• We apologize for the somewhat convoluted sign-up process. Due to ever-more sophisticated attacks by chatbots, we had to increase our filtering in order to weed out AI while letting humans through. It's a nuisance, but a necessary one in order to keep the level of discourse on the forums authentic and useful. From the actual humans using WCP, thanks for your understanding!

Hair spray as mold release

JohnAbercrombie

Paddler
Joined
Dec 7, 2011
Messages
3,558
Location
Victoria, BC
On my 'to-Do' list for this week was fabricating a new glass/carbon/epoxy seat for my next kayak project (Bjorn Thomasson Njord).
Just a few days ago, I'd read (online) an article from 'Epoxyworks' - the WEST newsletter - about using hair spray in lieu of PVA mold release. No need to get out my (cheap) spray gun to mist the PVA on to the waxed mold, no gun cleanup, and the hair spray (Pantene Extra Hold ! :) ) was on sale at my local drugstore. Aerosol can so it sprayed very nicely.

It didn't work nearly as well as PVA. I got the seat off the mold but it was more of a struggle than usual, and I think it was the wax that was doing the mold release job, not the hair spray. Part of the mold - a small spot of gelcoat - pulled away with the seat, so now that must be repaired.

So, definitely not a technique I'll use again.

My shop does smell nice, though! :)

Here's the link to the Epoxyworks article:
https://www.epoxyworks.com/index.php/mold-release-pva-and-hairspray/
 
Last edited:
It didn't work nearly as well as PVA. I got the seat off the mold but it was more of a struggle than usual, and I think it was the wax that was doing the mold release job, not the hair spray. Part of the mold - a small spot of gelcoat - pulled away with the seat, so now that must be repaired.
That Epoxyworks article is dated 1999, I believe. Might be that hair spray products no longer use PVA.
 
Maybe there's a better release if you haircut the mould first.
Less itchy, too.
 
I watched some pros once a long time ago.
They simply drilled some small holes in the mold and uses compresses air. The part just popped out of the.
It was big part - a truck cab.
 
I watched some pros once a long time ago.
They simply drilled some small holes in the mold and uses compresses air. The part just popped out of the.
It was big part - a truck cab.
I've heard of that, too.
But, I think we can be sure that the mold for that truck cab was polished to a very high shine and had multiple coats of mold wax on it. And, probably a mist coat of PVA?
 
Back
Top