A sort of memory came back when I was thinking about the very full net petticoats we used to wear under our 1950s dresses. But surely it must be a false one?
We cannot really have used sugar water as a starch. Can we?
The problem was that old fashioned Robin starch would not work on the latest miracle fabric – nylon - but the net still went limp after its first wash, so perhaps needs must , at least until DIP was invented for man made fibres. Perhaps drastic measures were needed
I am sure that we used to use sugar water on our hair before hair lacquer was invented or at least became cheap & widely available. It was particularly suited for kiss curls, which were in vogue in the late fifties & early sixties, at first on the forehead & later in the place where men had sideburns.
Dissolve a teaspoonful of sugar in half a cup of water, comb through the strand of hair; curl round carefully in position & anchor with a hair grip until the solution has dried.
There is a nice piece about petticoats on the Vintage Vixen blog
