/2014 20:45

Waterduck - what do you think people do with reusable nappies? Of course they carry a whole days worth around with them.

HSMMaCM · 07/07/2014 20:48

Tissues hurt my nose. I change my hankies regularly. I had a sad week last week and had a hankie in each pocket.

BertieBotts · 07/07/2014 20:51

A clean hanky is lovely. Blowing your nose on toilet paper or kitchen paper is rough and scratchy and tissues are often coated with weird stuff and all of those things disintegrate.

I must get some handkerchiefs I have been known to use a t-shirt out of the washing basket it just feels so much nicer than tissue.

I don't sneeze often. I'd carry a couple I think and spares if I had a cold.

CheapBread · 07/07/2014 20:54

Paper tissues are a nightmare for allergies, you can see the dust cloud when you whip them out. Cloth wins.

jaundicedoutlook · 07/07/2014 22:47

Repellant. In Japan a handkerchief full of crusted up bogies is roughly the equivalent of wiping your arse then carrying that round all day with you up your sleeve/in handbag in a small square of folded up cloth... Just don't.

TheFantasticMrsFox · 08/07/2014 01:03

DH takes them shooting as tissues disintegrate when it's inevitably raining. Now DS has joined in too but I flatly refuse, even after years of washing baby clothes, sicky bedding and pants that had "suffered" during potty training, to handle the snot rags (and I am the biggest slattern about normally)
They're either damp with snot or crispy with dried snot and no amount of cajoling will convince me to handle them

IamRechargingthankYou · 08/07/2014 02:59

Yes -there are gross aspects to cotton hankies - but then there are also gross aspects to period-stiained knickers, skid marked boxers nappies and adolsescent to adult BO. Do a special boil-wash on the stove prior to washing in a machine (if you are mentally attached to the nachine means clean approach.) Not all hankie are white - but these are best for monograns and can last for generations.

Not all are white (lovely checked ones for the cowboy in us) and have loads of uses besides snot (I mean loads including cowboys!) - not to mention that the correctly coloured/folded hanky positioned correctly can get you into many different parties and clubs - depending on more than will be mentioned here.

I love the antique lacehanky for wedings and formals and will definitely be adopting that. MN can be so Handy (geddit?) sometimes

schokolade · 08/07/2014 05:10

DH used to have one. I asked him if he was 25 or 85. Doesn't use it anymore but still tries to keep tissues for 100 uses. Usually under his pillow. How hard do people blow their noses to break a tissue into pieces?!

BubblegumBrigade · 08/07/2014 07:10

I wouldn't wash hankerchiefs for God.

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