There’s nothing worse than going to a meeting or an evening meal knowing that your shirt is creased and wrinkled. Ironing is something many of us put off, for understandable reasons, but it’s also a common chore with a whole lot more solutions than you may think. To help you take your pick, we’ll be covering hand irons, clothes steamers, professional services, and automatic solutions, to name just a few.
A traditional hand iron offers lots of control
If you’re experienced with a hand iron and you have the time, it’s something you will take in your stride. The traditional approach has the advantage of giving you a high level of control, provided you have mastered the technique, and it’s also highly portable if you’re travelling and staying in hotels with something like the Russell Hobbs Steam Glide. On the downside, it uses up your time, and you have to hang the shirt up immediately afterwards to avoid rewrinkling it. You also have to make sure you regularly clean your iron so that it doesn’t mark your shirt. If you are pushed for time or short on hanging space, it’s natural to start thinking about an alternative solution.
A handheld clothes steamer
Steaming a shirt is a proven way to get stubborn creases and persistent wrinkles out of the way. The latest handheld devices, such as the Tefal AeroSteam and the Easy Store from Russell Hobbs, are designed to be lightweight and highly ergonomic, giving a good level of comfort and control while in use. They also allow you to target specific areas of a shirt that may need extra attention, such as the buttons on the front of the shirt and on the cuffs. Traditional irons will melt or crack them if they come into contact with them, according to expert Mary Marlowe Leverette, writing for The Spruce. But a steamer will simply glide through the air with no issues. The downside is that, if you have a lot of shirts to iron quickly, you may find that the manual element uses up too much time.
Industrial laundry presses
Spending a little extra money and getting your shirts pressed and ironed in bulk by a professional is something you may want to consider. The real benefit here is that you won’t have to do anything other than arrange the pickup and drop-off. The downside is that these types of services primarily focus on doing large loads of bedding for establishments like hotels and holiday resorts, or tablecloths for large restaurants. You may find that it is hard to find a quick and reliable service that also offers value for money if you only need a dozen shirts ironed.
The automatic ironing machine
This automatic solution uses specialist technology to take care of ironing quietly in the background, adding time back into your day in the process. The shirt fits over an inflatable hanging frame, which then expands to fill it. According to manufacturer-stated features, such as Ironele’s product specifications produced by the design team at Ironele, they have integrated a variety of low-temperature settings, a selectable timer, and an expanding system that covers virtually all clothes sizes for maximum flexibility, so that you don’t have to worry about your traditional ironing technique.
And because steam does the work and there is no hot soleplate in use, you can eliminate the risk of scorching or leaving shiny spots. This is the case for all shirt fabrics, and it is particularly good to know if you are ironing an expensive shirt that is made from a very delicate fabric, such as silk.
Hiring an outsourced maid service
Every good hotel will be able to offer a maid service as part of its overall room service package. Having a couple of shirts returned to you wrinkle-free in under 30 minutes is typical, but you will normally have to pay a premium. If you are at home rather than away on your travels, there will probably be a housework and laundry service in your local area. The only issue with these types of services is that they may not be the best solution if you are in a hurry and need the shirt right there and then.
Some people even use the shower technique
While we wouldn’t recommend it, there are still a small number of people who swear by the so-called shower technique that relies on steam in the bathroom. The idea is that you hang the shirt in the bathroom, close the door to keep the steam in, and have a hot shower. In principle, the steam should soften the fibres in the shirt, and the weight of the hanging shirt should pull it down so that it is free from creases. This may sound good on paper, but it’s a technique that will give inconsistent results. You will also find that it does little or nothing to help with more stubborn wrinkles.
Now that we’ve given you our thoughts on the top solutions to iron shirts fast, it’s over to you to see if you want to change the way you do things. You never know, you might just have found a simpler, more reliable, and stress-free way to make sure your shirts are wrinkle-free without delay.
