Handkerchiefs.

I have loads, inherited from my parents. Very few pretty lacy ones,most of them sensible men's hankies. I have cut them up and used them for dolls' clothes, linings for little bags and pouches, and the lacy ones are about to be transformed into lavender bags.

For my own nose I use tissues but I'm lucky enough not to need them very often.

We both use cotton hankies for preference, tissues when colds strike.

I remember the days of first soaking handkerchiefs in salt water, then rising, followed by boiling in a large saucepan, kept specially for that purpose.

My OH is an engineer and I keep reminding him that his handkerchief is not for wiping oil off things - forever buying new ones and adding the stained ones to his rag bag but he never gets an old one out. Think I will just give up.

More or less the same answers from everyone, including me. I wonder how old you have to be to have never had or used one?

There is a post on Facebook about the pretty hankies we used to get as children especially at Christmas. It’s surprising how many of us still gave them tucked away! Not that I’d blow my nose on “Jack and Jill” anymore!

I use both. My eyes are forever watering and I discovered that using a tissue to blot them often left a filament in my eye which made them water all the more! So I now use nice hankies for my eyes, and tissues for my nose.

Balsam tissues for a cold, otherwise I use proper handkerchiefs I’ve inherited from DH and my Mum. Oddly enough DGS2 who is 4 insists on a small cotton hanky in his trouser pocket for school.

I have a large cotton hanky under my pillow, sprinkled with drops of Olbas oil or lavender oil.

As a child I often had a rolled hanky tied around my knee after falling over.

My eyes stream when I’m outstretched dr in cold weather and a hanky is much easier than a pocket full of soggy tissues. They go in the wash with towels and a hot iron is good enough.

That should read “out with the dogs”!

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I still have my handkerchief case, full of pretty handkies.

I use both, but just love hankies. I buy from a lady on Etsy who makes hankies from Liberty fabrics, they make lovely little gifts too.

I always use tissues but DH uses cotton hankies. He has a sinus problem, so tissues wouldn't cope at all.

M0nica

I hate, and have always, hated paper tissues they are insubstantial and useless if you have a bad cold. I use kitchen towel. It can withstand the runniest cold and if you pop a few in a pocket or up a sleep to access when required it is not reduced to a useless shred of crumpled tissue paper when you dive into your pocket or sleeve to use it.

I have a beautiful hanky case, full of the handkerchiefs the OP describes. It lives quietly at the back of my undie drawer, has done for years and will until my descendants are clearing my house.

Kitchen towel? doesn’t it make your nose very sore? When we have colds it’s Kleenex Balsam for us.

I use them and so does my mum, cousin and many friends. Most men l know, including my husband, also use them. I have bought many unused vintage boxed sets of handkerchiefs from eBay and Vinted and, once washed, they are lovely to use. Those from the eighties and earlier are generally much better quality, too. As long as they are washed on a hot wash, they are hygienic and much greener and less wasteful than tissues. I have very bad hayfever in my spring and summer months and am prone to allergies in general. In addition to this I also have very sensitive, eczema prone skin and find tissues exacerbate this. Tissues also disintegrate with one sneeze for me.

My late DH always had a clean cotton hanky every day, washed and ironed b6 yours truly. I use tissues.

My husband, has and always has had a multitude of white cotton handkerchiefs, therefore so do I, what's his is mine, I believe that's how it works!

My OH uses cotton hankies and my teenager has some, which she uses now and again nowadays although she loved them when little!

I use hankies when I have a cold as I find them more substantial than a tissue . My DH is also a hankie user . My mother has rhinitis and uses tissues . I do her laundry and have to check pockets and sleeves for stray tissues . Weirdly any missed tissues are always in a dark wash 😩.

I remember getting embroidered cotton hankies in a box usually at Christmas time. There was no alternative then so it was accepted practise to use them. I know some people still prefer to use cotton hankies for whatever reason.

The thought of blowing your nose putting the cotton hankie in a pocket or sleeve then in the washing machine is totally gross. There is a reason why paper tissues came out they are cleaner more hygienic and convenient.

I use cotton handkerchiefs as I have perpetual rhinitis and would use a box of tissues a day.
I can't even use dainty lady's ones, I am using DH'S which thankfully I did not bin when he died.
Washing is not a problem and they get ironed on the hottest setting.

Slightly off piste, but I remember going into Harrods with my DM in the 1960s to buy embroidered hankies for my Aunts. They were individually selected, then the assistant took them behind a curtain to be freshly ironed and folded before being wrapped separately in tissue and a bag! The hankies were very expensive and so they only received one each!

I haven’t use handkerchiefs in years. I have one beautiful, cotton embroidered one which a rather elderly student gave me years ago. She died years ago and I have kept it as a memory. It is always paper tissues for me. However, OH uses cotton ones. He launders them himself at 90 degrees, but doesn’t iron them. We do our own ironing.

I use cotton hankies most of the time but also have a box of tissues handy, they’re not as easy to find these days!
aldom that’s a pretty hankie holder!

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I only now only use tissues but my husband insists on using cotton handkerchiefs.

I do insist on him using tissues though when he has a heavy cold, and to flush them away. If it's serious enough to confine him to bed then he has to have a small plastic sandwich bag (Tesco) next to him for his debris. When full the bag is tied and binned.
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