Steam Clothes in Shower to Avoid Ironing

Jeremy B

5 years ago

Steam Clothes in Shower to Avoid Ironing

Ironing stinks! It’s simply not fun and many of us dread the thought of having to do it. Instead of ironing, learn a secret trick you can use to steam clothes in a shower to avoid ironing altogether. This great trick works at home and while traveling (by using your hotel shower to drewrinkle your clothes).

Welcome to Travel Tip Tuesday (this is Travel Tip Tuesday #22). Each Tuesday we offer a new travel tip designed to help you travel a little smarter. You can read all of the preceding Travel Tip Tuesday’s here

Steam Clothes in Shower to Avoid Ironing

When traveling, you can use your hotel shower to help get wrinkles out of your clothes and keep that annoying iron in the closet. As noted in the intro there’s an old trick some of us savvy travelers use from time to time do deal with the wrinkles. By the way, this trick works just a well at home so feel free to use it even if you are not traveling.

Rather than pull out that janky old hotel room iron you can simply turn on your shower – full heat – and then hang your clothing item in the bathroom. Usually there is a towel hook you can hang the item from or if necessary you can use the shower rod (be careful here though as it could potentially let your clothing items get wet which is NOT what you really want here).

Worst case, you can hang it from the sink counter. Once hung, shut the door and let the steam do the trick.

Usually in about 10-20 minutes the wrinkles will be gone.

This trick does not work very well on stubborn or deep wrinkles which makes it better suited for relatively minor wrinkles (unless you are willing to steam them for a longer time and even that may not do the trick). I found that this works best for non-cotton clothing items (like suits or pants). It does not seem to work well for dress shirts which often still require some ironing.

You should only have to steam it for about 10 minutes. In fact, if you have to steam it for longer than about 10 minutes or so it’s probably starting to get a little long and wasteful and you really should pull out that iron at this point.

That’s really the main downside to this trick. Water waste. Using the shower to steam your clothes instead of ironing wastes water (which we all know is a precious resource).

This is why I try to minimize the number of times I use this trick and if I can time it with a regular shower that’s better. Letting your shower run for 20 minutes to save you from the hassle of ironing isn’t really a great idea, IMO. While I am not a tree hugging environmentalist here…it’s just wasteful…ain’t nobody got time for that.

That said, we still use this trick from time to time and as noted, on minor wrinkles and if I can coordinate an actual shower with my de-wrinkling activities, all the better.

One trick you could also use to help avoid ironing is to purchase some Downy De-wrinkle spray. This amazing invention can save a lot of time and hassle and it comes in travel size too.

If you are completely uninterested in ironing and don’t want to waste the water a portable travel steamer might do the trick. For example, the PurSteam Travel Steamer is a popular choice (check the price!).

PurSteam Travel Steamer (Check Price)

Thanks for tuning in to Travel Tip Tuesday again and happy steaming

Thanks for tuning in this week! I hope you now have a better understanding of how to steam your clothes in the shower.

So, the next time someone asks you: does shower steam get rid of wrinkles? The answer is yes! Simply hang the wrinkled item in the bathroom, turn on the shower, shut the bathroom door and let the steam pull those wrinkles out. In 20 minutes you will have little to no wrinkles and be on your way.

Like we discussed, be careful when using this trick as it can waste water. That said, don’t be afraid to bust it out every once in a while. And remember you can use this trick at home too!

Please check back each Tuesday for a new travel tip and of course check out all of our Hotel Hacks here.

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Other key questions about steaming garments in the shower:

Can you steam a shirt in the shower? Yes, simply hang the wrinkled item in the bathroom, turn on the shower, shut the bathroom door and let the steam pull those wrinkles out. In 20 minutes you will have little to no wrinkles and be on your way.

How do you Unwrinkle clothes when traveling? There are 3 main options including using the hotel room iron, using the shower to steam the wrinkles out, or using something like Downy De-Wrinkler.

How do you Unwrinkle pants without an iron? Use the hotel room shower to dewrinkle your pants using steam. Or use a portable steamer if you have one.

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