There’s Still Time to Buy Your Mom This for Christmas
I’m not at all sorry to brag on myself over here, as I’m on the verge of giving my mom her best Christmas gift ever—one that will have her swanning about as if she’s living inside Mariah Carey’s closet.
I’m talking about this clever hand steamer from Jiffy. It’s called the E-Steam, and it’s the Hollywood Secret to removing wrinkles without busting out an iron. There’s one somewhere in the bowels of Mariah’s closet, trust—she just isn’t the one firing it up every day.
Steaming is far easier than ironing, and it’s also safer for your clothes — as many delicate fabrics will shrivel, burn, and die when met with a hot iron. The Jiffy E-Steam is lightweight, easy to operate, and heats up in about two minutes flat. It banishes wrinkles from a pop diva’s glitzy gown just as easily as it does boring suits on police procedurals.
I got mine in baby pink—which sounds cute until you drag it across nine states, three continents, and countless thousands of shoot days over 20+ years. It now looks like the dirty flesh of a battered Barbie doll, and I can’t ever upgrade myself to a sleek black one like I want to because this dumb thing JUST WILL NOT STOP WORKING.
My mentor gave me her full-sized Jiffy steamer from the 1970s when I got into the Costume Designer’s Guild 15 years ago, and it’s still ticking too. What I’m trying to say here is that this steamer will likely outlive you—and also your children.
If you’re looking to make your gift complete, toss in a bottle of Jiffy’s liquid steamer cleaner, which handily removes deposits and hard water scaling from the steamer. The Internet will try to tell you to just use plain old vinegar (which is the new coconut oil, I think) for this purpose, but it doesn’t hold a candle to Jiffy’s branded cleaner.
Scaling and hard water deposits can lead to a clogged steamer head spitting out water and staining your clothes. If this starts to happen (and you don’t have any steamer cleaner on hand), just cover the nozzle with a sock. It works to absorb stray water droplets before they can get on your clothes. Just make sure it’s the very best sock for the job.
I am the author of ‘How to Get Dressed: A Costume Designer’s Secrets for Making Your Clothes Look, Fit, and Feel Amazing’.
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