As part of my ongoing project to buy and use less paper, I’ve decided to switch to handkerchiefs instead of tissues. I was originally inspired to make the switch by the lovely ladies at Tiny Choices, but have finally gotten fed up with the attitude from logging companies. And according to G Magazine’s Tissues vs Handkerchiefs article, by doing this I’ll also be cutting back on water waste, energy waste, and landfill at the same time.
Even when I was a kid, hankies weren’t used much compared to tissues, and now I hardly ever see any. Hankies might seem a little bit old-fashioned, but they’ve got several advantages:
- softer on your nose than paper, but stronger
- reusable instead of disposable, so there’s the 2nd of our 3 Rs: reduce, reuse, recycle
- affordable: about $4 each, so just under $50 to last me for a decade, compared to spending maybe the same amount every year on tissues
- won’t leave bits of white paper all over my clothes if I leave them in a pocket when I do my washing
- can be used as a bandage in an emergency!
I bought two the other day, and the salesgirl was surprised because she hardly ever sells any. I said that it might be the colours - there’s not a lot of cool ones to choose from, just white lace or pastels. I’d managed to find a red tartan one and a brown and pink plaid one hiding at the back, so I might have taken the last nice ones there!
Maybe they’ll make a comeback as people get to be more eco-friendly these days. I’ll be keeping an eye out for nice ones - if you see any, let me know. So far, I’ve found HankySchmanky.com.au, and a bunch of vintage ones that are lovely, but not my style.
Mind you, you could get two of the three Rs by recycling some fabric you already have and turning it into a set of hankies. Maybe if you’ve got a favourite shirt that you can’t wear anymore, but don’t want to get rid of, you could give it a new lease of life! It’d probably look cooler than the boring lace ones in the shops. I’ve just donated a bunch of clothes to charity, so I haven’t got any spare right now, but I’ll be keeping this in mind in case it’s an option later on.
I haven’t got enough yet, but the plan is to keep one in my handbag, a couple at work, and a whole stack of them at home. I’m still keeping a box of tissues in the house for guests or if I get a very bad cold. And I’m hoping we’ll find that elusive brand that uses recycled paper, although I’ve only seen it once in the places we shop. But I’m hoping to cut back on how many we buy - at the moment we’re using a whole box every few weeks! We should probably dust our house more often 
If you already do use hankies, how do you like it? Have you always used them or did you switch to them from tissues?
I LOVE hankies. I’ve always used them.
And if I buy new ones, I throw them in the wash a couple of times to soften them up. Old hankies are the best
Awesome - where did you get yours? or have you had them so long you don’t remember
i got into hankies as a poor backpacker in london in winter when i couldn’t afford tissues and i was suffering horrible london colds.
i like to put a drop of tea-tree or eucalyptus oil them too
Oh, that’s a good idea!
I’ve had mine for ages and I usually steal mums (LOL) but I think they came from a menswear store.
We like the big mens hankies