Are you allowed to bring Hairspray onboard?
 

I'll be travelling to Asia and was wondering whether it is allowed to bring Hairspray onboard? I should only be carrying 1 or 2 cans with me.

I remember that when travelling through LAX, I looked on their website and it said that it was allowed so as long as the fluid .oz was under certain amount, not sure about other places and airlines though.

Thanks,

Anna

The TSA allows you to carry hairspray in your hand luggage but warns that particular airlines or other countries might prohibit it.

I find amusing the chart at http:asi.faa.gov/Docs/HAZMATByPassenger.PDF

It shows a can of AquaNet hairspray as an example of an authorized carry-on item.

It then says it allows "Non-toiletry aerosols that contain non-flammable & non-toxic gas in checked baggage only." This is illustrated by a can of Reddi-Wip.

Is whipped cream now considered an offensive weapon?

"Head this plane to Cuba or I am going to spray the stewardess with whipped cream!"

Shaving cream, on the other hand (or the other side of the face), is allowed in your hand luggage. This is an obvious hole in the entire security process. What if a resourceful terrorist manages to replace the foam in a Gillette can with Reddi-Wip?

There is only one protection against this: Screeners must put all shaving cream to the taste test. A little squirt of shaving cream must be taken from each can and tasted by screeners to ensure that it is not really whipped cream!

Write to your Congressman today and demand this procedure be instituted before there is an aviation dessert tragedy!

Isn't that the latest Hooters Air promotion?
:p

Those cans are charged with enough nitrous oxide to confuse a man for at least 45 seconds! A little kung-fu and all sorts of mayhem could break loose.

mmm, whippits! :D

Has nothing to do with being a weapon. A better interpretation of the FAA safety regulation is that aerosol cans are not permitted inside the cabin. The exception to this general rule are personal toiletry articles. Personal toiletry articles are those things you apply directly to your body. Hairspray, deodorant, insect repellent are toiletry articles. Starch, oven cleaner, spray paint are not.

Same principle applies to matches and lighters. As a general FAA safety regulation rule, they are not permitted on airplanes. The FAA has defined four books of matches and two lighters per passenger as an acceptable exception to this rule.

Torch lighters are not permitted on board. Period. Even if empty. However, there's some dispute about defining what is and what isn't a torch lighter.

TSA has nothing to do with defining these standards; however, TSA is charged to enforce these FAA safety regulations whenever these items are discovered during screening procedures.

One last thing I forgot: the airlines can always impose even tighter restrictions. For example, pepper spray is a prohibited item, and you cannot take it as a carry-on item. You may place it in your checked baggage. However, some airlines prohibit them even in checked baggage. How does this play out with TSA screeners? At the checkpoint, whenever we detect a can of pepper spray, we will treat it as a prohibited item, review all the options for disposing it, including placing it in checked baggage. At the checked baggage pod, we do not look for pepper spray as prohibited items unless there is more than one can (see the chart). We are not obligated to inform the airlines that we found a can of pepper spray even if we know that they prohibit it in checked baggage. We follow federal regulations not local airline policy. (This would change with private contracted screeners, by the way, but I digress.)

Now here's travel tip: you've been busted for having a can of pepper spray but decide to check your carry-on bag as checked baggage. Do you go to the airline counter and say?

Yes, you can bring hairspray - but please oh please don't spray the aerosol stuff inside the cabin! Though most aircraft do have better ventilation than most people assume, the stuff still lingers for a bit - especially inside the lavatories.

*cough cough*

This would seem to exempt Reddi-Wip. ;)

Maybe not wheezer ;) :p :D

I should have added "with apologies to Herb Alpert"

The FAA allows up to 67 oz of non-radioactive, medicinals & toiletries per person. No individual container may exceed 500 mL (16 oz).

In my professional opinion, please leave the aerosols at home. There have been several instances where aerosol cans of hairspray have exploded in the bellies of aircraft.

No strike-anywhere matches. No Calibri or Zippo lighters if they have had butane in them.

I'm tempted to start a thread on this very subject. But not tonite. :-:

Funny you should mention strike-anywhere matches. We had a passenger literally "flame up" while waiting in line. He later said that he had a couple boxes of strike-anywhere matches stored inside his backpack.

Nobody was hurt, and his burning backpack was doused before it became much of a hazard to anyone else.

Bart, I don't doubt the story, but was there any hypothesis developed as to why they ignited?

Unfortunately, I don't know all the details. It was over before very many of us noticed what had really happened.

Airport Security in Seoul grabbed my aerosal bug repel ,after I protested they pulled out thier lighter and proceded to show me how it could become a torch(they lite it up, quite impressive) I told them I was going to an area of the world where malaria was present and that I needed it for my health ,they accepted my explanation and gave it back to me