Starch clothes do not soil

Home starch is made as paste with hot water. When hot water is poured onto the starch powder, the grains swell up to form a gummy paste. The water carries the starch molecules into the tiny spaces between the fibers of the school shirt.

When the shirt is dry, the starch stay clinging together as a stiff layer that shines after a few presses of the old charcoal-burning iron.

The shirt shines because starch makes the surface smoother to resist soil. Molecular adhesion is taking charge for this protection.