Washing cloth hankies
#4: How should I wash cloth hankies?
Like I said, everyone in my household uses hankies, and despite the husband being immunosuppressed, using hankies has never been a problem, healthwise.
The above poster, a public health poster, no less, advises the British to use a handkerchief instead of simply dispersing their water droplets everywhere when coughing and sneezing. It was probably created between 1939 and 1945, to "keep the nation fighting fit". (See source.)
I simply throw my used hankies into a standard wash in a bog-standard washing machine. With the current concern to reduce our carbon footprint, we have been using a 30-degree wash instead of 40-degree. We do not own a tumble-dryer. Once hankies are dried I iron them with the rest of the laundry.
Note that most of the time our hankies are for wiping away perspiration or food remnants from our faces and hands, not to catch snot, as such.
Husband's hankies are collected in a bag until there is enough sunshine to power our solar panels and for him to do a high temperature wash. They are dried naturally and then folded up. He does not even bother with ironing.
Son's hankies goes in an ordinary eco-wash. He does not iron anything (!!).
Extra-snotty hankies. Ah! Allow me to be completely honest and truthful here.
During hayfever season or when I have a severe cold, my hankies are soaked with snot. I soak the really snotty hankies in hand-hot water in the sink. The dried-up snot floats away. Chuck out the water. Rinse again if you must. Hankies go in the wash. You can skip the soaking step. The hankies will still come out sanitized by a wash, but you might see some dark stains.
Covid-19. We all had Covid-19. We continued to use cloth hankies. We did not suffer worse than other people we know. In fact, we have not caught Covid twice as most of our friends had. We cannot be sure whether these friends use hankies or tissue paper.
#1: Are handkerchiefs more hygienic/sanitary than tissues?
#2: How many hankies do you need?
#3: Why I’m not using a cloth hankie again [click here]
#5: How do I use cloth hankies?
#6: Hankies in the creative sector
(More questions and answers to follow soon. Please be patient.)
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