In the transition metal dichalcogenide IrTe₂, low-temperature charge-ordered phase transitions involving Ir dimers lead to the occurrence of stripe phases of different periodicities, and nearly degenerate energies. Bulk-sensitive measurements have shown that, upon cooling, IrTe₂ undergoes two such first-order transitions to (5 × 1 × 5) and (8 × 1 × 8) reconstructed phases at T_c1∼280 K and T_c2∼180 K, respectively. Here, using surface sensitive probes of the electronic structure of IrTe₂, we reveal the first-order phase transition at T_c3=165 K to the (6 × 1) stripes phase, previously proposed to be the surface ground state. This is achieved by combining x-ray photoemission spectroscopy and angle-resolved photoemission spectroscopy, which give access to the evolution of stripe domains and a particular surface state, the energy of which is dependent on the Ir dimer length. By performing measurements over a full thermal cycle, we also report the complete hysteresis of all these phases.