Spinoff, What's in the Queen's handbag. Your handkerchief experience?

NFLDERS

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Jan 22, 2013
We used cotton handkerchiefs as kids. I remember being grossed out as a teen learning that my father's were washed and, ironed... eek! Btw, mine were embroidered with my initials. :snooty:
 
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When my daughter was 6 or 7 she loved hankies. She even asked for some for Christmas lol

I used to say she was the only little kid in the history of the world who actually wanted hankies. She even kept them up her sleeve like a proper old lady.

She used them for sniffles only. If she needed to blow her nose, she used a Kleenex..which was up the other sleeve. We didn’t laugh in front of her but there was plenty when she wasn’t around.
 
I remember my dad using them - maybe 40 years ago. When I was young I remember getting him some for Christmas :scared:
 
My dad always had one in his back pocket and he used it for its intended purpose. When my DS24 was suffering from allergies he would carry a red bandana for the same purpose.

I did take a decorative hanky my GGM had (still new in a box), and wrap it around my wedding bouquet. It was something old.
 


I always bought my dad handkerchiefs embroidered with his initials for Christmas when I was young. I think he still uses them. I've never known anyone else who uses them though.
 
We are certainly a disposable society today. Kleenex all the way.
 
My father used them.
DH uses them.....but ends up losing them all, so I stopped buying them
My mother had lovely ones that were passed down to her from her mother. I still have some of them, but don't use them.
 


DH uses them sometimes, he has white ones and bandana type ones. I remember when I was growing up my Dad used them, when I got old enough it was my job to iron them (along with pillowcases and my own clothes each week).

My Grandmother and DH's Mom passed down some lovely delicate ladies handkerchiefs, I have several stored away.

Not sure when tissues like Kleenex came into existence, but I think for my Grandmother it was just more economical to use handkerchiefs and wash them and reuse them rather than buy tissues just to throw away. I honestly don't remember ever seeing a box of tissues anywhere in her house. Growing up we always had tissues in the bathroom and bedrooms, as I do myself now in my own home.
 
I'm in my 30's and I always have one. However, mostly for my glasses. I used to scratch up glasses using anything around, so now I carry one to clean them off. I'm not saying I never have used it to blow my nose, but it's very very rare. More than blow, I may use it to just wipe my nostril here or there, but thats even rare.
 
I actually still have my Mickey Mouse hankie from my kindergarten days in the sixties; I recall my mom washing and ironing it too. Every Mother's day we made cards in class with pretty handkerchiefs tucked inside. I do recall that when tissues first came on the scene, they pretty much shredded to pieces when you blew your nose, :laughing: but eventually they did improve, and we never looked back.
 
My dad used to carry one in his back pocket. My mom washed them, but I can’t remember if they were ironed or not, but they were always nicely folded. They were like a dark blue bandanna.
 
When my youngest was about 8 or so, she sneezed at Mass and a older gentleman gave her his hankie. She thought that was the coolest thing ever. She still has it and cherishes it.
 
My father always had one with him, a fresh one every day. He kept extras in the glove compartment of the car, in case one of us used his. We pre-washed them in the washing machine before we added the other laundry. DH and I carry a handkerchief to weddings and other more formal occasions. I pre-wash them, used or unused.
 
My DH, who is allergic to the world, carries 3 at all times. I own a few (including that small Mickey Mouse version from the 60's that I got with my First Day of School book bag), but now the kids are no longer small, I only carry them at weddings and funerals. Mine are embroidered and need to be hand-laundered, but DH's go into the washing machine. He folds them nicely and stores them in his drawer under a paperweight, but does not iron them, because starch makes them less absorbent. The kids always buy him new ones at Christmas, so the ratty ones are frequently thrown out.

My mother had us carry them to Mass and to school as children, but I was raised to blow my nose only in the privacy of the bathroom, so that's still my habit -- I use toilet tissue for that purpose.
 
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I remember seeing them in department stores as a kid. I can't even tell you how many years it's been since I've seen them in a store.
 
I remember seeing them in department stores as a kid. I can't even tell you how many years it's been since I've seen them in a store.

The only department store where I still see ladies' hankies is Sears, but most department stores still do carry men's. Dillard's and Belk tend to have the best selection of the larger chains. Otherwise it's more of a specialty-shop item.

I have to know where to find them; DH wears out about 20 each year. (Of course, I can always get them on Amazon, too -- including pretty embroidered ones. Etsy has what seems like millions of choices; all kinds of colors with monograms, and prints as well, plus lace-edged versions marketed for weddings. Hankies really are the perfect product to sell on Etsy.)
 
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