WRIT 340
Professor Warford
Winsen Lie
Illumin Paper
6/12/2014
Hairstyling: Engineering Your Appearance
“Your hair is your crowning glory.” You have probably heard this expression, pun
entirely intended. Consequently, people aim to make their hair look as good as
possible. Over the course of time, popular hairstyles have evolved remarkably around
the world. From sweeping up-dos to short, spikey styles, none of these constantly
evolving styles are possible without a little help. Thankfully, science and engineering
led to the invention of hairstyling products, which play a starring role in facilitating
the change in hairstyles. Fundamental hair care products, such as hair gel and
hairspray, have become everyday solutions in engineering appearances for both men
and women.
Introduction
For some people, appearance is important, but for others, not so much. Despite
differing opinions, numerous studies have consistently shown that people tend to
view people with better appearances as more trustworthy and skillful [1][2]. A
person’s hairstyle is one of the features others look at when assessing people’s
appearances, aside from clothing and make-up. It makes sense, then, that people
want to have attractive hairstyles.
Like everything else in our fast-paced, ever-changing world, popular hairstyles have
evolved significantly over centuries. People in the media spotlight especially have
influenced in hairstyles. Take former professional soccer star David Beckham,
whose iconic undercut has had strong influence on men’s hairstyles (See Figure 1).
The evolution of popular hairstyles, however, could not have happened without the
help of science and engineering. The invention of fundamental hair care products,
such as hair gel and hairspray, has affected the way hairstyles evolved.
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History
Figure 1: David Beckham with his undercut hairstyle
Hairstyles are not something new. Many styles have been in and out of fashion since
the ancient civilizations. For instance, there was an era when Egyptian men and
women shaved their heads to keep cool in a hot climate and wore wigs only to cover
their heads from the sun [3]. There was also a period when the Egyptians used fatbased ‘gel’ to preserve curls. An incredible discovery was made by archeologists
who studied hair samples from eighteen mummies [4]. In nine of the mummies, a
fat-based substance was found on their hair [4]. As shown in Figure 2, the substance
was used by the Egyptians to set their hair in place. Most of the mummies studied
were at least 2,300 years old [4]. Even back then, appearance mattered – how you
looked and your hairstyle was important. The Egyptians used hairstyles as a status
symbol; elaborate hairstyles distinguished noble men and women from common
people [5].
P. Landmann/Getty Images
Figure 2: High-status ancient Egyptians used fatty products to preserve their
hairstyle in the afterlife
In ancient Rome and Greek, men sprinkled their hair with colored powder and
women dyed their hair with yellow soap; some women even wore the hair of captive
barbarians as ebony wigs [3], making the hair-dying products created by science
and engineers thankfully less gruesome in comparison.
During 17th and 18th centuries in North America, men wore long curly wigs, and
women’s hair was mostly flat on top with fringe on the forehead [3]. In the 20th
century, women turned to the bob hairstyle as a symbol of political and social
emancipation after the World War I. Following that, movie stars popularized shorter
hair for women. The resulting short hairstyles led to the popularity of permanent
waves on women’s hair. The early permanent required heat and was a complicated,
inconvenient 12-hour process [3]. Can you imagine spending 12 hours styling your
hair?
Enter science and the introduction of hair gel, which simplified the process and gave
way to the popularity of the cold wave [3]. The similar trend applied for men too;
shorter cuts became all the rage for men of the same era. In addition, from the 1920s
to 1960s, the shiny “wet” look was stylish [6]. What all these hairstyle trends show
is that the invention of hair care products gave way to new hairstyles, as products
help overcome the complexity of creating hairstyles and corral those wayward locks
into whatever style the fashion of the moment dictated.
Invention of Hair Care Products
Chemists have been essential to inventing hairstyling products, including one of the
very first hairstyling products ever invented: modern hair gel. Modern hair gel is a
hair care product applied to the hair to help with the styling process. It helps keep
hair where you want it. While it was not introduced as a hairstyling product until
the early 20th century, in the ancient world, it existed in various forms such as
macassar oil and corn oil [6].
Macassar oil is a compounded oil made of palm oil or coconut oil, ylang-ylang oil
(can be obtained from the flowers of ylang-ylang tree, which is a kind of perfume
tree) [7]. Chemico Works, a British company known for producing household
cleaners, invented hair gel in 1928 [6]. Hair gel was then introduced to the market in
1929 [6], when it became the first hair gel product on the consumer market and was
called Brylcream [6]. The product immediately held appeal to many people because
you only needed to rub a small amount of the hair gel on the palms to style hair
however you wanted [6]. It did not take long for hair gel’s popularity and to reach
Europe and North America as a fashionable product for hairstyling [6]. The wide
availability of gel led to an evolution in hairstyles, specifically in North America.
Both men and women used hair gel to get a shiny “wet” look and to keep their hair
in place. Since then, with the help of chemistry, hairstyling product industries have
developed different types of hair gels since late 1930s for both men and women [6].
It was often found in different forms depending on the properties, such as shine,
holding power, and fragrance, people sought to control otherwise unruly and
difficult-to-create hairstyles.
Another fundamental hair care product invented in 20th century was hairspray [8].
While hair gel was used to create a hairstyle, hairspray was designed to lock a
certain hairstyle in place. The birth of commercial hairspray took place in 1940s
after the U.S. government spent money on a campaign in utilizing insect spray to
fight malaria in the military [8]. It was later discovered that this campaign was
responsible for decades of perfectly coiffed hair [8]. Not long after the war ended,
the beauty industry utilized the aerosol spray system, which was a type of
dispensing system that changed liquid particles inside the container into aerosol
mist, to develop the first commercial hairspray [8]. The first company to release the
commercial hairspray was Chase Products in 1948 [8].
Hair Gel
The basic ingredient in hair gel that holds the hair together is styling polymer [9]. A
polymer is a compound made of a large number of simpler molecules (called
monomers) of the same kind [10]. The styling polymer gives hair gel strength to
hold the hair and dissolves in water easily enough that it can be washed out without
too much effort [9]. Two polymers that are mostly used as styling polymers in hair
gel are polyvinylpyrrolidone (PVP) and vinylpyrrolidone (VP) [9]. The chemical
structure of PVP is shown in Figure 3.
Polymer Science Learning Center
Figure 3: Chemical structure of PVP
Polymer alone, however, does not get the job done. A thickening system is also a
critical ingredient for hair gel [9]. Carbomer is the most commonly used thickening
agent for hair gel; it is an acrylic polymer that is acidic when put into water solution.
Acrylic polymers are compounds produced by bonding acrylic acid with other
molecules [9]. Hair gel also contains water and alcohol [9]. Water helps in keeping
the hair strands in place while alcohol helps the gel dry faster to set the style [9].
The rest of the ingredients in hair gel vary depending on the different products and
include colorants, emollients, and fragrances [9]. Colorants create the colors for the
final products. Emollients help give your hair that soft, touchable, feeling after the
product is applied, and fragrances are what give different products those delightful
smells that make your hair smell appealing. Each brand is different and has different
ingredients – after all, people and style vary widely, so it stands to reason that
different elements of various gels appeal to different people. Some hair gel might
have strong holding power, but do not give that shiny “wet” look, and vice versa.
Typical modern hair gel product can be seen in Figure 4.
Internet Provisions Store
Figure 4: Hair gel in a bottle
How It Works
The styling polymers, such as PVP, are dissolved in water, and they will form a clear
film between each hair strand, attaching it to one another [11]. When hair gel is
applied to wet hair, the PVP absorbs water quickly. It will then form a fixed
connection between hair strands in the form of a thin coating [11][12]. The coating
is stiff and keeps the hair from moving around [12]. Rinsing the hair with water and
shampoo removes the gel, as doing so will break PVP’s water-soluble connections
[11].
Hairspray
Hairspray is designed to keep a certain hairstyle in place; it is usually packaged in a
can with a pressurized aerosol component. The most common ingredients found in
hairspray are PVP, polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS), gum arabic, alcohols,
hydrocarbons, and gum tragacanth [13]. This somewhat word-garbling list of
ingredients is less intimidating than it looks. Like in hair gel, PVP is a polymer
responsible for the hair spray’s stickiness, while PDMS is non-water soluble polymer
that promotes long-lasting hold [13]. Some hairsprays use natural polymers such as
vegetable gums. Gum arabic, which comes from the hardened sap of African acacia
trees, is one of them; it helps keep the hair stiff for hours [14]. Many other products
such as paints and glues also use gum arabic in their ingredients.
Another example of vegetable gums is gum tragacanth, which can be used to stiffen
calico and crepe, as well as hair [14]. A compound of carbon, fluorine, and chlorine
(CFC) was once used as the solvent for hairspray. However, no surprise, it was
discovered in the late twentieth century that the release of CFC into the atmosphere
caused the destruction of stratospheric ozone layer [15]. Hence, CFC was replaced
by other solvents such as alcohol and hydrocarbon. Unfortunately, the combination
of hydrocarbon and alcohol is very flammable. Consumers are warned to avoid
contact with heat or fire during the use of hairspray until it is completely dry [15].
HowStuffWorks
Figure 5: Inside an aerosol can
How It Works
Before understanding how hairspray works, it is essential to know briefly how an
aerosol can system works. You do not need a psychiatrist to delve into the inner
workings of an aerosol can; how it works is really quite simple, and the typical
aerosol components can be seen in Figure 4. Basically, the solvent (which is in liquid
form) is kept under high pressure inside the aerosol can, so that it does not have
enough room to expand into a gas [16]. Think of it as similar to vacuum storage bag,
which is often used to store pillows in order to maximize storage space; the pillow
inside a vacuum storage bag will stay compressed as long as the bag remains
completely sealed. So the solvent will stay in liquid form even if the surrounding
temperature is above its boiling point [16].
Once the valve on the nozzle is open, the pressure on the solvent drops instantly
[16]. With less pressure, the solvent can begin to boil, and it will form a gas layer at
the top of the can [16]. This layer pushes the solvent inside the can up to the nozzle
[16]. When the solvent flows through the nozzle, it rapidly expands into a gas,
forming a fine aerosol mist [16], as shown in Figure 6.
Life Hackery
Figure 6: Using an aerosol can
Hairspray utilizes the nozzle on aerosol cans to come out in an even spray [17].
Spraying the product will result in the formation of PVP coating covering all your
lovely locks after the solvent dries [17].
PDMS is what distinguishes hairspray from hair gel; it is a silicone that forms
another layer on top of the PVP layer that keeps water out [12]. The composition of
these layers is shown in Figure 7. Thanks to the ingenious minds of engineers
behind this process, your hair will have a more natural look, as opposed to a tacky
one (which is provided by hair gel). The coating delivers a stiff texture and allows
the hair to resist changing shape [17].
Polymer Science Learning Center
Figure 7: The composition of PVP and PDMS layers on a hair strand
Conclusion
Hairstyling products are used by people everywhere to engineer their appearances.
These products are perceived simple and easy to use – and they are in theory.
However, behind the simplicity lays complexity in the processes of how hairstyling
products work. Fortunately, these complex processes can be explained by science
and engineering, which have turned seemingly unconnected compounds and
ingredients into something useful. So the next time you are standing in front of the
mirror spraying ad smoothing your “crowning glory” into submission, take a
moment to appreciate science and engineering as an integral part of society that lets
you put your best strands forward with minimal effort.
References
[1] V. Giang (2012, May 22). “This Study Proves That Looks Matter More Than
Reputation.” Business Insider [Online]. Available:
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[2] D. Tingley (2012, April 5). “Face-off: Facial Features and Strategic Choice.”
Harvard Decision Science Laboratory [Online]. Available:
http://decisionlab.harvard.edu/_content/research/papers/Tingley_Facial_Fe
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[3] “Hair.” Queens New York [Online]. Available:
http://www.queensnewyork.com/history/hair.html
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[7] P. Ghosh, P. Chakraborty, A. Mandal, M.G. Rasul, Madhumita, and A. Saha.
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[9] P. Romanowski (2011, July 11). “Cosmetic Formulation Basics – Styling Gel.”
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[12] “Polyvinylpyrrolidone.” Polymer Science Learning Center [Online]. Available:
http://chemsrv1.uwsp.edu/mactest/nvp.htm
[13] “What Are the Most Common Hair Spray Ingredients?” [Online]. Available:
http://www.wisegeek.com/what-are-the-most-common-hair-sprayingredients.htm
[14] F. Senese. “What Is Hairspray Made of?” [Online]. Available:
http://antoine.frostburg.edu/chem/senese/101/consumer/faq/hairsprayingredients.shtml
[15] J. Toedt, D. Koza, and K. V. Cleef-Toedt, “Cosmetics and bathroom products,” in
Chemical Composition of Everyday Products. Westport, CT: Greenwood,
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[16] T. Harris. “How Aerosol Cans Work.” HowStuffWorks [Online]. Available:
http://science.howstuffworks.com/innovation/everydayinnovations/aerosol-can3.htm
[17] A. Bodine. “How Does Hair Spray Work?” eHow [Online]. Available:
http://www.ehow.com/how-does_4603710_hair-spray-work.html