Abstract: Hair care products represent a world-wide multi-billion dollar industry. Pre-formed polymers are commonly used in a variety of hair care products including shampoos, conditioners, gels, and hair sprays. The present invention provides technology for polymerizing monomers on hair in situ to produce desired hair characteristics. This eliminates the solubility and application issues found with some polymers. The polymerization of monomers on hair is typically initiated using a thermal or photoinitiatied free radical initiator. In certain embodiments, the monomers are fluorinated thereby producing a fluorinated polymer on the hair upon polymerization. The invention provides monomers, initiators, methods, and kits for use in treating hair with polymers.