Hair spray
Hair spray (also hair lacquer or spritz) is a common cosmetic hairstyling product that is sprayed onto hair to protect against humidity and wind and have it stay in a desired shape. Hair sprays typically consist of several components for the hair as well as a propellant.[1]
This article is about the grooming product. For other uses, see Hairspray (disambiguation).History[edit]
Early hair sprays were developed in Europe in the 1920s. In the US, hair sprays were developed around the time of the aerosol can in the 1940s, and the first patents describing copolymers for hair styling were published in the 1940s.[4][5]
In the US, the first to package it was Chase products (an aerosol manufacturer) in 1948, as the beauty industry saw that the aerosol cans used in World War II for insecticides could be used as a dispenser for hairspray.[6] It thrived and became increasingly popular and mass-produced, as updos and other such hairstyles were created. By 1964, it became the highest selling beauty product on the market.
In 1968 at the feminist Miss America protest, protestors symbolically threw a number of feminine products into a "Freedom Trash Can." These included hairspray,[7] which was among items the protestors called "instruments of female torture"[8] and accoutrements of what they perceived to be enforced femininity.
Sales of hairspray declined in the 1970s as hairstyles became predominantly worn straight and loose. By the 1980s, hairspray’s popularity came back as big hairstyles resurged with the glam metal scene.
Prior to 1979, the most popular propellants in hairsprays were CFCs. Owing to environmental concerns, they were replaced.
Hair spray can be used for things other than hair. For example in the beauty world one might spray some hairspray on the leg and on the inside of the dress so that the dress won't ride up and stay in place.