Why You'll Want To Start Misting Your Fresh Flowers With Hairspray

A bouquet of flowers always spruces up a room and adds a cheerful touch to the space. It's an instant moodlifter. But while falling petals might require some cleanup, some bouquets are naturally messier than others. For example, lilies, daffodils, and tulips might be beautiful, but their pollen grains tend to fall down as the flower wilts, leaving behind difficult-to-clean stains. The telltale yellow powder can flutter down onto the table, permanently staining linoleum or marble. It can even blemish a nearby armrest or dining room chair cushion if it's on a side table. Even worse, it can fall on the carpet or area rug below, leaving an unsightly blemish behind. Luckily, you can avoid that kerfuffle by grabbing something unexpected from your bathroom: hairspray.

Your hairspray is not just to lock in a hairstyle. It can also be used to seal the flowers' stamens so the pollen doesn't sprinkle down. This is a great preventative hack to try because you probably already have this item in your house, negating the need to run out and buy a specialty product. You can give your hairspray a second job by making it a staple in your flower-arranging routine. Intrigued? Here's how to do it.

Pollen is so challenging to remove because it's so brightly colored. It's also a powder, which can lodge itself deep into the fabric of a seat or the wood grain of a piece of furniture. This will make it nearly impossible to budge. In addition, it's more difficult to wash from fabric than wood, and the longer you allow the stain to set in, the harder it will be to clean. This can pose a problem, especially if the pollen falls when you've stepped out of the house for the whole day or are asleep at night. But rather than stressing out over whether or not your charming bouquet will end up ruining your furniture, you can take preventative measures by spraying the stamens with hairspray.

As soon as you bring your flowers home, grab your hairspray and lightly spray the inside of the flower with it. A slight spritz in each bloom is all you need; you don't want to apply too much spray, or else you might harm the flower itself. Not only will this keep pollen off of your furniture and flooring, but it will also help preserve your flowers longer. The colors will fade slower, and the petals will hang on better if you choose to move the vase around. It's a win-win situation!