Big hair days

It takes 40 minutes and five canisters of hairspray to prepare the lead actor for the spotlights - and then there's the suit

It is surely no coincidence that holes in the ozone layer were discovered after the 1970s: consider the smog of hairspray that surrounds Adam Jon Fiorentino and you will know why the decade's hairstyles are said to have had disastrous consequences for the environment.

Backstage at Perth's Burswood Theatre, the actor is undergoing the daily, 40-minute hair preparation that will transform him into Saturday Night Fever's Tony Manero. At least, we're told he's here - it's hard to see anything in the smog of hairspray.

'I call it the helmet,' says the 23-year-old, Melbourne-born actor, tilting his head at himself in the mirror. 'Have you seen Spaceballs: The Movie? If you look at my shadow, I have that round, halo thing going on because the hair is given so much air. And yet it's so solid at the same time. Sometimes I go straight home with it still coiffed, although I haven't dared go out clubbing in it or anything like that.'

The amount of flame propellants being sprayed over Fiorentino's head is something to behold. The hole in the ozone layer above Perth is probably widening as we speak. Five different canisters of hair products - each the size of mini fire extinguishers - contribute to the daily ritual.

'We realised that blokes in those days probably had nowhere to put their wallets because their pants were so tight,' jokes Fiorentino, 'so maybe that was what the big hair was really for.'