> I've heard tales (maybe they are true, maybe not, I don't know) of pyromaniacs in college who would spray down their arms with hair spray, light it, and then run screaming through the halls waving their flaming arms in the air as a practical joke on the unwary. Supposedly, they suffered no harm from it, other than perhaps a little singed arm hair. Could this be true?
>
> Gri"and then there was something called 'shuba,' but I won't go into that"shny

Depends. Did they have really blackened arms? ;)

what the people coming up with these stories are thinking of is the old kids trick of dipping your hand in water, then in lighter fluid, then touch a candle. The lighter fluid (or benzene in the old days) burns cool and fast enough that the water protects the hand. The problem arises when adults try this. The hair that you've grown during puberty acts as a wick, and draws the fire right down to the skin and hurts like crazy. If someone sprayed hairspray on their arms and set themselves on fire, they'd burn up. Hairspray wouldn't protect you from the fire. if anything, it'd make the fire worse.