Can You Really Unwrinkle A Shirt Without Ironing It?

I hate ironing. I’ve had the same wrinkled shirt sitting out for half a year. So I tested all the popular hacks for getting the wrinkles out of clothing without actually ironing it. The results aren’t what I hoped for.

Wrinkle Releaser

You can spritz your clothes with a bottle of wrinkle releaser spray, and tug and smooth the wrinkles out by hand. I went overboard with the spray, and ended up with a wet, slightly wrinkled shirt that smelled like Febreze. But if I had time to let my shirt dry, I think I could rely on this method for slightly wrinkled clothes.

Books

There’s one hack that involves slapping some weights, like heavy books, on top of the wrinkled clothes. I tried it. It did nothing.

Shower steam

I’ve tried this one before: hanging my shirt in the bathroom while I take a shower. I’m pretty sure it’s worked, at least a little! But this time I was disappointed. Even after running very hot water for over 10 minutes and steaming up the bathroom, I didn’t see much change in the shirt.

Dryer and a towel

Throw your wrinkled clothes into the dryer along with a damp towel. Now we’re talking! This didn’t fix the collar and cuffs, but it got out some major wrinkles from the flat parts of the shirt. And it was still a lot easier than ironing. If you have a dryer in your home, this is a good option!

Ironing

I don’t really care that much if there are some wrinkles in the flat part of a shirt. It’s the collar, cuffs and button line that really bother me. And none of the “hacks” smoothed them out. So I finally gave in and ironed the shirt.

I was right to dread it! Ironing the detailed parts of a shirt is a pain in the arse. You just have to turn on a podcast and suffer through it.

Things would have gone better if I’d learned how to properly iron a shirt. That wasn’t my mission today — my mission was to not iron! And even with a proper method and a podcast to entertain me, it’s still a boring chore.

Sorry to admit it, but next time I might pay someone else to press my shirts. That’s the only reliable way to avoid ironing.