Remove Leftover Stickiness From Your Iron With An Affordable Kitchen Essential

There's a special kind of heartbreak that comes from lifting your iron after a quick touch-up and realizing that the faint burnt smell wasn't your imagination. Maybe you were smoothing out a shirt while half-watching a reel, or perhaps the fabric wasn't exactly iron-friendly, and you found out the hard way. Either way, the result is the same. Your once-smooth soleplate now feels like it walked through a caramel factory. It's sticky, tacky, and absolutely ready to ruin your next outfit. Scraping it off doesn't work because melted fibers tend to cling to the surface. That's when you start convincing yourself you'll "deal with it later." However, you'd happily deal with it right away if you knew how easy it could be, thanks to an iron-cleaning hack that is already sitting in your kitchen. With nothing more than plain old kosher salt, you can easily get rid of that leftover stickiness.

The thing is, irons work best when they glide. The effortless sweep is what keeps fabrics safe and distributes heat evenly. But with stickiness, your iron becomes unpredictable. Even the tiniest bit of residue, the kind you barely feel when you slide your hand over the soleplate, can grab onto fabric like Velcro. Imagine ironing your favorite blouse and hearing that little "skrrt" sound as the cloth snags; next thing you know, there's a shiny mark, or worse, a fresh burn line. Fortunately, you can stop that disaster before it starts by cleaning your iron with kosher salt.

Start by turning your iron on and setting it to the highest heat. We know that sounds a bit scary when the iron is already sticky, but high heat is what softens the gunk. Warm residue loosens its grip, kind of like how hardened caramel melts when you warm it again. You want that adhesive to soften so the salt can actually penetrate and do something.

While the iron heats up, grab a thick paper towel and place it on your ironing board. If you're out of paper towels, a newspaper works, too. Now, pour 6-7 tablespoons of kosher salt right onto the towel. Once your iron hits its full heat, run it over the salty surface in circular motions. Keep going for about five to 10 minutes. The chunkier grains of kosher salt are coarse enough to scrub without scratching. The combination of heat and coarse salt works like a gentle exfoliator for your iron's soleplate. It'll leave your grimy iron sparkling clean. After that, turn the iron off and let it cool completely. Once it's safe to touch, dampen a clean cloth and wipe off any leftover grains. 

And before you run off to tackle your next laundry mission, know that preventing stickiness is so much easier than fixing it. If a tag says "low heat," it's not exaggerating. Also, try not to blast your iron at maximum heat unless the fabric genuinely calls for it. A little attention up front saves you from a lot of trouble later.