Following the accident, Michael Jackson sought treatment at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center, where doctors discovered that he’d suffered from serious burns. The hospital’s spokesperson Larry Baum revealed to The New York Times in 1984 that Jackson suffered from “second-degree burns on his skull,” and received further treatment at the Brotman Memorial Hospital’s burns unit. Jackson’s then-spokesperson John Branca said at the time, “Something went wrong and it exploded and Michael’s hair caught on fire.” According to spectators, pyrotechnics in the shoot ignited Jackson’s hair after he ventured too close to the open flame. One extra named Angela Bennett pointed to the pomade in Jackson’s hair as one culprit of the accident (via New York Daily News).
Bennett’s line of thinking is one shared by many fans and casual observers who assume that most hair products are flammable, and therefore, easily catch fire. However, former L.A. City Fire Department Captain Donald Donester, who was present during the terrifying Pepsi shoot, revealed to Access Hollywood that Jackson’s hair products may not have actually been responsible for the quick spread of the fire. In fact, whatever was in his hair possibly impeded the fire’s ability to spread. “Hair product may not exacerbate it sometimes,” Donester explained in 2009. “It might have retarded the effect. What was burning on Michael was almost like a candle effect where fumes were burning and not the hair. So that may have retarded the hair from being burned as quickly.”
