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Conventional hair styling products contain very similar ingredients, whether you're looking at hairspray, mousses or gels. As with many conventionally produced products, you probably need to have an advanced qualification in chemistry to figure out what exactly is included in most styling products. At the very least, most of the ingredients that we have come across would seem to come from non-renewable sources, which we believe is reason enough to avoid them. But we'll attempt to summarise the main ingredients that you may come across below:

Propellants
These are used to propel products out of aerosol cans and are therefore included in hairsprays and mousses. CFCs (chlorofluorocarbons) were originally used as propellants, but these have now been banned due to the damage they present to the ozone layer. They have been replaced with HFCs (hydroflourocarbons) or hydrocarbons such as butane and propane. All of which are 'not as polluting' as CFCs. We'd always recommend using pump sprays rather than aerosols as even CFC replacements will cause a certain amount of damage to the ozone layer and hydrocarbons have been shown to contribute to air pollution (as well as being dangerous to use due to being highly flammable).

Solvents
The safest solvent included in styling products is water and this is sometimes included in products which are intended to be used on wet hair, such as gels. Since water takes a long time to dry, products can also include alcohol of various types as a solvent. We have read unsubstantiated reports that methanol is the alcohol of choice included in some conventional hairsprays, which is a particular concern since methanol is toxic when ingested – it is likely that you will ingest some hairspray via inhalation if you are spraying the product in the general direction of your head! For this reason, we'd recommend that you stick to products (particularly hairsprays) containing either water or natural grain alcohol, preferably organically produced.

Holding Agents
These are the ingredients that actually hold your hair in place once the solvents have evaporated and are made up of polymers (long chain chemical compounds). In conventional products these polymers are usually petroleum derived and have names such as acrylates cross polymers, butylaminethyl methacrylate copolymer, polyvinylpyrrolidone, polydimethylsiloxane, VP/VA copolymer etc. It is very difficult to source any detailed safety data sheets for the above ingredients, so we'd recommend that you err on the side of caution and steer clear of them altogether. Natural alternatives to these ingredients are vegetable gums such as gum arabic (acacia tree gum) and gum tragacanth (sap from a variety of astragalus plants).

Additives
As with any other conventionally produced personal care product, various additives are usually included in hair styling aids which we would recommend that you avoid – these include fragrances (which could be made up of just about anything), parabens and artificial preservatives.
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