Not since the advent of Kraft spray cheese has a product oozed more gloriously out of an aerosol can, proving a much-needed service to the masses. Whereas women had once labored for countless hours, using a whole assortment of curlers, hairsprays and teasing until they developed tendonitis, all to create the perfect head of hair, this new innovation in hair care technology replaced everything in one fell swoop.

Named after a light and fluffy French desert treat, Mousse actually shared some similarities with the confection. Both were a cloudlike, weightless concoction of foam-like substance (ok, so maybe that’s the only similarity.) Mousse coated the hair similar to hair gel, but without the weight that trapped hair follicles like a worm in a pail of concrete. Rather, Mousse managed to shape hair and infuse bounce. It didn’t form an impervious shell like a coat of hairspray, nor plaster the hair in place like gels. It transformed even the most unruly locks of long hair into manageable strands of weightless beauty.  And should one be adorned with what can only be described as “Big Hair”, a little mouse coupled with a couple of spritzes of hairspray and some well-coordinated teasing could make that helmet of hair into a sculpted masterpiece.

By the 90s, the mousse phase started to fizzle out, as hairspray and rollers began to make a comeback and a whole bunch of new technological hair-care advances soon hit the market. But many a headbanger owes a debt of gratitude to this miracle foam in a spray can that could tame the wild beast into a bouncy, manageable head of weightless hair.