Do We Really Need To Iron Our Clothes?

My grandparents were the old-fashioned neat and tidy kind of folks. I remember my grandma used to iron everything, and I really mean everything. Not only did the clothes get pressed, but even the curtains and tablecloths also looked crisp and wrinkle-free. Back in those days, the clothes iron were much simpler too. There was no steam coming out of those irons and there was no such thing as steam burst and spray mist. She was using a heavy old fashion clothes iron but she had the passion to make sure everything got pressed.

My mom too irons. She irons all of her clothes as well as my dad’s. Even T-shirts are part of the ironing load. So are my dad’s handkerchiefs. But compared to my grandma, my mom has ignored the curtains and tablecloths. Occasionally, she will still iron the bedsheets if they look too crumpled by her standards. But at least, some things have been omitted from the list.

Now in my own household, the standards have dropped even further. I don’t iron T-shirts, least of all curtains, tablecloths, and bedsheets. I will only iron office clothes and more formal wear. Casual clothes are just folded up and put away after drying. Please don’t ask me to iron those when I want to moan comes each ironing session. I know of friends who don’t even own an iron anymore. “Do we really need to iron our clothes?”, I have been asked before when I complained that I needed to get the ironing done. So, is ironing really necessary?

Why Do We Iron Our Clothes?

Different people have different standards of what constitutes presentable. But I think it is important to iron our clothes if the occasion demands it. If you work in a more formal setting and the norm is to wear suits, then you would look out of place if you show up in wrinkled clothes. So, whether you like it or not, you will have to iron your clothes because it is part of the professional sets of standards that you will have to conform to. Similarly, if you work in high-level marketing, seeing your clients in wrinkled clothes may not inspire confidence for them to buy from you. Since being presentable is important in a work setting, that is a good reason why you should iron your clothes.

But is ironing necessary for casual clothes? Do we need to iron our T-shirts, for instance? As I said, I don’t. I think this boils down to personal preferences of what you can and cannot accept. If it is a casual setting, I don’t really care if my clothes are not ironed. I don’t think my friends and family will care if my T-shirt and jeans have a few wrinkles on them. The crux of the matter is I’m not there to impress anybody, unlike a professional setting where certain standards are expected of me due to the fact that I’m representing my company.

Should You Iron Your Clothes?

At the end of the day, there is no right or wrong answer of whether ironing is necessary. We all have different personalities with our own likes and dislikes. If wearing neatly pressed clothes is the norm in your working environment and you stubbornly resist, you just have to bear with the consequences, if any. If you are looking for a partner, but insist on wearing wrinkled clothes, you will also need to accept that you might have less chance of impressing a prospective significant other. First impression matters and that is how life works generally.

However, I also think that moderation is the key in everything that we do. Invest in the best steam iron and ironing board, but there is no need to go to the extreme either. With the hectic lifestyle that we lead today, we can’t be ironing everything the way my grandma did. I think I would go crazy if I do that. Just iron what is absolutely necessary for work and the occasional casual meetings and stop at that. People will not come to scrutinize how your pajamas look. Neither would people care if your T-shirt is wrinkled when you are shopping for groceries at the supermarket.

On top of that, it is okay to have less than perfect results when you iron. There is no need to fret over every imaginable wrinkle. As long as it looks ironed and not straight from the washer, you don’t have to worry over one or two wrinkles that appear because they are going to be there once you put on your clothes anyway. If you are really too lazy to iron, there is always a wrinkle release spray and an automatic ironer for you to try out. They may not be as good as a steam iron but at least, your clothes will still look less wrinkled and more presentable.