Cloth handkerchiefs are softer and nicer to use than dry tissues.
Cloth handkerchiefs are more earth-friendly.
Cloth handkerchiefs take up less space in my bag than a pack of tissues.
Cloth handkerchiefs don’t explode in the wash and send lint all over my other clothing.
Cloth handkerchiefs are virtually impossible to tear a hole in, and as such can be pressed into service as a little pouch or bag for whatever I might need if I’m in a pinch.
If it’s -30 C outside, my nose will be running every time I go indoors and outdoors. I see plenty of people blow their nose on tissue and stuff it back in their pocket. I have no particular problem with those people, nor do I assume they have a problem with my handkerchiefs.
I’m one of those with a stong “roman” nose and a pretty good case of seasonal hayfever.
Tissues *distingegrate *when I use them. I’f I’m going disposable, I use a paper towel. He of the dainty nose I am not.
Thus, I do carry a handkerchief when things get bad. I have no problem with using one.
I used to sneeze a lot, and a good allergy fit could easily result in many dollars worth of kleenex (no exaggeration - I once drained a friend’s well-stocked cottage of all disposable paper products, including TP and paper towel, and I was only there one weekend) and a really crusty nose.
Hankies relieve both of these things. Also I don’t like to buy things that are made from old growth forest, or use environmental pollutants in their production. I know not all facial tissues are implicated in this but it’s a lot easier to use hankies than read labels on tissue boxes each time, and hankies are a lot cheaper than buying the “green” versions.
Also, for the good strong voluminous sneezes - those are precisely the ones that I need a hanky for, because they blast right through a tissue.
I don’t sneeze much any more but when I do, I find that tissues result in a lot more mess than a hanky, because they’re so much thinner and smaller.
How is snot any dirtier than sweat or drool or any other bodily fluids we regularly wash out of our clothing?
I used to carry a handkerchif around, and now that I think about it, I might again.
That said, when I lived in Texas, mostly the hankie was used to wipe sweat, which there was considerable amounts of to be had during the summers in College Station. I’d ride my bike for a ways across campus, stop somewhere, wipe my face to keep the sweat out of my eyes, and continue on my way.
I wouldn’t have a huge problem with using a hankie to blow my nose if it was needed, since it would be easier to carry around than a pack of tissues, especially if I’m in my blues and have no pockets suitable to stuff something the size of a hamster into. I might start carrying hankies again for that.
Incidentally, in Air Force Basic, we were actually trained (briefly) to sneeze into the inside of our wrong arm. This included while we were in formation (so as not to just spray boogers and germs all over the back of our wingman’s head, or even worse, our instructor’s face).
Here’s a question: Is there really a concern that you will re-infect yourself with the germs that you presumably still have in your body if you are sneezing and blowing your nose? If I’m not mistaken, your body should be resistant to the disease the second time around anyways.
I’m a tissue user, but I see no problem with sneezing into a hanky and then putting it back in your pocket. The problem I see is after a few uses. Doesn’t the whole thing become saturated snot? Even if it’s a big handkerchief, unless it’s the size of a tablecloth there’s no way it would have enough surface area to provide fresh catching/blowing/wiping space for me during cold or allergy season. And it’s not like the snot is going to dry or evaporate while it’s crushed inside your pocket. So how does that work?
My nose is like kryptonite to tissues. I need like a jungle of toilet paper so it would work.
I always carry two hankies. when I get a runny nose I can go through one in a couple of hours.
There’s no snot in my pockets. If you fold it well, none should drip. And, as a father of three, the extra (non-snot) hanky is always useful for lots of stuff.
Tissues are impractical unless you’re sitting on a desk.
What I don’t understand about handkerchiefs is how you don’t use it all up. When I need tissues, I need lots of tissues. And they just seem way too inconvenient to have to carry around and wash, although not particularly gross. Is suppose they could be useful to dab off sweat, though.
If you don’t like the feel of tissues on your nose, get Puffs. Seriously-they’re way softer. Hankies get all sticky and gross.
(I mostly use them to embroider and use as doilies. But then, I like to embroider)
This. If you’re not close to a bin (which I frequently am not) then what do you do with a used tissue? Put it back in your pocket? Yuck! A tissue that’s been used even once is many times more gross than a hanky that’s been used a dozen times.
Also, quit it with the hand sanitizer, guys. You’ve already GOT the germs that went on that hanky/tissue. Let your immune system get a workout. It can deal, honest.
WHAT is so bad about hand sanitizer? If you think about it, it’s no different from soap, only you don’t use water with it. It’s nice to have if my hands get dirty or sticky, and I don’t have time to go and wash them. It’s not so much germs, as just getting my hands all gunky or something. (And some of it’s nice and moisterizing, even though I always have handcream as well)
(I got into the habit of using it when I was volunteering at a hospital, where you’re RECQUIRED to use it.)
My nose often runs like a faucet – when it’s cold, when I eat spicy food, etc. I say “runs like a faucet” because what comes out is copious and clear. (TMI, I know.) A hanky is great for this. I don’t need to blow my nose. I just need to stanch the flow, as 'twere.
If I’ve got a true cold that requires nose blowing, I use tissues.
What is wrong with (some of) you people that your noses are pouring so copiously and frequently enough to require carrying something like that around on a regular basis in the first place?
Edited to add: It just seems medically unusual. Normal noses shouldn’t pour or drip unless there’s an unusual circumstance (allergies, cold, etc) that could be treated somehow.
Seriously, the condition is called vasomotor rhinitis (as opposed to allergic rhinitis), and according to Wikipedia, “The pathology of vasomotor rhinitis is in fact not very well-understood and more research is needed.”
Personally, I’d rather carry a hanky or tissues than take daily antihistamines.
Using it once, OK, but pulling a wet rag back out and using it repeatedly, like during a cold? Ugh. And yes, when I have a cold I use decongestant but whatever snot remains gets blown into one tissue, which gets thrown out. A box a tissue is moved from room to room with me.
When my Pop was growing up, he was taught to always carry a handkerchief with him, and he got fined a nickel if he was caught without one. I think he has been permanently programmed because he’s already to pull it out and wipe his glasses or the inside of the windshield or whatever.
That is incorrect. You cannot reinfect yourself with something (like a cold) that you already have.
For me, I use these in the following order:
When stationary, as at home or at my desk at work -
If the nasal flow is not a deluge - tissue paper.
If the flow is copious and watery - paper towel (those things absorb wonderfully)
If the flow is more of mucous - paper towel only. Tissues cannot stand the load of a glob of thick snot. Hanky becomes a sticky ball after a few blows.
When mobile -
Always a hanky. It is impractical to carry anything else.
Advice for those who have not used paper towels. Try and use them when you can. You’ll not be disappointed.
In fact if the nose is running mostly water, as when I have allergies, I even use the paper towel once it has dried out.
I don’t have any ick factor about something that comes out of my own body and that too something as innocuous as snot that does not have BO.
