Tying a necktie is one of the most challenging skills many young men must develop. They do well on the basketball floor, can hit the basket as well as Michael Jordan; they are stars in track and not only excel in running the mile but in hurdles; they ace their math tests; but learning to tie their own ties throws them a curve ball.

Dad is usually the teacher although Mom must sometimes step in, especially to refine what good ol’ Dad has told him. But what about untying it? What’s the best way to do that?

Kinds of Knots

It’s not enough that the moves are so difficult to master and that your feel all thumbs when you try to do them, there are several different knots! For instance, there’s the double Windsor for materials like silk. But it doesn’t stop there. There is also a Windsor (not a double), a half Windsor, a four-in-hand, and a Shelby. And we haven’t gotten into bow ties yet.

The cravat was introduced to the French Royal Court around 1660, and it caught on so well that even visitors began to wear them. In the American South, the cravat was considered to be too hot, so the plantation owners shifted to an early version of the bow tie.

In the 1850s, the four-in-hand became so popular in Great Britain that it was eventually just called a tie. The ascot descended from the cravat in about 1880 and is still worn for formal morning events. In 1928, the clip-on was introduced. Police officers like them because they can’t be used as a weapon against them.

And then in the 1940s, Victor Cedarstaff invented the bolo tie. This one is popular in the western United States. One advantage: it doesn’t have to be tied in a knot. Actually, according to two Cambridge University researchers, there are 85 different ways to tie a conventional tie, so how can you go wrong?

Untying a Tie

Someone has suggested that untying a tie is best done with a scissors; however, most of us want to preserve this one so we can wear it again. The first impulse is just to yank it off, and some men don’t untie them at all. They just loosen them, slip them over their heads, and pull them back on the next time.

This is not good treatment for an expensive tie, and they get more expensive every year! If you’ll just take a little more time and remove it properly, you won’t have to replace them so often.

First of all, push your thumb into the knot under the front part, loosen the knot, then pull it apart in the reverse order in which you put it on. Be sure to hang it up on a tie rack to give the fabric time to relax and release its wrinkles.

I know—now you’ll have to tie it again when you put it back on. Just remember, the more times you do it, the better you get at it and the less time it takes. In no time at all, you can do it without even thinking about it.