Shirt Care

[Tucker Peterson]

A pair of questions for the learned members of the Lounge:

1. I have noticed that my shirts come out of the washer with the sleeves twisted, so that when I dry and iron them, there are numerous and difficult to iron out creases in the sleeve. This just started happening (of course, I just started doing my own shirts at home, to save money and wear & tear). Any ideas what the cause is? I thought I was perhaps overloading the washer but I've noticed it even when I've cut down on the amount of shirts I wash at once.

2. I have also, alas, noticed on one of my french cuffs a line of dirt right where it folds back. I used a spray cleanser on it to no avail. Any ideas on how to remove it? I hope it hasn't been "set". I'm wondering if maybe a scrub brush might be in order? But I'm not sure what sort of cleanser to use...bleach?

Thank you,

Tucker

[couch]

Custom shirtmaker Alex Kabbaz's guide to shirt care is highly regarded and covers your questions and others.

I would just add that I have had good success with enzyme preparations for presoaking and spot pretreatment on collar and cuffs for skin oils. For years I have used Biz powder for this (as a paste for spot pretreatments), but it now includes "oxygen" bleaches. While these are "color safe," any oxidizer will with repeated use weaken fibers and thus shorten the shirt's life, so I now use it only infrequently. For routine pretreatment on collar and cuffs I'm using a "green" product by Ecover called "Ecological stain remover." It contains only enzymes (not specified, but surely lipases and proteases), surfactants (wetting agents), thickeners, and salt to optimize pH for the enzymes.

Enzymes are perfect for this application because they are highly specific in their action, breaking down only fats and proteins, while leaving cellulose (cotton fibers) and pigments untouched. Because their action is more chemical than physical, they require less scrubbing than the products Alex recommends (thus less abrasion). They are slow, however, so best results will be obtained if they're allowed to work at least overnight, sometimes longer.

If the line on your double cuffs includes significant dust and soil particles in addition to skin flakes and oils, enzymes may not completely remove them (since some of the color will come from inorganic particles). In this case Alex's recommendation of Kirkman or Octagon bar soap and a fingernail brush will be more effective. For only mildly marked cuffs I find the Ecover enzyme pretreatment followed by washing with a mild detergent (Alex likes Tide unscented) is usually sufficient.

But I strongly endorse his emphasis on pretreating the day before washing as the way to achieve maximum cleaning for minimal wear on fine shirts.

[Tucker Peterson]

Thanks Couch, for the link!

Does anyone have any ideas about the twisting of the sleeves?

Tucker

[couch]

In the "Laundering Hints" section of his guide, Alex offers the following:

"Sleeves tend to tangle in the washer, reducing the ability of the soak cycles to remove detergent. Adding a couple of white towels to small loads will help to reduce this problem. If soap remains in the shirt, it will brown when pressed. Wash again without detergent if you suspect this to be the case."

I find the combination of using the gentle cycle and adding towels helps noticeably with sleeve wrinkling. (I would add not to use very new towels or they will shed lint on your shirts.) If you are very fastidious, you could pull the shirts out after the final rinse but before the spin cycle and hang them to drip over a tub, or lay them flat on a clean towel and then roll them up in it to absorb the excess moisture before ironing. I find that if I iron the shirts while still very damp from the washer, I don't usually need to go that far.

Good luck!