I'm sure you clever ladies already know this one, but just in case...
I got a new iron recently, with a nice stainless steel faceplate. I had some bits of homemade starch cooked onto it (and you should have seen the mess on my old iron!) but I was able to successfully clean both irons using white toothpaste. It was so easy and very effective. It's basically just a fancy version of a bicarb-and-water paste, I suppose, but with a nice minty smell!
