A sign of a good appliance is how it instantly makes your life better in ways you haven’t imagined yet. The moment I opened the Philips Easy Touch Stand Steamer, I realized that I should have gotten it sooner. I had a mini-flashback of all the clothes I’ve lost to iron burns. I saw 15-year-old me who feared making the mistake of ironing my finger off. I saw my mother who would stop mid-way at a party to wonder if she remembered to unplug the iron.

What is it?

The Philips Easy Touch Stand Steamer is a lightweight, compact steamer with a built-in adjustable clothes hanger, and a detachable 1.4L water tank. It offers three steam settings and a large steam head to cover a lot of clothing surface area.

Assembly Time

As with anyone with experience in assembling rolling carts (Remember when we were all crazy for that?) and clothing racks, I would think a steamer would require a series of steps and head-scratching. I scheduled out an afternoon to do it, in anticipation of frustration and struggling to find which bolt fits where.

I assembled the steamer in 10 minutes. It would have been less had I not been watching RuPaul’s Drag Race All Stars 7 while doing it.

All I needed to do after taking it out the packaging was to slide the water tank into the base of the machine, fit the adjustable stand into the slots and top it off with the hanger and steamer head holder. I kept going through the manual to check if I missed something like a complicated diagram, only to be delightfully disappointed.

Best for the Last-Minute

Between filling the water tank and turning the knob to your desired setting, takes around three minutes. It’s a perfect way to stamp out wrinkles in a jiffy when you’re like me who holds off deciding on an outfit until the very last minute.

The first setting gets hot really quickly and I find is enough to straighten clothes made from light to medium fabrics like silk robes and every day T-shirts. The two remaining settings are best for pants and other thicker materials. I do have to repeat that the first setting gets fairly hot fast and can get most clothing items crease-free quickly. You don’t even have to get the steamer head close to the fabric. If you’re really getting into it, a glove is provided so you can hold the cloth closer to the steamer head without burning your hand.

Bacteria-Free

As a iron-and-ironing-board user since I was a teenager , I didn’t realise how a steamer also eliminates bacteria and odors without a need for an additional clothing spray. Since the steamer gets up hot up to above 75 deg C, it eliminates household bacteria, germs, and flu viruses from your garments.

Can’t Leave It

If there’s one thing I wish this steamer had, is a set of wheels so it would be a stylist’s dream on set. But there is the Philips Handheld Steamer 3000 for your on-the-go needs.

Philips Easy Touch Stand Steamer. Available via Lazada.

Clothes Care

Three picks to show your clothes some love.

Velvet Hangers

They make your clothes look chic into your closet instantly and are best for your delicate fabrics since you don’t have to worry about it snagging or creating loose threads.