The Art of Manliness: Classic Skills and Manners for the Modern Man (6 page)

Dampen the garments.
The key to good ironing is to start with slightly damp clothes. Take your shirt or pants out of the dryer before they completely dry. If your clothes are already dry, spray them down with some water until slightly damp.

Ironing a Dress Shirt

You don’t want to approach ironing haphazardly. It’s not efficient or effective. This is a battle against wrinkles. Like any hard-fought battle, you need an attack plan if you want to come out on top. Iron your shirt in this order to get the best result possible.

1. Collar: Lay it flat, wrong side up, pressing from the points toward the center. Then press it on the right side.

2. Yoke: The yoke is the panel that covers the shoulders. Lay it over the widest part of the ironing board to do the job.

3. Cuffs: Unbutton the cuffs and open them fully. Iron the insides, then the outsides.

4. Sleeves: Using the seams as your guide, smooth the sleeve flat with your palm and iron it; then flip it over and do the other side. Now iron the other sleeve.

5. Back: Lay it on the wide part of the ironing board, too.

6. Front panels: Start with the pocket, then do the panels. The little point of the iron helps you press around buttons.

7. Retouch: Retouch the collar and cuffs if they need it.

Ironing a Pair of Pants

Just as with your shirt, if you want to get the absolute best results, you need to iron your pants in a certain order.

1. Turn the pants inside out and iron the waistband, pockets, fly area, seams and hems.

2. Turn the pants right side out and pull the waistband over the pointy end of the ironing board as if you were dressing it. Iron the waistband area and the upper part of your pant.

3. Pull the pants off the ironing board. Hold them by the hems and line up the outer and inner seams together. Lay the pants along the ironing board lengthwise.

4. Bring the hem of the top pant leg toward the waistband. Iron the inside of the bottom pant leg from the hem to the crotch. Turn the pants over and repeat for the other leg.

5. Line up the pant legs on top of each other. Iron the outside of the top leg. Flip the pants over and repeat on the other pant leg.

6. Hang them up immediately, but don’t just throw them on the hanger. To maintain that crease you so meticulously created, you want to hang your dress pants neatly. Grab the pants by the hem and find the crease. Bring the pants legs together and hold them together at the creases. You should see a nice straight line going down both sides of the pants. Once you have the pants lined up with a nice crease, take the hanger in one hand and slide it down the pants leg to about the middle. Gently fold the hem across the hanger.

Give Your Shoes a Mirrored Shine

For a shoe so shiny that you can see your reflection in it, all you need is a soft cloth, a can of Kiwi shoe polish and a good shoe brush.

1. To remove any dirt/mud/salt on your shoes, brush them off or rinse them under cold water.

2. Wrap part of the cloth around your index finger. Moisten the cloth at the fingertip with a small amount of water (do not soak the entire rag). Some people swear by spit, others by lukewarm water, still others by cold water. Experiment and see what works best for you. Rub your now-moist cloth in the polish to acquire a small amount. Make sure you match the color of shoe polish to the color of your shoe as precisely as you can. Do not dig divots in your polish, as it will create more surface area and cause it to dry out quicker, thus ruining a good can of polish.

3. Apply the polish in small circles, in very small amounts. Work one piece of the shoe at a time—toe, tongue, heel, inside upper and outside upper—until you have covered the whole shoe. This is your base coat.

4. Grab your shoe brush and brush the entire shoe vigorously.

5. Moisten your cloth and rub it in the polish again. Start buffing the boot/shoe by going over the entire shoe in small circles, with a light amount of pressure. Breathe “hot air” onto the boot/shoe as if trying to fog a mirror. This adds a slight amount of moisture to the boot and softens the outer layer of polish slightly, filling in the unseen cracks and allowing the shoe/boot to become perfectly smooth and shiny. Continue until you get the preferred amount of shininess.

If you ever need a quick shine, just rub your shoe on the back of your pant leg. This is how Gramps did it in a pinch.

Manly Advice: Color Coordinating Your Socks, Shoes and Belt

Socks: Sock color should match your pants, not your shoes. When you sit down and your socks are exposed, you want a solid line of color from your pants to your shoes. Socks that don’t match your pant color create a jarring break in your outfit. So black socks go with black pants and brown socks go with brown pants. Absolutely and under no condition should you ever wear white socks with dark pants unless you want to look like Steve Urkel or Michael Jackson circa 1983.

Shoes: Coordinate your shoe color to your suit. First, the obvious: Wear brown shoes with brown suits, black shoes with black suits. Now the trickier: Wear black shoes with gray suits, brown shoes with blue suits.

Belt: Belt color should match your shoe color. Easy as pie, right?

Groom Like a Gentleman

For a gentleman, a little grooming goes a long way. Good grooming need not veer down the path of metrosexuality, fraught as that road is with the specter of eyebrow plucking and styling one’s hair for hours in the hopes of getting that just out of bed look. The basics, a close shave and a sharp haircut, are all a man needs to face the world with confidence.

Why Every Man Should Go to a Barbershop

Men have stopped going to barbershops, and this is a man travesty of the highest order. A man should get his haircut only at a barbershop for the reasons I shall outline below:

A barber knows how to cut a man’s hair.
If you’re like most men these days, you’re probably going to some unisex chain salon like Supercuts. I used to do it, too. Most of the time, I’d walk out of those places with a crappy haircut. Sometimes my haircut would look decent for the first week or so, but then it would grow out into a horrible bowl.

The problem is that many of the people who work at salons are not trained barbers. They’re cosmetologists. The difference between the two can spell the difference between a dopey-looking haircut and a great one.

A barber is trained to cut with clippers,
the main tool in cutting a man’s hair. Cosmetologists, on the other hand, are trained to use scissors. Their training is also geared toward catering to women’s hair. They become experts in styling, coloring and perming—things a man has no need for. That’s why when you ask the cute stylist at Supercuts to use the number two on the clippers, you walk away with a bad haircut. She’s probably not well versed in how to use them. But a barber can employ the clippers with finesse.

It’s a great place to chew the fat with other men.
When I went to hairstylists, I hardly ever talked to the women who cut my hair. I’d chat about my family and theirs and that’s about it. Women who cut my hair usually ended up chatting with the other women in the salon, while I sat there awkwardly.

Barbers, on the other hand, are interesting guys with fascinating stories to tell. And I in turn feel at ease to say what’s on my mind. We converse about politics, cars, sports and family. Guys who are waiting read the newspaper and comment on current events. And everyone is involved: the barbers, the customers getting their haircut and the customers waiting to get their haircut.

Barbershops are among America’s last civic forums.
Where do people go today just to talk with others in the community? Coffee shops? Every time I go to a coffee shop, people are at their own tables minding their own business. The only other place that I can think of is a bar, but bars are now co-ed instead of being bastions of manliness. So if you want to get your thumb on the pulse of civic life in your community, head over to the barbershop.

Figure 1.15 Barbershops are among America’s last civic forums. If you want to get your thumb on the pulse of civic life in your community, head over to the barbershop.

You can get a great shave.
Many barbershops still give traditional single blade razor shaves. You haven’t lived until you’ve experienced the pleasures of a great shave at a barber. It’s a relaxing, luxurious experience and will give you the best shave you’ve ever gotten. Plus, allowing another man to hold a razor to your neck is a good way to remind yourself that you’re alive.

It’s a great activity to do with your father or son.
Men need traditions that can help bond them. Visiting the barbershop with your father or son is a great tradition to begin in your family. Many men have been going to the same barber all their life and have introduced their sons to the same chair and the same barber.

You’ll feel manlier.
I don’t know what it is. Perhaps it’s the combination of the smell of hair tonics and the all-man atmosphere. But more so, it’s the awareness of the tradition of barbershops. Barbershops are places of continuity; they don’t change with the shifts in culture. The places and barbers look the same as they did when your dad got his hair cut. It’s a straightforward experience with none of the foo-foo accoutrements of the modern age. There are no waxings, facials, highlights or appointments. Just great haircuts and great conversation.

When you walk out of the barbershop with a sharp haircut, you can’t help but feel a little manly swagger creep into your step. So next time you spot that familiar red-and-white striped pole, stop in. You’ll be glad you did.

Shave Like Your Grandpa

Proper shaving has become a lost art. Today’s average male is completely in the dark about the fine art of the traditional wet shave their grandfathers and some of their fathers used to enjoy. Instead, they’re only accustomed to the cheap, disposable, mass-marketed shaving products that line the shelves of today’s drugstores. I’m not sure when or why it happened, but the tradition of passing down the secrets of a clean shave faded away. Thankfully this glorious male ritual is making a comeback.

Benefits of the Classic Wet Shave

Reduced costs.
An eight-pack of your typical four-blade cartridge razors can set you back over twenty dollars. Twenty dollars! That’s $2.50 per cartridge. The cost of a double-edged safety razor is no more than twenty-five cents, so you can save some serious money by switching over. Additionally you can save some dough by using traditional shaving creams and soaps. Not only will a can of the chemically packed gel goop that most drugstores sell cost you up to five dollars a can, it doesn’t last long nor give you a quality shave. On the other hand, traditional shave creams and soaps are made from natural ingredients. While their initial cost may be a bit more than shaving gels, you’ll need less product to get a proper lather. Thus, you end up saving in the long run.

Reduced environmental impact.
Traditional wet shaving with a double-edged safety razor produces less waste than shaving with cartridge razors. The only waste is a single metal razor blade and lather down the sink. Unlike today’s razor cartridges, a double-edged blade can easily be recycled. The tubes and bowls that most traditional shave creams and soaps are sold in produce less waste than those clunky nonbiodegradable aerosol canisters that gels come in.