I’ve sent my white dressed shirts to 2 different cleaners in Taipei.
Both times I’ve asked for medium starch on my shirts, but both times no starch was put on my shirts.
Are starched shirts against some environmental law in Taiwan?
I used to have just the opposite problem – starch in the collar used to irritate my neck, so I would always ask for no starch, but inevitably would wind up with (lightly) starched shirts. It took a long time of using the same place before they finally stopped putting starch in my shirts.
[quote=“PapaAzucar”]I’ve sent my white dressed shirts to 2 different cleaners in Taipei.
Both times I’ve asked for medium starch on my shirts, but both times no starch was put on my shirts.
Are starched shirts against some environmental law in Taiwan?[/quote]
Starch is as popular as the diversified selection available at your local Carrefour : none- nada - zero.
Could only find it in the Breeze supermarket as in city super. No local manufacturing me guess.
Nothing environmental as the main ingredient ( afaik) are potatoes.
The variety shop down the road from me had quite a few bottles of Spray Starch imported from America. 
. I don’t think it should be too hard to find if you want to do it yourself.
Here’s a trick I learned back in the day when I was living rough – take a potato (peeled) and run it over the collar, cuffs, and button strip.
[quote=“PapaAzucar”]I’ve sent my white dressed shirts to 2 different cleaners in Taipei.
Both times I’ve asked for medium starch on my shirts, but both times no starch was put on my shirts.
Are starched shirts against some environmental law in Taiwan?[/quote]
It is used. Are you asking for it yourself in Chinese or is someone doing it for you? There might just be a bit of broken down communication.
[quote=“E04teacherlin”][quote=“PapaAzucar”]I’ve sent my white dressed shirts to 2 different cleaners in Taipei.
Both times I’ve asked for medium starch on my shirts, but both times no starch was put on my shirts.
Are starched shirts against some environmental law in Taiwan?[/quote]
It is used. Are you asking for it yourself in Chinese or is someone doing it for you? There might just be a bit of broken down communication.[/quote]
Agreed. I often use dry cleaning services and I can’t recall which is the word for “starched” in Chinese, don’t recall seeing it in the menu. Maybe they are understanding “pressed” or something else.
[quote=“Icon”][quote=“E04teacherlin”][quote=“PapaAzucar”]I’ve sent my white dressed shirts to 2 different cleaners in Taipei.
Both times I’ve asked for medium starch on my shirts, but both times no starch was put on my shirts.
Are starched shirts against some environmental law in Taiwan?[/quote]
It is used. Are you asking for it yourself in Chinese or is someone doing it for you? There might just be a bit of broken down communication.[/quote]
Agreed. I often use dry cleaning services and I can’t recall which is the word for “starched” in Chinese, don’t recall seeing it in the menu. Maybe they are understanding “pressed” or something else.[/quote]
Well the ladies at the laundromats where I took my shirts to get cleaned said they knew a little English.
So when I said “starch medium”, they smiled and nodded.
Now it seems that they either don’t know English or starch ironing is not a common practice in Taiwan.
My guess is that the starch is not common practice because it makes the shirt retain more body heat, or that the starch can brown in the heat and humidity here.
Don’t know what the situation currently is, but, going back a couple of years, all the places I used to get my shirts done at would starch the dress shirts as a matter of course. Used to have to fight with them to get them to stop doing it.
[quote=“PapaAzucar”][quote=“Icon”][quote=“E04teacherlin”][quote=“PapaAzucar”]I’ve sent my white dressed shirts to 2 different cleaners in Taipei.
Both times I’ve asked for medium starch on my shirts, but both times no starch was put on my shirts.
Are starched shirts against some environmental law in Taiwan?[/quote]
It is used. Are you asking for it yourself in Chinese or is someone doing it for you? There might just be a bit of broken down communication.[/quote]
Agreed. I often use dry cleaning services and I can’t recall which is the word for “starched” in Chinese, don’t recall seeing it in the menu. Maybe they are understanding “pressed” or something else.[/quote]
Well the ladies at the laundromats where I took my shirts to get cleaned said they knew a little English.
So when I said “starch medium”, they smiled and nodded.
Now it seems that they either don’t know English or starch ironing is not a common practice in Taiwan.
My guess is that the starch is not common practice because it makes the shirt retain more body heat, or that the starch can brown in the heat and humidity here.[/quote]
I guess it is better for you to buy a can of starch at City Super and take it to the ladies and explain -using body language, not words, like hand gestures for ironing and spraying- you want that done. I wonder though how the startch will react to all the chemicals they put in clothes for dry cleaning. Don’t forget to air your clothes well before wearing.
[quote]
Well the ladies at the laundromats where I took my shirts to get cleaned said they knew a little English.
So when I said “starch medium”, they smiled and nodded.
Now it seems that they either don’t know English or starch ironing is not a common practice in Taiwan.[/quote]
Perfectly normal for Taiwan, rather than loose face they’ll lie to your face. I’d suggest finding a friendly local with good English to write it out for you.
Fascinating. Can’t find the right word for “starch” concept in my dictionary. I get a chemical related stuff : 加 澱粉 :eh: or something like well ironed, but I don’t think it’s right. Will go downstairs -we have a laundry in our building- and see what they have for that.
“The starched shirts” sounds like a good name for a band.
It’s what we used to call uptight strait laced do gooders.