First, for anyone who saw the title of this post and immediately wanted to respond with “give it to a woman“… you’re a predictable, mouth breathing bore. Second, there’s no real “right” way to iron a shirt. But here’s one way that’s not overly fussy, will have you looking good, and won’t take up too much time.

Step 1: Prepare your Workspace + Iron

• Make sure the floor is clean. If it’s not, your shirt sleeves might graze the floor and pick up stray pet hair, cheeto debris, or spilled beer.
• Turn on a podcast or put something on TV that doesn’t require constant visual attention. Watching sports or a movie you’ve never seen before will be too distracting, and you’ll end up burning yourself and/or scorching your shirt.
• Fill your iron’s water reservoir. You’d be surprised how many guys don’t know that steam is crucial to ironing.

You need steam. And steam, wait for it, requires water.

Step 2: Assume the Position

• For right handed people: Position the ironing board with the point to your left. If you’re a southpaw, the point goes to the right.

The view of a right-handed ironer.

Step 3: Plug in, turn Heat to proper temp, and get Steam going

• Most irons have two dials and two buttons (we’ll get to the buttons in a second). For most cotton dress shirts, you want pretty high heat and a good amount of steam being pumped out (but read the tag just to be sure). You may have to wait a little while before the steam starts coming out of the holes in the plate on its own.

Left: The Steam adjuster. Right: The temperature dial.
These settings show a high steam / hot iron.

Step 4: Position the Shirt

• Once the iron is hot and steamy (aw yeah,) you’re ready to start. Tension is your friend here. Put the point of the ironing-board up and into the left shoulder of your shirt, pulling it tight so it’s as flat as possible against the board. Again, this is for right handed people. Lefties will start on the right shoulder/side of the shirt.

How a righty sets up to start ironing.
Once a section of the shirt-body is done, pull (roll) the body towards you, to expose the next section.
Kinda like you’re taking a piece of paper towel (or TP) off a roll, but with both hands.

Step 5: Start Ironing

• I don’t know who originally said this, but ironing is a lot like sex. Start out slow with less pressure, then ramp up the intensity as you go. This crescendo-ing just isn’t possible with a garment steamer, since there’s no touching/pressure between the garment and the apparatus. And really, what kind of weird sex is that?
• Some parts of the shirt get ironed before the others. You know the old saying “you can’t push a rope?” Right. Same goes for a shirt. So the order that I use/suggest, involves pulling the shirt towards you, over the ironing board, once each section has been completed and you’re ready to move on to the next. Done with section #1, the left front of the shirt? Pull that section towards you, over the board, and expose the back left, section #2.

Again, this is for right handed people.
Lefties would start with the right front (with buttons) instead of the left, before moving onto the back.

Step 6: Use that Steam Blast Button!

• Remember those two buttons that most irons have? Right. One of them is incredibly useful, yet shockingly underused by most.
• The steam blast button is like hitting the power punch/turbo speed button in a video game. Feel free to use it liberally, and especially on stubborn wrinkles.

Ironing. JUST like a video game. Right?

Step 7: Use your “Undo” Button, AKA, the Water Sprayer

• If you accidentally iron in a wrinkle or crease? Don’t panic. Use the water sprayer function to wet down that portion of the shirt.
• Smooth out and iron over that wet spot. The wrinkle/crease should disappear.

Don’t panic.

Wet the crease down.

Smooth out then iron over the wet spot. Crease will disappear.

Step 8: Sleeves & Cuffs

• The body of the shirt is the easy part. Sleeves can be a bit tricky.
• For right handed people, smooth and spread the sleeve out with the pit draped over the edge of the board’s point.
• Hold the cuff with your right hand, and with the weight of the shirt providing tension, hanging off the point, iron the sleeve.
• Once the sleeve is done, I’ll often put the cuff hole over the button, press the iron down quickly, and give it a steam blast. Just to set the shape.

Smooth out that sleeve, using the seam at the bottom as a guide.

Tension is your friend

Step 9: The Collar

• I like to give my collars a little shape by using the point of the board. This looks pretty good if you go sans-tie a lot.
• It’s a six step process, with the collar being broken up into thirds (section #10, #11, and #12 here)
• Position the back of the collar, over the board, dead center. Give it a quick steam blast. Then move onto each front section/point of the collar, and do the same.

Giving the collar some shape by steam blasting the back, right front, and left front.

Step 10: Hang it on a Decent Hanger, Button the top button.

• That’s it. You’re done. Total time it usually takes me, per shirt = 2 minutes 45 seconds.

Thus endeth the most exciting post in the history of the internet.

BONUS FINAL TIPS: Perfection is the enemy of good. It doesn’t have to be glass smooth. The front is more important than the back, especially if you wear sportcoats, suits, and/or blazers. Take the collar stays out when ironing (not to mention washing/drying). Make sure you use the “self clean” function on your iron every few weeks. Last thing you want is to stain a favorite shirt with gross brown or yellow water. Never try to iron something while you’re actually wearing it. Read the instructions for your iron and the care instructions on your shirt. 

Black & Decker Iron – $33.34 | Shirt by ratio/clothing – $98.00

Originally Published 8/15/11. NOTE: I, personally, no longer use starch. I found that over time, I got better at ironing and didn’t need the starch to make the shirts as crisp & wrinkle free anymore. Your results may vary. If you do choose to use starch, just go easy.

Too many men get thrown out into the world without a single lesson on how to take care of their clothes.  If doing a load of laundry is like pumping gas, then ironing is like changing your oil.  It’s not easy at first, but once you get the hang of it, you’ll be able to do it in your sleep. 

The following is a 9-step guide and nothing more.  Those who already know how to iron well will have their own system, and those that don’t will develop one over time.  Try not to burn your place down.

Step 1:  The Setup – First things first.  Open a beer.

No reason that this can’t be at least a little enjoyable.  Pilsners and Lagers seem to go best with outdoor manual labor.  Beers that lean malty like ESBs or Reds seem to work better for the indoor chores.  Bridgeport Kingpin out of Portland is great if you can get your hands on it.  Bitch Creek from Grand Teton is a winner too.  Sam Adams Octoberfest gets the job done and is everywhere.  Oh, and you’ll need an ironing board, an iron, and light starch.

Step 2:  Prepping the Iron – You’re gonna need steam.

Pretty sure I lived on my own for at least two years before I realized that steam was a huge key to ironing.  Heat and only heat just doesn’t work.  Dumb?  Absolutely.  But no one has ever accused me of being a Rocket Surgeon.  Guaranteed others have made that mistake.  Tap water is ok, but if you have access to cheap distilled water or a Brita filter, use that to cut down on the risk of rust/calcium build up.  Once it’s filled, plug it in, turn it on, and let it heat up.

Step 3:  The Entertainment – Baseball, a favorite DVD, or something else…

A lot of us can’t stand ironing.  So along with the beer, throw in one of your favorite movies, turn on a ball game, or listen to a podcast.  You want something that you only have to pay attention to marginally.  Your concentration will be on the ironing job, but, you still want an environment that’s somewhat fun and relaxing.

Step 4:  Assume the position – The board’s point goes to your non dominant hand side.

Are you right handed?  The point should be on your left.  If you’re a southpaw, flip that around.  You’re going to want your dominant hand working the iron while threading the armpit of your shirts / crotch of your pants on the point.  Pulling the garment taught against the point will give you a flat surface to press, and having the iron on your right side (if right handed) gives you a place to put it that’s not covered by the shirt or pants.  Plus, you can manipulate the iron more easily by not working away from your body, but across it.  It’s like throwing a baseball or football.

Step 5:  Turning knobs, pushing buttons – Pick your temp setting and turn your steam up

Most cotton garments can handle medium to medium high heat.  Read those labels.  Find your steam control knob and turn it up.  The steam blast button is like a spin move in Madden.  It’s your turbo boost.  You become Bo, the wrinkles are a Tecmo Bowl defense.  Use it at your discretion.  The water jet is for mistakes.  More on that later…

Step 6:  Ironing – Manipulating the garment and using starch

Try and smooth out the wrinkles with your hand first to get a good flat surface.  You’ll develop (or have already developed) your own order on how you attack a shirt, but here’s just one example on how to do it:

1. Left Front Half (without buttons) – Use a few light spritzes of starch
2. Left Back – I skip the starch.  This is one advantage of always wearing a blazer or sportcoat
3. Right Back – The shirt is being rotated around the board like a pig on a spit
4. Right Front Half (with buttons) – A few more light spritzes of starch
5. Right Back Sleeve – Smoothing out the wrinkles on sleeves takes practice.  Starch can help.
6. Right Front Sleeve – You might find that you’ve ironed in creases here.
7. Left Back Sleeve – Same as #5
8. Left Front Sleeve – Same as #6
9. The collar – Flare it out or keep it folded.  Up to you.  I’ll often do the collar in thirds to set the shape.

Step 7:  Getting out an ironed in crease – Using the water jet as an eraser

One of the biggest pains is not getting part of a garment smoothed out correctly, and then accidentally ironing in a crease or wrinkle.  It happens, but the water jet button allows you to shoot a stream of water on your mistake which will soak it through, and then iron over it to dry and press that wrinkle out.

Step 8:  Choosing the Right Hanger – Or, avoiding the return of wrinkles

For shirts, a good plastic hanger will do.  Button the top one or two buttons.  Pants need a pants hanger (one of those cardboard covered wire hangers is fine.)  As soon as you’re done ironing it, hang it up.  The last thing you want is to re-wrinkle your stuff.

Step 9:  The Cleanup – Time to dock this showboat

Most irons come with auto off features because, well, nobody likes a burned down house (unless you’re running some insurance scam.)  Turn your iron off, unplug it, and set it somewhere steady and safe to cool.  Put your ironing board away and hang your shirts in the closet.  You’d be surprised how long an ironing board can sit out if you you don’t do this right away.  Wipe hands on pants.  Look around and admire your handiwork.  Consider another beer.
.

Final Thoughts and Tips:

• Don’t try to iron your blazers and sportcoats.  Take them to a dry cleaner or invest in a steamer.
• Read your labels.  Don’t go high heat on a piece of clothing that can only handle medium.
• Starch really is a miracle worker.  Heat-only is a unicycle.  Steam is a sports sedan.  Starch is a Ferrari.
• Try and get in the habit of ironing right after your clothes come out of the dryer.  Set in wrinkles are tough.
• Iron shown is a Black & Decker that gets killed in the online reviews, but I’ve had zero trouble with it.

Have any additional tips or questions?  Those all go in the comments section.  Here’s to wrinkle free…

Niagara Non Aerosol Spray Starch – $11.91

Here’s the ironing evolutionary process that almost all men go through, with the 4th level a Nirvana of smoothness that is rarely attained:

1. Who cares?  I’ll wear it wrinkled.
2. Fine, I guess I should run a hot Iron over it.
3. What’s this steam button do?  Holy sh*t that makes it a lot easier!
4. With some light starch, I can make my shirts look better than the dry cleaner.

Starch in the wrong hands can be an awful thing.  But if you know how to use it (lightly, with the steam on the iron at full blast) your shirts will press easier, look better, and stay smoother deeper into the day.  You don’t want to starch your shirts so heavy that they take on a texture similar to particle board, just one or two solid spritzes per region should do.

Don’t skimp on the brand of your bottle either.  Niagara spray starch in the non aerosol pump bottle is affordable top shelf stuff.  It works great, smells fresh, and the pistol grip pump bottle is much easier to operate than a clunky aerosol can.

Almost nobody likes to iron.  I only know one guy who actually likes the process of turning wrinkled shirts into pressed pieces of apparel art.  But for those of us who just see it as a chore?  Niagara spray starch will make that annoying chore much easier.