Why Are Guys So Afraid of Irons?

[77Pat]

For me, I live in a studio apartment, with one diagonal closet. I would love to invest in a quality ironing board, but have no where to store it. Right now I have a fold out ironing board on the back of the closet door. Works for touch ups, but don't want to be standing over it for any length of time. I have a wash and fold
pickup/delivery place that will take shirts and launder them (not dry clean), and find it to be worth it.

[Hebrew Barrister]

I prefer non-iron shirts only from the standpoint that they stay looking nicer throughout the day. I don't mind ironing.

This. I iron my non-iron shirts anyway.

The exception is OCBD. OCBD needs to be non iron for comfort.

[PureAndy]

I used to iron every day. Then with kids I sort of lost the extra few minutes each morning. So now, when intentional and time allows.

[Slubby Linen]

Pure water is neither an acid nor a base (or is both), but is highly reactive.

As a practical matter you'll never encounter water as pure as what you're talking about.

The distilled water you get at the grocery store is nowhere near pure enough to be "hungry" to dissolve stuff like the "ultra pure water" (UPW which is a stringently defined category of water) found in laboratories and specialized industrial processes.

BTW, here's an interesting quote from wikipedia on steam irons and distilled water:

Most manufacturers now say that distilled water is unnecessary in their irons, and can also cause malfunction, including spitting and leaking during use. Distilled water is capable of being heated beyond the normal boiling point due to absence of dissolved impurities which provide nucleating points at the normal boiling point. It has been suggested that this superheated (distilled) water in an iron will flash boil when disturbed (as with moving an iron), and cause the iron to spit, leak, and possibly scald the user.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Distilled_water

This makes me think that the industry trend towards recommending tap water instead of distilled water is probably driven by marketing departments rather than engineering. Distilled water is pure enough that it can be superheated which can lead to spontaneous flash boiling which causes spitting and leaking. The marketing guys don't want Amazon reviews saying their irons suck because they spit and leak so they're overriding engineering's preference for distilled water.

[Shade]

As a practical matter you'll never encounter water as pure as what you're talking about.

The distilled water you get at the grocery store is nowhere near pure enough to be "hungry" to dissolve stuff like the "ultra pure water" (UPW which is a stringently defined category of water) found in laboratories and specialized industrial processes.

BTW, here's an interesting quote from wikipedia on steam irons and distilled water:

Most manufacturers now say that distilled water is unnecessary in their irons, and can also cause malfunction, including spitting and leaking during use. Distilled water is capable of being heated beyond the normal boiling point due to absence of dissolved impurities which provide nucleating points at the normal boiling point. It has been suggested that this superheated (distilled) water in an iron will flash boil when disturbed (as with moving an iron), and cause the iron to spit, leak, and possibly scald the user.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Distilled_water

This makes me think that the industry trend towards recommending tap water instead of distilled water is probably driven by marketing departments rather than engineering. Distilled water is pure enough that it can be superheated which can lead to spontaneous flash boiling which causes spitting and leaking. The marketing guys don't want Amazon reviews saying their irons suck because they spit and leak so they're overriding engineering's preference for distilled water.

[Slubby Linen]

Ha! I know this all sounds nerdy as hell but I'm really just trying to get a handle on this water situation...

[mochi123]

My entire wardrobe is about 98% need-to-iron ocbd at this point. I can say that now, non-iron shirts are not my thing, having semi sensitive skin, and loving the feeling of a nice starched oxford, and the trad collar roll of a good stiff button down collar.


the non-iron trick is definitely a trade off, but its a VERY VERY neat time saving trade-off. it's very easy to say why people like it. it's 3 hours back in your schedule, or you don't have to go by the dry cleaner anymore for weekly dress shirt cleaning.

good ones work really well. even if they're not for me, i know exactly why people are enthusiastic about them. they're awesome.

Definitely this, and often times, it's hard to even find a proper dress shirt that is not non-iron from mainstream brands.

[joekono]

Amen to that! I HATE IRONING but it's a must. Even non-iron shirts seem to need a touch up. I do have a portable steamer now which helps but I have come to the conclusion that ironing will be part of my life til the day I die.