Which is more enjoyable? Shining Shoes Vs. Ironing
Ain’t nothin’ better than a professional shoe shine or a crisply pressed shirt just back from the cleaners. But for most of us, paying a pro to shine your shoes or press your clothes is a luxury. More often than not, we’re do-it-yourselfers.
For some, there is no winner. Each is a total chore. But others seem to get an unexpected kick out of one while absolutely loathing the other. Here’s the argument for each:
The case for Shining your Shoes: It’s masculine. Less a labor of maintenance and more a labor of love. Completely like hand washing a favorite car. You get to see your shoes up close, feel and appreciate the leather, and when it’s done they look brand new.
The case for Ironing: It’s all about transforming chaos into order. Taking a shirt out of the dryer and inflicting your will upon it with a hot iron feels, smells, and sounds like you’re turning wrong into right. If you’re good enough at it, you can almost do it blind… leaving you to watch a game and enjoy a beer while pressing your clothes.
Now it’s your turn. Make your case and leave your vote in the comments section below…
And may the best chore win.
Bottom photo credit
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I hate ironing…even with a steamer, 90% of the time I rather have the iron pressed against me than me pressing an iron against clothes
I enjoy both tasks. They’re both quiet little rituals that require just enough concentration to clear my mind a bit. I’d give the edge to ironing, though.
I find shoe shining relaxing and satisfying. I hate ironing because I can never have a completely wrinkle free-shirt; ironing one section always seems to wrinkle another when I iron
I hate ironing so much it’s not even funny. Learning to mist the shirt with a water bottle has helped tremendously, though.
Ironing a shirt isn’t so bad, but ironing chinos is the worst. I can never get it perfect and always wind up with double creases. Shining shoes beats out both IMO.
could you explain the misting technique to those of us who are not familiar with it?
Hey Joe, can you possibly do a piece on ironing and shoe cleaning? I’d be interested in starting these chores, but have no idea how to go about it.
I have to agree with the collective on this one. I like shining shoes, it’s definitely a labor of love, and it always turns out better than I expect when finish, but ironing I still consider a chore. Shining > Ironing any day
Exactly what I came here to say. I love the sound a shoe brush makes and you can see your progress. With ironing all I see is more wrinkles.
I would rather shine ten shoes than iron one shirt. I always end up frustrated when ironing.
Ironing by forfeit – I only wear vegan shoes so shining is virtually absent. Been ironing my clothes since high school so it’s second nature now.
From what I’ve seen nowadays, it seems like every iron has a built in mister. I know I use mine a lot.
i enjoy doing both. but i probably enjoy ironing more. ironing will only be enjoyable if you have a good iron, if not, it will be frustrating and just a chore. also, you have to take pride in the shirts that you are ironing. if you don’t really like your shirts, its just a chore to iron them.
however, if you do have a good iron, and you have shirts you really care about… i find ironing to be great. i like to keep it to 5 shirts, and lightly over any creases in my suits. there’s something great in making your clothes fresh for the week. and when you have shirts that you enjoy wearing, you get excited like a kid before christmas to wear such a clean well-pressed shirt.
Take the time to iron a shirt thats just gonna get hidden for the most part under a blazer!? Give me that shoe shine brush…
I enjoy shining my shoes. I really don’t mind ironing either. Ironing with a Rowenta makes a huge difference.
For me, the best part about shining shoes is the fact that you only have to do it for a couple of pairs. Ironing, however, is necessary for not just shirts (at least 5 at a time) but pants as well (at least 2-3 at a time). They are both manly rituals, like washing your car, and it is definitely satisfying to do either one. But after the 3rd shirt or 2nd pair of pants, ironing gets old pretty quickly.
I have never shined my own dress shoes and thoroughly enjoy taking a stroll to Nordstrom during lunch and reading the paper for a few minutes while getting a shine for a measly $2.50 ($5.00 with tip). I dont go nearly as often as I should, but even if I did pick up the frequency the cost isnt a burden.
As for ironing, I HATED IT. Much preferred taking shirts to the cleaner. That is until my favorite cleaner was now out of the way and made it a hassle to pick up my shirts in the morning. Decided to LEARN to iron properly and efficiently. The following video has made my life so much easier. I am slowly starting to enjoy doing it, unless I am in a rush in the morning.
Follow this video and it makes it 1000x easier. I havent been able to get down to the 3 minutes per shirt he mentions in the video, but at least after 6-7 minutes my shirt looks crisp and the collar isnt creased due days of hanging on the cheap wire hangers from the cleaners.
I find shoe-shining a very calming diversion. Plus I think it’s just a good feeling to take something that is looking rather worn and make it look like new again, without much effort. In fact, I like shoe-shining so much that when I first started it as a college senior, I would make other people bring me their natty old leather shoes.
Ironing, on the other hand, seems to be a waste of time. If you are conscientious enough to promptly remove your laundry from the dryer, I think you will find that you have very little need to iron. The only thing I’ve ironed in the past few years is a cheap cotton blazer, and that was only to remove some creases that were present at the time of purchase. Even the shirts that I hang-dry don’t stay at all “wrinkly,” not enough to be noticeable under a blazer in any case.
You want some steam coming out of the iron (there’s a setting on there to adjust how much) and the moisture helps you release the wrinkles in dry cloth. Also, there’s a built in spray/mister that will help you soak down particularly stubborn wrinkles so you can in essence, iron out a real wet spot on your shirt.
As far as misting goes, I use the iron on the medium to medium hot setting with full steam, and a non aerosal spray starch: http://dappered.com/2010/08/an-unsolicited-endorsement-use-niagara-starch/ and just a few spritzes. Nothing crazy. You don’t want your shirts to look like they could stand up and walk out of the room without you in them.
Plans are for a full how to iron feature in the next couple weeks. Hope that helps!
Yup, in the works already… bottom line is: both of these take practice. LOTS of practice.
THIS! Total agreement. I still iron all my shirts though. Just starch on the front, and screw the back. Shoe shining just feels good. Ironing is a pain in the neck, literally sometimes, for me.
I neither like or dislike ironing or shining shoes; they are necessary evils. As well, my late father always told me that, “even if you are going to have someone else do a job, you should still know how to properly do it yourself… you never know where you might be.”
I’ve never learned to iron. I use a steamer, which is adequate for me. My shirts are mostly the target merona ones which have some polyester, so wrinkling isn’t too bad. Besides jeans, I mostly wear chinos. Steaming is fine for them as well, unless you have to have a crease.
You just reminded me that I need to polish my boots, though.
i tolerate ironing. i enjoy shining my shoes.
My feeling is that if you are a reader of sites like Dappered, you’re someone that understands that both of these chores are a necessity. Always dress each day like you’re going to an interview.
new transported man…..could you give me some info on and where to go for vegan dress shoes? The ones I’ve found on the world wide interweb have looked pretty cheap. I did find some made by some centuries-old English maker but I wondered if buying vegan shoes from an otherwise all leather goods maker was really in keeping with the spirit of things.
Appreciate any help you could give me…..
I’ll take shoe shining. I refuse to buy anything that’s not non-iron. I haven’t seen my dry cleaner in months and I wear a shirt and tie every day.
Yes, I will have to buy new shirts every 2 yrs, but it is worth it.
A couple years ago I started buying the Traveller, wrinkle free shirts from Jos A Bank. They are incredible. I would never go back to buying ‘regular’ 100% cotton dress shirts. They come back from the dry cleaner perfect, then you can wear one for an entire day, hang it up, and either wear it again or just run an iron over it quickly to get out any wrinkles. The list price is about $90.00 but they often have 50% off sales, and mailers with coupons that can be added on. I look for these sales to pick them up for less than $40 each. And they have ‘tailored’ (slim fit) versions as well.
A couple of months back I read a GQ piece on a shoe designer who said never to use anything but clear shoe polish, to keep from hiding the patina and character that comes with the aged leather. Anyone else heard of this or follow this practice?
I don’t mind applying leather conditioner to a jacket or shining a shoe, but there is something about ironing that makes me buy shirts that say “wrinkle free”. Most of them are not really wrinkle free, but the few that are, are better than ironing the rest. If only I could send my shirts home to my mother and pay her to do them for me… there is something about ironed shirts or sheets that just feels better than the wrinkle free variety. Oh, well my mother would probably drive out and hit me with a frying pan if tried to do something like that… Which reminds me of this time my dad bought her an anniversary gift and she tried braining him with a cast iron skillet, the gift was the cast iron skillet.
If I knew how to iron as good as I can shine my shoes, I’d love it. I’d do it twice a week like I do my shoes.
I get my dress shirts dry cleaned since it saves time. I however polish my own shoes religiously.
Apples and oranges . A shoe shine is a fluid, measured ritual, a task you can get lost in. Ironing, on the other hand, is a multifarious serious of interrelated components, variable, garment dependent and spawned by Satan.
So, should one press a crease into one’s shirt sleeves or not? Civilizations have crumbled over lesser debates. There are sleeve board out there, but I fear they’ll just be used as weapons once the conversation inevitably deteriorates into seething torrents of indiscriminate rage.
…reminds me of today’s xkcd: http://xkcd.com/909/
I just go with an out-of-the dryer OCBD and call it a day (with a tie), but I realize that’s profession-dependant. I’m looking forward to the shoe-shine tutorial; I think that’s gonna be cool.
Top tip: Use a separate mister spray. I find that I run out of water if I use the spray built-in to the iron. It also often leaves great big drips on the shirt.
I do not like ironing, although I do it. I do like shoe shining, but I’m fairly certain there’s some childhood nostalgia mixed in. My dad taught me how to shine shoes when I was a little kid. He was a military man at the time and showed me the way he’d been taught, and it became my chore every other week. He’s the one who taught me that you always use shoe trees, and that you use a shoe horn for certain shoes.
I’d rather see a wrinkled shirt than unkempt shoes.
I’m going to go against the grain on this one.
I love ironing my shirts. Maybe because since I was a kid, my dad made me in charge of laundry, including ironing his clothes as well. Now, it’s like my mental rest when I do it.
I also can’t stand when people wash my clothes now. Only I am allowed to mate my socks.
As for ironing, I am perfectly capable, but loath the task. Shoe shining, on the other hand, holds a place near and dear to my heart. I think it’s probably from when I was younger and involved in a paramilitary group (not a malitia, two different things) and took a lot of pride in my uniform appearance, especially as I rose through the ranks. Even then, though, ironing was a chore, rather than a pleasure… :-/
You can rock a rumpled shirt with spotless shoes, but wearing a pressed suit and having your shoes shined is first class.
I can iron just fine… but in the grand scheme of things shoe shining is amazing.
When I was but a young’in my parents had an antique shoe shine box like the street shoeshine boys would carry.
Nothing like pulling your shoes out and doing them right…
Gotta agree with you Joe, Ironing is all about making order from chaos, and I love it. Shoe shining sounds great but I don’t own enough nice shoes to merit it! Will work on that soon though.
I like doing both. My shoes get shined once a week. Usually on either Saturday or Sunday. And I iron the shirt I’m going to wear that morning.
If I had time I would definitely do shoe shines. I currently send them over to a shoe shining service. Ironing is my moral enemy. I rather send them to the drycleaners. It would be good if anyone can provide some good recommendations on (1) Shoe Shining Kit or Products and (2) a good iron. I have a Rowetta at home but it leaks water spots when I fill it with water. If I were to iron, I would use a mist spray instead. I also purchased a Rowetta steamer to make my ironing easier. Complete waste of my money. A hard iron is leaps and bounds better than the steamer for my dress shirts.
I enjoy them both!
Saw the tip about the “misting” your shirt to make it easier to iron – that works as well.
Here is a tip I developed from travelling (I don’t send anything to the cleaners other than, pants, suits, and sweaters), when you shirt comes out of the dryer (not dry, but still damp), spray/soak your shirt with starch (I use “heavy”) (do the collar, cuff’s, sleeves, etc), let it air dry in the bathroom/basement. The shirt will dry “hard/stiff.”
When you are ready to iron your shirt, get the iron nice and hot w/ the steam setting on, go to town, shirt will come out looking quite nice!
I do this trick w/ my khaki’s and my hankerchiefs as well.
Hands down shoe shining. I hate ironing with a passion, it takes forever, depending on the shirt it can be be next to impossible to get it right and, like making the bed, I’ll just have to do it again next time. On the other hand, I love shining my shoes. It’s manly, I like the smell and the brushes and accessories, and it’s quick, easy, and very gratifying when you buff them up.
I’ve recently got hooked on ironing. I typically iron any shirt before heading to work and it only takes me a few minutes. Honestly the only annoying part is waiting for the iron to heat up. It really brings out the color and texture of my clothes, so now I definitely recommend it. Shinning my shoes isn’t a love of mine though. I work in a pretty labor intensive environment so its kind of a pain. But when they get way to crappy, I polish up.
I have heard of this as well and have started to put this into practice for the last few months. I agree with the concept behind it. At least, until someone else proves this theory wrong…
You guys are crazy! I hate both ironing and shoe shining, and therefore I never do it. I don’t care if I end up a little rumpled looking – i actually dig that look, so there!
You aren’t supposed to eat shoes anyway you know.
I second an article on shining your shoes. Also, it should have a part in there to identify if your local shoe shiner is helping or killing you shoes.
Yep, use a separate sprayer. I even tank my pile of shirts and mist each one individually and let them sit while I iron the others. Gives it a chance to soak in a really dampen the fabric, versus just getting it misty (if that makes any sense at all). I’m with the guy that would rather iron themselves, rather than their clothes. But every so often i break down and do some ironing.
Someone should really keep this angst alive. I begrudge neither, and in fact often enjoy them. What blows my mind is how many “professional” men walk into my office with dress shirts that were apparently pulled out of a pile of clothes on the floor.
Also, it doesn’t really matter if you dig the rumpled look — the professional world doesn’t. 😉