Those who use handkerchiefs, when/why did you start using handkerchiefs?

[Trynasneeze]

I grew up with parents who used them, so anytime I had a cold I was use them as well. 

Eventually I kind of stopped using them for quite a few years sometime while I was in college.

My fiancée (who uses them) gifted me a few for my birthday this year, and I have been using them again some times since then. 

What's your story?

[Hankyrick]

Well my mum didn't use them, she used paper towels but my dad uses handkerchiefs. Every night when we were all watching TV, he would put his handkerchief at the side of him on the chair and everytime he sneezed he blow his nose with it. 

It got me wondering about them, this was when I was maybe 15 or 16 and I'd watch when my mum would put the clothes away after washing and drying them and this included my dads hankies.

So once I'd knew where they were, I'd sneak back to the drawer to find all of his hankies and I'd select one to try and use to see what they were like and so that's when I started using them.

[Trynasneeze]

14 hours ago, Hankyrick said:

 

So once I'd knew where they were, I'd sneak back to the drawer to find all of his hankies and I'd select one to try and use to see what they were like and so that's when I started using them.

One of my sisters always used to help herself out of my dad's hanky collection. Pretty sure she still has a bunch of his she never gave back

[Hankyrick]

4 hours ago, Trynasneeze said:

One of my sisters always used to help herself out of my dad's hanky collection. Pretty sure she still has a bunch of his she never gave back

I always put my dad's in the wash basket after I used them.  Then I started buying my own 

[Hankysneeze]

My Dad had some in his drawers but never used them, I'd been fascinated by handkerchiefs all my life, and mother always made me blow my nose due to my severe allergies.

So one day I took one to use, then after that when my mother saw me use one one day she insisted I carry a hanky thereafter.

[Trynasneeze]

5 hours ago, Hankysneeze said:

My Dad had some in his drawers but never used them, I'd been fascinated by handkerchiefs all my life, and mother always made me blow my nose due to my severe allergies.

So one day I took one to use, then after that when my mother saw me use one one day she insisted I carry a hanky thereafter.

Insisted? That's strict haha. My parents only insisted (or tried to) if we had colds

[launderedlace]

As an early teenage boy, I was paying surreptitious visits to my mum's handkerchief drawer. As far as she was concerned, trimmed in lace or prettily embroidered, her handkerchiefs were then largely out of fashion and mostly stayed in the drawer for months or years at a time. It felt high risk for me to use them, as I didn't have the skills or the wherewithal to get them back into their pristine state: I might get caught! Usually, I'd do little more than unfold them, look at them and, perhaps, tuck a clean one up my sleeve for a short while before returning it to the drawer. Aged fifteen, I plucked up the courage to buy my own first handkerchief, trimmed with pink lace; even with this one, I wasn't confident enough to keep it so, after using it for a day or two, threw it away. Fifteen years later, visiting, I borrowed and openly used one of my mum's beautiful floral handkerchiefs: she was totally cool about it, and so perhaps knew all along what I'd been up to. Then again, as a teenager, I also surreptitiously tried on her aprons: we never did have a conversation about that!

[Tucked Hankie]

5 hours ago, launderedlace said:

As an early teenage boy, I was paying surreptitious visits to my mum's handkerchief drawer. As far as she was concerned, trimmed in lace or prettily embroidered, her handkerchiefs were then largely out of fashion and mostly stayed in the drawer for months or years at a time. It felt high risk for me to use them, as I didn't have the skills or the wherewithal to get them back into their pristine state: I might get caught! Usually, I'd do little more than unfold them, look at them and, perhaps, tuck a clean one up my sleeve for a short while before returning it to the drawer. Aged fifteen, I plucked up the courage to buy my own first handkerchief, trimmed with pink lace; even with this one, I wasn't confident enough to keep it so, after using it for a day or two, threw it away. Fifteen years later, visiting, I borrowed and openly used one of my mum's beautiful floral handkerchiefs: she was totally cool about it, and so perhaps knew all along what I'd been up to. Then again, as a teenager, I also surreptitiously tried on her aprons: we never did have a conversation about that!

Do you use to tuck your handkerchiefs up to your sleeve?

[launderedlace]

45 minutes ago, Tucked Hankie said:

Do you use to tuck your handkerchiefs up to your sleeve?

Nowadays, scarcely ever - they're almost always in one pocket or another. Once, when less confident, I was mortified to realise a lace handkerchief was showing at my wrist when it was either supposed to be fully tucked in or not there at all. Fortunately, if anyone else in the room noticed, they didn't say anything!!