After the straight hairstyles of the 1920s, waves and curls became the fashion, and a new product was needed to hold hair firmly in place. Women had been using natural compounds such as clays and gums to hold their hair in place for centuries, but it was the invention of the aerosol, can that led to the development of the first hair spray. During World War II, the United States government was looking for a way to spray insecticides to kill malaria-carrying bugs. In 1943, two. Department of Agriculture workers designed an aerosol can pressurized by liquefied gas.
Soon, hair spray was produced using the same principle, with a debate still raging over whether it was Chase Products of Broadview, Illinois, in 1948, or Helene Curtis of Chicago seven years later who came up with the idea. Early hair sprays contained polymers (long-chain chemical compounds) that when dry form tiny glue like spots at the junctions between hairs, holding them in place. These polymers are combined with solvents such as water, or alcohol, to help propel them onto the halt. Originally, hair sprays used chlorofluorocarbons as propellants, but during the 1990s a link was made between these gases and the depletion of the ozone layer, and they were subsequently banned from use. Also, environmental legislation was introduced that called for a reduction in the amount of volatile organic compounds (such as ethanol) in products.
Modern hair sprays now use hydrocarbons such as butane or propane. These products- also contain a much more sophisticated mixture of compounds to hold hair in place in unfavorable weather conditions.
