Being a man doesn’t always mean you’ll know the fastest or best way to get a job done. Manuals and following rules tend to evade us and we’re natural born doers. With that said, it’s not 1999 anymore and the regular hack or two can do absolute wonders on your quest to becoming a stylish magnificent bastard.
Here are ten of the best to keep you ahead of the pack in the style stakes.
Maintain Your Prized Denim By Airing It Out
Washing your jeans too often can degrade the natural colour and denim ageing process. There’s a controversial theory that says leaving your dirty jeans in the freezer will miraculously render them odourless and bacteria-free. Not true. According to Smithsonian.com, the bacteria on your jeans can survive on your natural body temperature as well as below it. In other words, freezing your jeans won’t actually kill the bacteria and it will reproduce quickly once the garment warms up again. Save your freezer the agony by turning your prized denim inside out and hanging them to air dry for a day instead.
Folding & Packing A Blazer Without Wrinkles
Consider yourself the stylish jet-setting man? This is a serious hack that will ensure your blazers make it half way across the world with you in your luggage without looking like Steve Tyler’s face when you pull it out. Inside-out is the key. Watch and learn, young Jedi.
Determining If Pants Will Fit Without Trying Them On
No change rooms? No worries. One simple way to tell if your newfound favourite pair of pants will fit is to use the length of your forearm. The length of an arm from your fist to the elbow roughly correlates to your waist size. Ensure the button and fly are done all the way and if your arm slides in comfortably, so should your butt. Try this with an existing pair of pants if you’re still sceptical – clown pants not applicable.
Using Ice To Remove Gum From Clothes
Ah, the old gum on the pants trick. Most of us have been there but short of torching your favourite garment after such a dire incident, not many know that gum can be removed by simply freezing it.
Some say use ice cubes for fifteen minutes but we say just go all out and whack in into the freezer. You won’t have to deal with melting ice, numb hands and once the gum becomes hard and brittle you can simply peel it off.
Remove Red Wine Stains With White Wine
White wine is understood to dissolve the anthocyanin that gives red wine its colour. This has been proven by some internet geniuses already but we must stress that you should wash your garment immediately in stain-removing detergent after using the white wine to avoid bleached stains. This will show even on a white shirt so be weary on how long you leave it soaked to avoid permanent damage in the name of cleaning.
Abolishing Short Lived Summer Scents
Everyone loves summer but when it comes to pricey aftershaves, your favourite summer fragrance can simply evaporate on your skin as quickly as you apply it. The solution here is to apply in the less conventional areas on your body to ensure the pleasant waft lingers for longer. The chest and biceps are usually good places to start as opposed to your neck and wrists as the rate of evaporation is slower. Using a fragrance-free moisturiser before applying the fragrance will also help keep the scent hanging about on your skin for longer.
How To Tell If An Off-The-Rack Blazer Fits
Determine A Shirt Fit With A Simple Sit
This one may come as obvious to some but hey, we’re men and the most obvious sometimes evades us. When it comes to button down shirts, choosing a slim fit is all good but how it looks when you’re sitting should be a determining factor on whether you should go ahead with the sale. If your buttons are pulling when you’re sitting and you can see skin from the side, it’s time to move up a size division.
Removing The Yellow Ring Around The Inner Collar
See that dreaded yellow stain on the inside of your white dress shirt collar? Those stains are common amongst men’s shirts and are often caused by a build up of sweat, dead skin and hair product. There’s no real shortcut way to fix this one other than to apply a lot of stain remover for whites and let it soak in real good. Apply it to the collar or yellow areas and leave it to set for ten minutes or a few hours depending on the stubbornness. Hand wash as normal and repeat the process using a toothbrush to rub in the stain remover each time. It’s called being ‘domestimicated’. Duh.
Un-shirink Your Clothes
Accidentally threw your garment into a dryer? Expect it to go down half a size. The solution: re-soak it with hot water and hair conditioner for five minutes before stretching it back carefully. It’ll revert back to its normal self and smell like daisies.
