Is Mister Steamy a smooth operator?

The claim

"Mister Steamy," a sponge-filled, vented rubber ball, "is the fastest way to get wrinkles out without getting the iron out." You add water to the ball, toss it in the dryer with a few wrinkled items, and as the dryer heats up, water sprinkled by the ball turns to steam. Two balls plus a bottle of fabric softener cost $19.99 online. Shipping and handling? Shell out another $13.98.

The check

We washed and dried 11 men's cotton dress shirts, then took two straight from the dryer and put them on hangers. We let the other nine sit overnight under a weight, to leave them good and wrinkled. Then we had a staffer iron one shirt, kept two as controls, and put the other six in the dryer for 15 minutes each. Two were dried with a wet Mister Steamy, two after they were sprayed with water, and two along with a wet towel. Two of our fabric experts then put the shirts in order of, well, wrinkliness.

Bottom line

No need to date Mister Steamy. One of his shirts looked like those taken out of the dryer and hung promptly. The other fared slightly worse. The smoothest look, of course, came after ironing, but if you can't be bothered, take newly washed items out of the dryer fast. To smooth already wrinkled clothes somewhat, toss them in the dryer with a wet towel.