In the old days, I used to drop my shirts off at the cleaners, medium starch on hangers. I loved the way they would come back all crispy and flat, and a little bit stiff. The way the back pleat would "crack" when I put the shirt on was the best. But that was in the days before children and full blast adulthood, when I had a tiny bit of disposable income. These days, I wash and iron my own shirts. Money aside, with two children in the house I do about 200 loads of laundry a week. Sending the shirts out is extravagant. What's one more load? I still like 'em crisp and bright, though.
Niagara Original Spray Starch may be an old lady product, but it does the trick. While it doesn't give me the stiff and crispy shirt of yore, it does allow me to press the collar, placket, cuffs and back pleat of my shirts super flat, while leaving the rest of the shirt relatively soft, yet neat. At $1.99, it costs as much as the commercial laundering of one shirt. I'll take it. Besides, a man should know how to press his own clothes. Sometimes, the experience can be mildly therapeutic. It forces you to slow down a bit, and there's nothing quite like putting on a warm, freshly ironed shirt on a chilly morning. You'll see.
I just found
Mrs. Stewart's concentrated liquid bluing today at the supermarket. I washed a load of white and blue shirts, and added a quart of cold water with a few drops of bluing to the wash. The whites are gleaming. I'd be leery of using this stuff too often, maybe every fourth or fifth wash, and sparingly. But I'll be damned if it didn't give me a "like new" brightness, without the poison that is bleach. At $1.99, this bottle will likely last me more than a year.
My routine is to wash the dress shirts separately, then hang them to dry on hangers with the top button closed on the shower curtain pole in the bathroom. I hang them wrinkled in the closet, and press them one by one just before wear. Ironing a bunch at once is pointless, since they tend to get wrinkled in the closet anyway. In a pinch, when a stiff starched shirt is not required, I'll throw a soft oxford in the drier alone for five minutes to knock the wrinkles out of it. It's a perfect quick fix if you're wearing jeans, or even with khakis, a knit tie and a comfy old blazer or sweater.
Wash your own clothes.
