When I know that I’ll be having a particularly snotty day, I’ll carry disposable tissues with me (as well as a small bottle of hand sanitizer). But sometimes, I’ll be out and about somewhere and have a big messy sneeze that I wasn’t expecting at the start of the day. I can’t carry tissues for every day that might happen (i.e., every day), because tissues carried in a pocket will be shredded after a few days. But I can carry a handkerchief, which is at least better than the alternative.
Besides which, that’s also the same pocket I carry my keys and pocketknife in, and it’s more comfortable with a little extra padding in the pocket.
Some women use cloth menstrual pads, and they even make reusable tampons. I don’t have to use those any more, but I just couldn’t imagine, with disposables being readily available. OTOH, I’ve been told more than once, “If you ever had an episiotomy with 20 stitches, you’d use cloth pads too.” Yeah, I know that’s what our ancestors had to do.
I don’t. In fact, I never saw anyone who did that until I joined the military. I thought it was gross until I saw a guy just lean over and hawk a glob out of each nostril onto the street. I’d much prefer someone use a hanky than do that. Next grossest thing: men who chew tobacco and spit indiscriminately.
I’m outside all the time wearing heavy gloves, doing things with dirt and manure and weeds. Nobody is around (I am a subscriber to the hallowed Edward Abbey rule of thumb “if you can’t piss in your front yard you’re living too close to town”). I’m usually a long walk if not miles from a place to throw out a tissue. So outside, I do the cowboy handkerchief (blow nose with finger). Some work gloves actually have a nose-wiping patch on them. If I’m horseback I use my trusty bandanna as I am not wishing to blow snot all over my horse.
Indoors I will use a rag and then toss it in the wash. I don’t believe in using disposable much of anything except toilet paper and tampons.
It’s just snot. There’s a lotta things grosser than snot.
I do carry more tissues, and sometimes the second pack is not enough until I get back to my car. Also sometimes the tissues fall apart. Cloth does not fear my l33t sn0t power.
Nah. Just that I don’t get squeamy at that level of gross. More like, it’s OK because I say it is. Not exactly defensible but then neither is “ewww icky” a reasoned argument.
I agree with the OP. I cannot imagine using a cloth hankerchief for its “usual” function. I have never sneezed or coughed and brought up flem. On those occasions when I have a cold or other sinus issues I have always been able to find a restroom or other private place to disgorge nasal buildup; usually with water as a cleansing agent. Frankly, I’ll go to some lengths to find such a place so that I can thoroughly eliminate the flem without public observance.
I know someone who does this! I saw him in the mirror when I was shaving this morning.
I’ve carried a hanky since I started school (we called them “booger vaults” back then). It’s rare that I have to blow my nose in mine - mostly I use it to wipe off my glasses (tissues and napkins are bad for this) and it wouldn’t help much if it was full of snot.
If I’m sick enough to soil a handkerchief completely, I’m sick enough to be home where its use won’t offend anyone. Tissues really seems like a waste of paper, especially the amount you go through when you’re sick.
It’s rare to see them, I know. About twenty years ago a female friend burst into tears at a restaurant and I gave her my hanky to wipe her eyes - when she realized it was cloth, it actually shocked her out of her crying jag.
I have lots of allergies, but I still do use my hanky to wipe my glasses a lot more often than to blow my nose. And tissues just don’t cut it for glasses-wiping – they just leave little tiny tissue particles, requiring another wipe from a more durable textile.
I always carry two.
The left one is on general snot duty.
The right is mostly for glasses and miscellaneous cleaning. It’s also a backup on really bad days.
Tissues are wimpy. When I get a runny nose (happens less the older I get) no amount of tissues is enough. Not even toilet paper. Paper towel are the only thing that works.
Also, I don’t know what your handkerchief looks like, but mine can take lots of stuff before it shows.
Middle-aged female here- I always have a hanky on hand.
I got into the habit when I was young and poor and paper products like paper towels and tissues were messing with my grocery budget. I found a wholesaler and invested in dozens of napkins, dishtowels, handkerchiefs etc.
All of mine are 100% cotton and white, so they can be bleached in the wash. They get the thorough hot water and bleach treatment every time.
It sounds to me like those of you who are tissue-centric assume that hankies are as thin and useless as tissues. You may have had very thin or (Og forbid!) polyester ones when you were children. I don’t like tissues because my fingers get wet when I use them. This does not happen with a proper thick cotton hankie. You can double or triple the fabric, so the snot/wet stays inside. Likewise when I wrap the final layer over it and place it in the pocket of my purse. Nothing is getting out of that bundle and onto anything in my purse. That WOULD be disgusting.
The same thing is true of cloth napkins. In households that use them,one normally gets one per day. Between meals they are stored in a napkin ring with a charm or picture on it which is specific to that person so nobody accidentally uses yours. Which is why “fancy” matching napkin ring sets are a subject of hilarity to those who grew up with cloth napkins. With paper napkins I go through three or four per meal, because they just fall apart when you use them.
It’s the same with cloth menstrual pads. They have an upper layer that traps the moisture inside, just like disposables do. You keep a ziplock bag in your purse if you think you might need to change one. Usually one lasts all day as they work much better than disposables. And then you wash/bleach them clean again.
Bodily fluids are disgusting no matter how you deal with them. But if you’d ever heard from a plumber who works on municipal sewer lines, you’d know that tampons and menstrual pads are destroying our infrastructure. And frankly, a menstrual cup plus a cloth pad is far more convenient than the disposables are. This way I only have to deal with it twice per day, once in the morning and once at night.
I dunno, maybe it’s because I’m a Mother? If boogers gross you out that much, I suggest a monastery. ROFL!
Ok, I was with you until cloth kotex. Nope, not gonna happen around here. I have a septic system so flushing tampons was a big no-no when my girls were home. But I ain’t washing pads, nope. Not. Gonna.
Sorry, YMMV.
My husband carries a handkerchief, and blows his nose with it. Yes, it can get gross. But I don’t think his hands get more germy than they would with paper – as someone said, you wrap it up.
My father used to carry a handkerchief, too. “It’s only mucus”, he said. My nose drips from all sorts of things that aren’t disease or allergies, like breathing cold air. I inherited that from him. I should probably carry a handkerchief, but it kinda grosses me out. (I do often carry a sweat rag, but not a snot rag.)
I think posts like this, and Ulfreida’s before, are missing the point. It’s not that any of us are that grossed out by boogers but that there is a better way to deal with them than carrying them around in your pocket all day.
Poop is very water solvable. Heck, hundreds of millions of Indians wipe with their hands. But I bet you don’t because there is a better way - tissue. I myself have wiped with my hand while caught unprepared while camping. It didn’t gross me out, I just washed up as soon as I could and moved on with my life. But once I was back in civilization I used TP again.
My dad always carried a hanky and blew his nose and stuffed it back in his pocket. So I’m not unfamiliar with the concept.
Many us think there is a more modern and sanitary way to deal with our “boogers” than stuffing them in our clothing. You don’t - that’s cool. But let’s not paint the rest of us as germaphobes because of it.
My Daddy wasn’t dressed without his lily white handkerchief in his front trouser pocket. I don’t think I ever saw him use it. I am sure he did in the restroom or something.
He was kinda nasty-nice about things so you would never have seen him do anything like blow his nose or scratch in public. Just how he was.
Yes, it’s clear from the the description in the OP that the OP’r has no idea about the difference in the behavior between a snot rag and a tissue (as well as no idea how one is actually used).
since I wear glasses, I naturally carry a lint-free linen pocket handkerchief. Fortunately, since I’m an old man, I very rarely get colds anymore, not like when I was a snotty-nosed young kid.
