go for a mohawk

( Citizen Cavy Admires your passion for conformity, Tue 23 Oct 2012, 20:14, 1 reply, 13 years ago)

Not really an appropriate look for a prominent local businessman
It'll be a number 2 square neck as usual.

Not much you can do with my hair really - it's very curly.
( The Disappointed Caravanner of the year, Tue 23 Oct 2012, 20:17, Reply)

Chemical Straighteners my good man,
will make you bald.
( Windy Pig I'm naturally quite suspicious about the moon., Tue 23 Oct 2012, 20:21, Reply)

I was about 50% grey by the time I hit 30
But unless chemotherapy is necessary I'm not going to go bald.
( The Disappointed Caravanner of the year, Tue 23 Oct 2012, 20:26, Reply)

I recently learned a lot about permanent hair products as part of a distance learning course.
Fuck me, folk will put vicious stuff in their hair for vanity's sake!
( The Mock TurtIe ™ --- Thinks you are a cunt, on, Tue 23 Oct 2012, 20:39, Reply)

sometimes I put a hat on mine

( Citizen Cavy Admires your passion for conformity, Tue 23 Oct 2012, 20:41, Reply)

I used to put a hat on mine, too.

Oh, your speaking about heads.

Move on, then, I got it wrong.
(Phudbree oh man, the Doric Yorick, Tue 23 Oct 2012, 21:00, Reply)

I can remember my granny getting perms in the early 70's.
And I'm guessing that the stuff they used probably wasn't too far removed from Hydrogen Peroxide - rocket propellant, very unstable, rejected by NATO but used by the Eastern Block until Kursk.
( The Disappointed Caravanner of the year, Tue 23 Oct 2012, 20:49, Reply)

It's a two-stage process.
The first is breaking down the hair's structure with a waving lotion containing reducing agent (usually thioglycollic acid), which is almost as dangerous in its own right. The second is fixing it in place with a neutraliser containing an oxidising agent (usually, as you say, hydrogen peroxide).

Chemical straighteners ("relaxers") use caustic soda - which is more typically used to unblock drains or shift really stubborn grease.
( The Mock TurtIe ™ --- Thinks you are a cunt, on, Tue 23 Oct 2012, 20:57, Reply)

I'm going back a bit here
But wouldn't thioglycollic acid in thermite make a basic explosive?

If I'd put my granny head down in an improvised tube I could probably have set a trajectory and fired her at Morecambe.
( The Disappointed Caravanner of the year, Tue 23 Oct 2012, 21:06, Reply)

No, no,

Head down on Malcolm, not Morecombe. He does the aiming. Cos yer granny can't see where her erse is aiming.
(Phudbree oh man, the Doric Yorick, Tue 23 Oct 2012, 21:13, Reply)

Probably could, it's a strong reducing agent.
But the thioglycollic acid would have been inactivated when they put the neutraliser on, so your granny's hair was unlikely to have made a good explosive - unless they made a total hash job of it.
( The Mock TurtIe ™ --- Thinks you are a cunt, on, Tue 23 Oct 2012, 21:15, Reply)

Get the Hydrogen Peroxide in then
The Eastern Block used Hydrogen Peroxide routinely as missile propellant and even submarine propellant.

I reckon I could have got her to Burnley with that.

Thermite and thiogloccic makes a loud but localised bang - railway detonators.
( The Disappointed Caravanner of the year, Tue 23 Oct 2012, 21:23, Reply)

HTP or High Test Peroxide is still used in rockets
Not in torpedos any more. Many years ago I took the safe handling course for HTP - it's very nasty stuff - over 90% H2O2! The peroxide in hair products is extremely tame in comparison, about 3-5%.
(Captain Placid 24/7 ball gags, brownie mix and clown porn, Tue 23 Oct 2012, 22:28, Reply)