Who are these guys we see who do not iron their shirts? I am not referring to the normal guy on the street, of course he should iron his shirt, but he may figure that he doesn't see too many people outside of work, does it really matter? Again, he should iron his shirt, it does matter, but I understand what he is thinking. I understand his thought process. But I will see young guys on some media appearance and their shirts are clearly not ironed. What in the world is going on here?
Can you imagine showing up to go on some media appearance, some show that 1000s of people will see and you haven't ironed your shirt? It's insane. And I am not talking about the natural wrinkles that appear in your shirt as you wear it through the day. You can tell those wrinkles, actually those wrinkles look good. Those are natural wrinkles and it shows that your shirt is not some weird creepy sci-fi fabric that is totally unnatural. I am not referring to those wrinkles. I am referring to wrinkles that so obviously and clearly came from a shirt that has never seen an iron in it's life. The tiny wrinkles that are all over the entire shirt. The collar that is a bit misshapen. I will see younger guys from time to time, appear on something with some serious reach, and this is how they present themselves.
Why are they like this? I assume because they just never learned any different, no one taught them, the society didn't push them into ironing. Society and the collective used to uphold some degree of standard. Of course there were always people on the fringe, but there was a general standard upheld. There aren't really any standards anymore and no other guys will pull them aside and tell them what's up. It's all chaos.
This isn't as much of a problem for the older guys. I never see older guys do this. When I say older, I am referring to Boomers. I have seen Gen X guys do this, they are probably the oldest perpetrators. They are too cool for school. Millennials get a ton of heat from Boomers, and Boomers get a bunch of heat from everyone but Gen X has somehow escaped any derision and honestly, they deserve some, they aren't angels.
Again, the guy on the street, I get it, I think he should iron, but I get his logic. He doesn't have any part of society pushing him into presenting himself in a better way, it falls all entirely on him, and he doesn't see any reason to do it. Nobody around him irons, nobody seems to care if he doesn't and he doesn't see that many people anyway. I get it. But for the man making a clearly public appearance, it's really not acceptable. Come on man. It's really sad stuff.
For the guy who does run an iron over his clothes from time to time, I think some don't iron enough. I see some guys and they do it about 80-90% but not quite enough. That last 10-20% makes a difference. The way I see it is that if a guy is wondering if he is ironing well enough, he should assume he isn't and be more thorough. Obviously a must-iron 100% natural cotton button down will wrinkle not long after you put it on, that is natural. The attempt to avoid any wrinkles with weird hybrid fake fabrics is weird and totally stilted. Those wrinkles that appear after a full iron are natural wrinkles, they look good, accept those wrinkles. The wrinkles that were never pressed out due to not spending enough time or steam, reject those wrinkles of lackluster ironing.
All men have a different order / method in which they iron their shirt. The order I use is based on the theory that the last places you iron are the most visible places of the shirt. That is the general logic to the order. To me it makes sense. I learned it from my father and he learned it from his mother [in my grandfather's generation, their wives would iron their shirts, in my father's generation the men would iron their shirts, in our generation no one irons their shirts], so there is some tradition there as well, which I like.
Here is the order / process I use:
Yoke
Back
Collar
Sleeve
Sleeve
Right Side Front
Left Side Front
Right Side Front (Briefly) Again
Collar (Briefly) Again