That’s actually quite an old rumour, and is used with lipstick, face creams, etc.
I vaguely recall a previous discussion on it. The partial pressure of oxygen, even in a pressure mask such as is used at 60000ft, is not enough to ignite any of that stuff, by a long way.
What will ignite is certain greases if used in high pressure (2000psi say) pipework fittings. One has to use special greases – if any grease is used at all.
Mind you, cosmetics / face creams make a right mess on headsets 
But it may be worth it 
This has been researched in the past
I love the conclusion – basically, not a problem, but don’t use alcohol-based aftershave above 2 bar oxygen pressure. I will keep that in mind.
In 2 bar oxygen and the right sort of aftershave you might have other challenges especially in today’s enlightened society
Peter wrote:
you might have other challenges
“Dr. Sircus, acupuncturist, doctor of oriental and pastoral medicine”
I was just testing you. As a PhD you should have done a foundation year on research methods
Cobalt wrote:
I love the conclusion – basically, not a problem, but don’t use alcohol-based aftershave above 2 bar oxygen pressure. I will keep that in mind.
I don’t think the 2 atm part was about aftershaves. Aftershave should be fine after the alcohol evaporates. It’s the oily stuff that shouldn’t be exposed to elevated pressures as a spark can ignite it. After all, they only tested three products under such conditions and as far as I could tell not one of them was an aftershave.
