Proper care for dress shirts

Any tips/suggestions/links that you guys can point me to? I just received 6 dress shirts from neiman marcus (last call website, $30-36/shirt), and I want to make sure I take good care of them.


From what I have gathered so far, wash in cold water, gentle cycle, air dry, iron asap. What am I missing? What do you guys do that work? How often do you wash (every wear, every 2-3rd wear?)


What about keeping the collar clean? My collars tend to get stained (esp with white shirts)


Thanks, and happy 2012!

[jason_carreira]

I get mine laundered every 3 or so wears... $2.50 / shirt is worth it to me to not have to iron or deal with it

[OnlyShawn]

Note: laundered, not dry cleaned.


Used motor oil also makes a great prewash treatment.

[Chareth]

Wow, you guys wear your shirts more than once? I'm impressed. No way I could do that, simply from the collar stains alone for me.


I drop them off at the dry cleaners to be laundered and pressed after each wear. No ironing or scrubbing collars/cuffs. And they replace buttons that fall off (or that they crack during pressing -- if you have nice buttons on your shirts, you probably want to wash/iron it yourself).


If you're really planning on cleaning/ironing yourself, get a nice Rowenta iron. It produces a shit-ton of steam and makes ironing as easy as it can be at home (which is still not very fun for people without OCD). Also, get a brush and some OxyClean for your collars/cuffs.

[Tat]

I get my laundered every 2-3 as well. Weekly coupons put men's dress shirts at 1.25each...too cheap for my time sorry!

[LesserBlackDog]

I wash cold, delicate, and hang to try. I don't often bother with ironing unless the collar or upper part of the shirt is wrinkled - I never wear a dress shirt without a jacket on top so no one will see the body or sleeves, and I prefer a bit of rumple in my casual shirts.


Tumbling your shirts on very low heat can also save you the bother of ironing as long as you remove them promptly and hang them up.

[Acousticfoodie]

For collar stains use shout advance. This thing has saved my clothes from heavy amount of grease, dirt, and blood. Leaves it looking brand new.