Digital BW, The Print

Hi,
today a friend mentioned that she knew an artist that used hairspray as a fixative for pastels and charcoal drawings, which brought to mind recent discussions of hairspray.

If artists are doing it, maybe it's an old practice and maybe there is some knowledge about its long term implications. 

Obviously print longevity was never a factor in formulating these sprays:)

So I'm wondering if anyone knows of old twenty or thirty year old prints of any kind, that had had the hairspray fixative method of print protection. (Optimising gloss would not have been a factor back then, but maybe protection??)

I've just discovered that with Lyson Print Guard on Eterna Excell or Moab Colorado Gloss I can get fantastic results - virtually no gloss differential with sufficient spraying (two coats minimum).

But these solvent sprays are pretty toxic and I don't like the idea of cans rusting away in the landfill in a few years and releasing their brew into the ground water ... so I wonder if maybe a coat of print guard to seal the print and then some hair spray might be a compromise. 

Any thoughts would be appreciated.

Richard
--
http://smallfield.vze.com

   "Imagination is more important than knowledge."
   --Albert Einstein