Re: 'history of hairspray'

I do not really have a great answer for you on this one. I suspect that it 
might be very hard to find out. Here are some things to look for:

(1) Try some of the companies who manufacture and market hairspray. Ask 
when they started with this product, and under what circumstances.

(2) I could say try a web search, but I have just done a profoundly 
unsuccessful one (AltaVista using simply "Hairspray" and then trying to 
refine was pretty useless in this case).

(3) Look up the patents for some of the early bulb or pump type spray 
devices. See if any of them suggest an application involving hairspray.

(4) Check out the memories of some of the older people you know.

I will give you some history from my own experience, which might or might 
not be relevant. Things sometimes are done differently in different 
countries. When I was a young boy growing up in rural (but not remote) 
Australia in the 1950s, I would visit the barber in the nearby town 
sometimes to have my hair cut. At the end of the haircut a spray was used, 
but it contained only water to damp the hair down. The barber would then 
rub in some scented hair oil (more usually) or cream (sometimes -- see if 
your parents or grandparents remember 'Brylcreem') with the palms of his 
hands. I do not remember spray being used in connection with hair 
applications until well into the 60s, but then I was not in the most up-to-
date part of the world. I also stopped going to the barber to get my hair 
cut -- have relied on various relatives or friends to do the job ever 
since. In the 1950s I remember hand held pump or bulb sprays being used in 
other applications -- insecticides, perfumes, printing fixatives, and so on 
-- but the only spray pumps I saw being used with hair contained clean 
water.