Few things ruins a good impression faster than a creased shirt. Bad breath, maybe. A limp handshake. Remnants of the morning’s breakfast hiding in your beard . That’s the scale we’re talking about. And once you’re out and about in the world wearing your unironed eyesore, there’s nothing you can do to hide it.

Shirts are an ever-present in any man’s wardrobe – you need them for work, play and every dress code that doesn’t involve swim shorts. So a proper ironing routine is the only way to do them justice. Because if you don’t iron your work shirts, for example, you might as well be wearing the onesie you sweated your hangover into on Sunday. No matter how good the rest of your outfit is, if your shirt is a crumpled mess, the impression you give is exactly the same.

That said, ironing isn’t quite as easy as your mum made it look. It’s a practice-makes-perfect kind of thing, and there’s a lot to consider if you want to do the job properly (and get it done in under 45 minutes). So here’s how to iron a shirt like a pro, to save yourself time, money and embarrassment.

Buying An Iron

Not as simple a task as it sounds – there’s a lot to look for when buying an iron. It all depends on what materials you’ll be ironing, how often you’ll be using it, and how big your ironing pile is.

Steam irons are the most popular type of iron. They apply steam onto a garment when ironing, to moisten and relax the fabric fibres, making it easier for the iron to remove any creases. As a general rule, better irons will have a higher steam output.

You’ll need an iron with a well built soleplate – which, in layman’s terms, is the iron’s face. Just to make things a little confusing, though, there are five different types of faces. First, there’s aluminium faces, which heat up well but can scratch quite easily. Then there’s non-stick, palladium or stainless steel, which will all glide across your clothes more smoothly. The last is ceramic, which glides and distributes heat well, and is quite hard-wearing.