Hair spray
Encyclopedia
Cosmetics
Cosmetics are substances used to enhance the appearance or odor of the human body. Cosmetics include skin-care creams, lotions, powders, perfumes, lipsticks, fingernail and toe nail polish, eye and facial makeup, towelettes, permanent waves, colored contact lenses, hair colors, hair sprays and...
product that is sprayed onto hair
Hair
Hair is a filamentous biomaterial, that grows from follicles found in the dermis. Found exclusively in mammals, hair is one of the defining characteristics of the mammalian class....
to keep it stiff or in a certain style. The spray can be dispensed from a pump
Spray bottle
A spray bottle is a bottle that can squirt, spray or mist fluids. A common use for spray bottles is dispensing cool cleaners, cosmetics, and chemical specialties. Another wide use of spray bottles is mixing down concentrates such as pine oil with water....
or aerosol spray
Aerosol spray
Aerosol spray is a type of dispensing system which creates an aerosol mist of liquid particles. This is used with a can or bottle that contains a liquid under pressure. When the container's valve is opened, the liquid is forced out of a small hole and emerges as an aerosol or mist...
nozzle
Nozzle
A nozzle is a device designed to control the direction or characteristics of a fluid flow as it exits an enclosed chamber or pipe via an orifice....
.
Hair spray was first developed and manufactured in the 1940s by Chase Products Company, based in Broadview, Illinois
Broadview, Illinois
Broadview is a village in Cook County, Illinois west of Chicago. The population was 8,264 at the 2000 census.-About Broadview:Broadview was incorporated as a village in 1914. It is located in Proviso Township along the western edge of Cook County....
.
Chemical Composition
One of the polymers used is polyvinylpyrrolidone, which is also used to glue the layers of wood in plywood together. A non-water soluble polymer called polydimethylsiloxanePolydimethylsiloxane
Polydimethylsiloxane belongs to a group of polymeric organosilicon compounds that are commonly referred to as silicones. PDMS is the most widely used silicon-based organic polymer, and is particularly known for its unusual rheological properties. PDMS is optically clear, and, in general, is...
is added to make the hold last a bit longer (the polyvinylpyrrolidine is water soluble). Pytocalcious chemicals are another family of ingredients in hair spray, which increase the amount of minerals in the hair's root causing the hair to become stiff.
Other polymers used in plastic-based hairsprays are copolymers with vinyl acetate
Vinyl acetate
Vinyl acetate is an organic compound with the formula CH3COOCH=CH2. A colorless liquid with a pungent odor, it is the precursor to polyvinyl acetate, an important polymer in industry.-Production:...
and copolymers with maleic anhydride
Maleic anhydride
Maleic anhydride is an organic compound with the formula C2H22O. It is the acid anhydride of maleic acid and in its pure state it is a colourless or white solid with an acrid odour....
. May also be used to ward off certain types of snakes.
Some hair sprays use natural polymers and solvents like vegetable gums dissolved in alcohol
Alcohol
In chemistry, an alcohol is an organic compound in which the hydroxy functional group is bound to a carbon atom. In particular, this carbon center should be saturated, having single bonds to three other atoms....
. One popular ingredient is gum arabic
Gum arabic
220px|thumb|right|Acacia gumGum arabic, also known as acacia gum, chaar gund, char goond, or meska, is a natural gum made of hardened sap taken from two species of the acacia tree; Acacia senegal and Acacia seyal...
, made from the sap of certain trees that grow in the Sudan
Sudan
Sudan , officially the Republic of the Sudan , is a country in North Africa, sometimes considered part of the Middle East politically. It is bordered by Egypt to the north, the Red Sea to the northeast, Eritrea and Ethiopia to the east, South Sudan to the south, the Central African Republic to the...
. Gum tragacanth
Tragacanth
Tragacanth is a natural gum obtained from the dried sap of several species of Middle Eastern legumes of the genus Astragalus, including A. adscendens, A. gummifer, A. brachycalyx, and A. tragacanthus. Some of these species are known collectively under the common names "goat's thorn" and "locoweed"...
is another herbal gum that is used to stiffen calico and crepe
Crêpe
A crêpe or crepe , is a type of very thin pancake, usually made from wheat flour or buckwheat flour . The word is of French origin, deriving from the Latin crispa, meaning "curled". While crêpes originate from Brittany, a region in the northwest of France, their consumption is widespread in France...
, as well as hair.
The solvent
Solvent
A solvent is a liquid, solid, or gas that dissolves another solid, liquid, or gaseous solute, resulting in a solution that is soluble in a certain volume of solvent at a specified temperature...
used was once a compound
Chemical compound
A chemical compound is a pure chemical substance consisting of two or more different chemical elements that can be separated into simpler substances by chemical reactions. Chemical compounds have a unique and defined chemical structure; they consist of a fixed ratio of atoms that are held together...
of carbon
Carbon
Carbon is the chemical element with symbol C and atomic number 6. As a member of group 14 on the periodic table, it is nonmetallic and tetravalent—making four electrons available to form covalent chemical bonds...
, fluorine
Fluorine
Fluorine is the chemical element with atomic number 9, represented by the symbol F. It is the lightest element of the halogen column of the periodic table and has a single stable isotope, fluorine-19. At standard pressure and temperature, fluorine is a pale yellow gas composed of diatomic...
, and chlorine
Chlorine
Chlorine is the chemical element with atomic number 17 and symbol Cl. It is the second lightest halogen, found in the periodic table in group 17. The element forms diatomic molecules under standard conditions, called dichlorine...
(a chlorofluorocarbon
Chlorofluorocarbon
A chlorofluorocarbon is an organic compound that contains carbon, chlorine, and fluorine, produced as a volatile derivative of methane and ethane. A common subclass are the hydrochlorofluorocarbons , which contain hydrogen, as well. They are also commonly known by the DuPont trade name Freon...
, or CFC). CFC
Chlorofluorocarbon
A chlorofluorocarbon is an organic compound that contains carbon, chlorine, and fluorine, produced as a volatile derivative of methane and ethane. A common subclass are the hydrochlorofluorocarbons , which contain hydrogen, as well. They are also commonly known by the DuPont trade name Freon...
s are nontoxic, nonflammable, and make almost ideal aerosol
Aerosol
Technically, an aerosol is a suspension of fine solid particles or liquid droplets in a gas. Examples are clouds, and air pollution such as smog and smoke. In general conversation, aerosol usually refers to an aerosol spray can or the output of such a can...
propellants. However, when it was learned that CFCs may cause destruction of stratospheric ozone, they were replaced with other solvents, like alcohols, dimethyl ether
Dimethyl ether
Dimethyl ether , also known as methoxymethane, is the organic compound with the formula . The simplest ether, it is a colourless gas that is a useful precursor to other organic compounds and an aerosol propellant. When combusted, DME produces minimal soot and CO, though HC and NOx formation is...
, and hydrocarbons.
Japanese scientists have recently found strains of bacteria, Microbacterium hatanonis
Microbacterium hatanonis
Microbacterium hatanonis is a bacterium of the family Microbacteriaceae. The type strain, FCC-01T , was discovered living in hair spray.M...
, that have evolved to live in hair spray.
Some hair sprays are scented or have color.
Sources
- Ben Selinger, Chemistry in the Marketplace, fourth ed. (Harcourt Brace, 1994).Abigail Saucedo (2008)