I get asked about my clothing steamer several times a week. It almost always goes like this, “Which clothing steamer do you use again? I tried searching for it on your blog but couldn’t find it.” That’s because I had yet to write a post on it and had only talked about it extensively on Instastories–until now!
I’ve said that I hate ironing and never, ever, everrrrr did it. I was the person that took a hair straightener to get out a few major wrinkles from some of my shirts. Ha! But once I discovered a clothing steamer? OHMIGOSH. GAME CHANGER.
Now, does a steamer totally replace an iron? I think it depends on what kinds of clothing and material you’re using it on. I have very flowy clothes made of soft materials–you know, how I’m often talking about the “drape” of a top–and the steamer works great for that. It also works great on my curtains. However, for my husband, if he’s looking for a crisp look for his button up shirts, the steamer isn’t sufficient. It *WILL* get the wrinkles out, but it will not make his shirts look crisp. For crispness, he goes for an iron. For my wardrobe, the steamer works really well though!
WHY I LOVE STEAMING CLOTHES
- It’s easier than dragging out the ironing board. It’s also easier than laying your clothes on a flat surface and ironing section by section, having to move the garment in the right place to iron the right section. Overall, with a steamer, I find there’s less maneuvering. You just keep the garment on a hanger and run the steamer back and forth over wrinkles.
- It can un-shrink some clothes that have shrunken in the wash. I’m looking at you, Old Navy tops and dresses! Ironing can do this too, but I’ve already established that I wouldn’t iron to begin with. 😀 The steam relaxes the fibers and helps the garments expand back out. My mind was exploding when I discovered this! I thought of all the trouble I’ve gone through with wondering if things would shrink in the wash and having to guess whether to compensate for potential shrinking by sizing up, etc. Or I thought of the garments that have shrunk that I’ve been sad about. It’s amazing to have a solution! I regularly expand shrunken garments by 1.5 to 2 inches (basically back to its regular, pre-washed measurements) thanks to steamers. I’m sure it doesn’t work on all materials, but it almost always works with my rayon items and most cotton items. It’s always worth a shot, in my opinion!
- I find it therapeutic. I don’t know why! I hate ironing but find steaming therapeutic. I’ve heard other PMTers say the same!
- Steamers take less time to cool than irons. Having a hot iron sitting out for a while to cool down always freaked me out a little. Steamers are not only smaller, but they also take less time to cool down. It’s a little thing, but it makes a difference!
THE STEAMER I USE
The first steamer I bought was a tiny little travel steamer (THIS one), and I still bring that on trips. However, as a smaller steamer, the tank is really tiny which means that I have to refill it more often when I steam a lot of clothes or have clothes with more wrinkles.
Since that was my first steamer and I hadn’t tested others, when I decided I wanted a steamer with a bigger tank I took it as an opportunity to test a few more steamers. I still don’t know a whole lot about steamers, but this past holiday season I tested a handful of steamers that were a little larger, though still handheld and decent to travel with, and had more functions.
Some that I tested were:
- Option 1 – Beautural
- Option 2 – Secura
- Option 3 – Pure Enrichment
- Option 4 – E-Best Portable Mini
- Option 5 – This is the one I kept!
EDIT: I can’t find the one I originally bought anymore, but there is an identical one from another company HERE. Regarding the one I own, I originally didn’t try because it didn’t have as many reviews as some of the other ones, plus it only had 4 stars as opposed to others that had 4.5–and I rely heavily on reviews! But, I liked this one a lot more than the others.
WHAT I LIKE ABOUT THIS STEAMER
- It’s still portable but has a 260ml tank, allowing you to get continuous steam for 15-20 minutes. With smaller tanks you’ll need to refill more often.
- Has an on/off button. A couple other steamers I tried at this size didn’t have on/off buttons. You just had to plug or unplug them for power.
- Automatic power off once it gets too hot.
- Powerful flow of steam. Other steamers I tried at this size weren’t quite as powerful and I had to run the steamer over the wrinkles more times than with this one. Or, for one of the others, the holes were placed near the top instead of more centered. I fund I had to tilt it at a specific angle for it to be really effective. The holes on the Anbanglin/Plemo are more centered and require less specific angling.
- Button for continuous steam option. Some steamers require you to hold down a button anytime you want steam to come out. Other steamers constantly emit steam if the steamer is on, which wastes steam when you are moving a garment around and not actually steaming it. This one gives you the best of both worlds. Once it’s on, you need to press a button to emit steam, so it’s not wasting steam when you don’t want it to. But, you can also click a switch to hold down the steam button so that you can get a continuous flow of steam without having to keep your finger on the button. I love that function!
- You can use it horizontally and water won’t spill out. I don’t use this feature much, but supposedly you can face the steamer down onto a horizontal surface (like imagine using it as an iron) and the hot water won’t spill out.
- See-through water tank so you can see how much water is left.
- Comes with detachable brush. I prefer steamers with brushes, as seen in the closeup of the pic above. I don’t know if you’re supposed to do this (because remember how I said I don’t know a ton about steamers? :D) but the brush makes me feel comfortable getting the steamer closer to the garment which makes steaming faster and more effective.
Find the steamer HERE.
Shop My Outfit
white tunic | similar jeans | watch | pink top
