Wipe that brow
Mar. 27th, 2010 03:29 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
threemonkeysI bought a package of handkerchiefs yesterday. They aren't uncommon things - I think most menswear stores carry them. As do places like the Warehouse or even PaknSave. That would indicate that they are still everyday items. However I don't really think of them as everyday anymore and that is because of tissues. I don't think anybody blows their nose with a handkerchief these days - nobody wants to carry snot around with them.
I do think though that handkerchiefs still have their place. A single re-usable hankie is much more portable than a box of tissues. Even one of those little travel packs of 10 tissues - useful things to keep in the notebook bag or the car. And a handkerchief has lots of utility value that a tissue doesn't have. I've seen plenty of things tied up with a hankie because there wasn't a bit if string close by. And in a minor accident they are better at staunching blood than a tissue.
But it in the area of sweat that I find that the humble handkerchief really comes into its own. The lunchtime walk often has me perspiring by the end of it. Mopping my forehead with my easily carried handkerchief is essential to comfort. Try wiping your face with a tissue and you will have little bits of paper all over yourself - especially if you drag the tissue over a half day facial hair growth. Even using the more efficient blotting motion, it still isn't satisfactory.
Of course, there is also the whole re-usable thing. At the end of the day, it goes into the laundry pile and after a wash is ready for action again. I bet you all know what happens when you put a tissue in the wash.
I do think though that handkerchiefs still have their place. A single re-usable hankie is much more portable than a box of tissues. Even one of those little travel packs of 10 tissues - useful things to keep in the notebook bag or the car. And a handkerchief has lots of utility value that a tissue doesn't have. I've seen plenty of things tied up with a hankie because there wasn't a bit if string close by. And in a minor accident they are better at staunching blood than a tissue.
But it in the area of sweat that I find that the humble handkerchief really comes into its own. The lunchtime walk often has me perspiring by the end of it. Mopping my forehead with my easily carried handkerchief is essential to comfort. Try wiping your face with a tissue and you will have little bits of paper all over yourself - especially if you drag the tissue over a half day facial hair growth. Even using the more efficient blotting motion, it still isn't satisfactory.
Of course, there is also the whole re-usable thing. At the end of the day, it goes into the laundry pile and after a wash is ready for action again. I bet you all know what happens when you put a tissue in the wash.