Aqua Net
spray can | |
Product type | Hair spray |
---|---|
Owner | Lornamead, Inc. (Meiyume) |
Introduced | 1950s |
Ambassador(s) | The Three Stooges, Donna Mills |
I dyed my hair platinum blond; Leah liked to help me fluff it up by teasing it and using Aqua Net hairspray—it would be just towering, six to eight inches high...
Aqua Net is an American brand of aerosol hair spray created by Rayette of St. Paul, Minnesota. The company brought the product to retail stores in 1961.[3] By 1964, hairspray had become the top-selling beauty product in America.[4][5] The brand is known for its distinctive large purple spray cans, and the spray itself is known for its strong hold and distinctive smell.[6]
History
Aqua Net was invented by the Rayette Company of St. Paul, Minnesota
In the 1960s, Aqua Net was advertised by The Three Stooges.[15]
In the 1980s, a renewed trend for
Around January 1989, Fabergé entered talks to sell a number of brands, including Aqua Net, to Unilever.[23] The sale was completed in February 1989.[24]
In 1989–1992, Aqua Net was the subject of a product safety lawsuit, Nowak v. Faberge USA,[25] that has since entered legal textbooks.[26]
In the 1990s, Aqua Net was used by
The brand was acquired from Unilever in 2006 by Lornamead, Inc.[30] Lornamead instigated a rebranding effort intended to reference the product's heritage by reviving parts of its original design elements.[11][31] Li & Fung acquired Lornamead in 2012.[32] Lornamead is currently part of Meiyume, owned by a joint venture between the Fung Group and Hony Capital called LH Pegasus.
Composition and health effects
Aqua Net's ingredients include
From at least 1970 through 1972, during a period in which it was manufactured by
In 2002, during the period in which it was manufactured by Unilever, Aqua Net was reported to contain the phthalates dibutyl phthalate (DBP) and diethyl phthalate (DEP).[35] Pthalates are associated with male reproductive dysfunction.[35]
Alternative uses
Besides hairstyling, Aqua Net has been used:
- as a fixative in microbiology, typically during staining procedures;[36][37][38]
- as a fixative for charcoal or pastel artworks;[39]
- by ballerinas, to reduce slippage of pointe shoe ribbons;[19]
- for stiffening or straightening crinolines, skirts and tulle;[19]
- as a solvent for un-gluing hair extensions;[19]
- as a stain remover for makeup;[19]
- as an insect killer;[40]
- as a propellant in potato cannons;[41][42][43][44]
- as an inhalant in recreational substance abuse;[45]
- for increasing print adhesion in 3D Printing.[46][47][48]
In popular culture
- In the film After Hours (1985), the beehive-wearing, 1960s-obsessed character Julie is shown to have a large backup supply of Aqua Net.[49][50]
- In the film When Harry Met Sally... (1989), Sally Albright uses Aqua Net on her Farrah Fawcett-style hairdo.[51][52] The use of a well-known product with a strong "set" may have been chosen by the film's writers in order to add a subtext.[53]
- In the television series Mad Men (2009), the lead characters' advertising agency pitches for the Aqua Net account.[54][55]
- The song AquaNet by Yelawolf
References
- ^ Yaeger, Lynn (22 May 2007). "Winehouse Rules: Amy channels Ronnie Spector's high hair and Cleopatra eyes". Village Voice. Archived from the original on 6 March 2012. Retrieved 27 July 2011.
- ISBN 9781409111313.
- ^ a b "RAYETTE - FABERGE PROFIT HARVEST". Investors Reader. 1966. Retrieved 26 December 2021.
- ^ Sherrow 2006, pp. 183
- ISBN 9780313331459– via Google Books.
- ^ ISBN 9781931686549– via Google Books.
- ISBN 9780760345467– via Google Books.
- ^ a b c "Acquisitions Give Rayette Broadest Base In Field". Minneapolis Star Tribune. 3 May 1964.. p. 5.
{{cite news}}
: Missing or empty|title=
(help) - ^ "Rayette Shows 700% increase". Minneapolis Star. 27 January 1960.. p. 47.
{{cite news}}
: Missing or empty|title=
(help) - ^ "Rayette Purchase of Faberge Cost Firm $20 Million". Minneapolis Star Tribune. 28 June 1963.. p. 10.
{{cite news}}
: Missing or empty|title=
(help) - ^ a b "Before & After: Aqua Net". Thedieline.com.
- ^ "10-K Transcript". 5 July 1977.
- ^ "Faberge Will Provide Aqua Net For New Line". Articles.chicagotribune.com. 16 December 1985. Retrieved 28 July 2018.
- ISBN 9780394570501. Retrieved 27 July 2018 – via Internet Archive.
aqua-net.
- ISBN 9781613740859.
- ^ "Classic Tracks: Motley Crue's "Girls, Girls, Girls"". Mixonline.com. December 2007.
- ^ Guarnieri, Anne-Marie (13 April 2012). "Nostalgia: When Hair Was Big". Allure.com.
- ISBN 9781938441691– via Google Books.
- ^ a b c d e "The Return of Aqua Net: How the 80s Hairspray Became a Fashion Phenomenon—Again". Vogue.com. 27 May 2014.
- ISBN 9781459607088 – via Google Books.. Laweekly.com. Retrieved 5 July 2018.
- "23 Throwback Beauty Products You Totally Used as a Teen". Goodhousekeeping.com. 20 August 2015.
- "This $100K collection of '80s memorabilia is totally tubular". Nypost.com. 25 November 2017.
- Stone, Rolling (15 April 2018). "See Howard Stern on Bon Jovi's Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Induction". Rollingstone.com.
- "Break out the Aqua Net! Heavy metal retakes stage". The Christian Science Monitor. 1 December 2003.
- Tom Beaujour; Richard Bienstock; Chuck Eddy; Reed Fischer; Kory Grow; Maura Johnston; Christopher R. Weingarten (13 October 2015). "50 Greatest Hair Metal Albums of All Time". Rollingstone.com.
- "Guns N' Roses: Appetite for Destruction: Super Deluxe Edition - Album Review - Slant Magazine". Slantmagazine.com. 2018-06-22. Retrieved 5 July 2018.
- Harvell, Jess. "How Def Leppard's unlikely glam-metal revolution changed everything - City Pages". City Pages. Retrieved 5 July 2018.
- Konow, David (29 November 2016). "1986: The Year Thrash Metal Exploded, Thanks to Three Now-Classic Albums"
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: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link{{cite web}}
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has generic name (help)
- Sherrow, Victoria (2006). Encyclopedia of Hair: A Cultural History. Greenwood Publishing Group. ISBN 0-313-33145-6.