The Dry Shampoo Review — Like the Comet

Two things I have grown to be very grateful for are softened water and quality water pressure in the shower.

Growing up, my hair was always quite thick, no matter the length. My senior year of high school was when it was at its prime. It was one of the longest I’ve ever grown my hair out, and it had volume for dayzzz. (See mildly awkward photo below.)

Ah, yes. The wonderful phase I went through being obsessed with Photo Booth on my (then) new MacBook Pro.

My senior year of high school would be the last year my hair would be blessed with softened city water that left minimal, if any, mineral build up on my hair.

College hit ya girl’s mane hard. I lived in the Towers at CMU - Wheeler, if we’re being specific - and besides sharing a room the size of some people’s walk in closet with three other roommates, the water in the shower was incredibly unforgiving. For starters, it was Mount Pleasant water which is CHALKED FULL of minerals that absolutely brought the beat down on my hair - just dropping bows on it. What was once soft hair was now dry as fuck and the volume that had once inflated my hair (and clearly my ego) every day was no where to be found.

Unfortunately, even though I moved from the dorms to Copper Beech apartments for the remainder of my time at CMU, I could not escape the rock water (that’s my geology joke of the day, you’re welcome). Therefore, to combat this water from absolutely ruining my hair, I started spacing hair washes from every day to every other day.

Fast forward three years and I now live in an apartment building that was built in the 1950s. I have outlets on the walls that are only two-prong. Let me say that again, I HAVE TWO-PRONGED OUTLETS. Now, you may be asking, is that up to code? Well, I’m glad you asked because I ask the same question practically every time I see the head maintenance guy, Craig. They claim it technically is because they’ve added various three-prong outlets with the little circuit breaker buttons in the middle to a few walls of my apartment… I also have an Edison bulb circuit breaker, if you know what that is. Anyway, in addition to the building being older than my mother, my pipes have seen better days. The amount of rust that is surrounding the little openings on my shower head is too much for comfort. So, we’ve graduated from mineral-saturated, unsoftened water to rusty, unsoftened water…

To prevent this water doing a number to my hair even more than it already has, I have adopted a "twice is nice” strategy where I only wash my hair twice a week.

That’s right. Two days. Per week. Do I wash my hair.

Actually, today (Sunday) was the first day since last Tuesday that I washed my hair.

Now, I know what you’re thinking. You’re probably having the same reaction I usually get when I tell people I only wash my hair twice a week….

You shouldn’t tell people that.

Lol. Jk.

Most people ask, how? How am I able to go 3-4 days at a time without washing my hair and still prevent it from getting greasy, matted, etc.

Well, my friends, the secret to my sauce includes the following:

Strategically spacing out washing my hair to the days I know I’ll be sweating profusely
Dry shampoo

That’s it. I’ve been doing this for about 2.5 years now and personally, I think it’s working out pretty well. My hair has been responding positively to it, and it’s been a somewhat fun adventure playing with a bunch of different hair styles between washes to get volume or hide the grease.

So, for those of you who have been thinking about cutting back on your washes, but aren’t sure where to start, I’m here to help. You know your schedule better than anyone, so start by noticing the days you’re sweating more than others. For example, if you do cardio on Mondays, Wednesdays and Saturdays, then maybe you try to wash your hair those days.

As for the dry shampoo part of all of this, ya girl has gone through her fair share of dry shampoo brands. Most that I’ve used are pretty reasonably priced and available at local drugstores or grocery stores. So, before you feel like you’re going to have to test out a ton of brands to you find one you like, I’ve already done a lot of the leg work for you. You’re welcome. :)

Below, in mostly chronological order by when I used them, are all of the brands I’ve tried enough times to provide a what I would consider an honest, solid review. :)

Aussie, 7 in 1 Total Miracle Dry Shampoo

This was one of the very first dry shampoos I ever used. Now, I do want to note that the dust around the top of the can is not from the dry shampoo. It’s literally just dust lol. I haven’t used this can in a while but I keep it around in case I’m in a pinch and unfortunately, when they re-coated my shower with this white sealant stuff last summer, it sprayed a thin dusting all over everything in my bathroom. So ignore the dust. I also will say it’s been probably about a year or so since I’ve used this, so I’m using what I have from my memory on the review below.

PRICE: Around $5-6 depending on where you buy it.

PROS:

Smells good - it has a sweeter scent that isn’t overpowering, but also will cover the smell of “dirty head” (if you know, you know.) I feel like the scent wouldn’t be everybody’s cup of tea, but I like it.
Affordable
Available at most stores like Walgreens and Meijer
Doesn’t leave white residue in your hair as long as you work it through really well

CONS:

Although it doesn’t leave a ton of white residue, it does cause my hair to become piece-y or chunky after more than one use, which is one of the reasons why I started trying out other brands. My hair didn’t necessarily look greasy, but because my hair would just stick in clumps, it made it easier to tell my hair needed to be washed.
Can feel gritty in your hair
Can weigh down your hair if you have fine hair
Doesn’t do a super awesome job of absorbing the grease day after day. I definitely have to reapply a decent amount the next day to achieve the look I’m going for which also kind of causes my hair to look not fresh and heavy.
Probably not a con for some of you, but I’m in marketing and packaging weighs in on what I buy. This packaging is pretty basic, but to be fair I think they’ve changed it since the last time I purchased it. Just wanted to note lol.

Not Your Mother’s Dry Shampoo

This is one of my favorite drugstore dry shampoos. I’ve gone through a few cans of the one above which is their texturizing formula. I also recently tried their newer “body building” formula in a purple can that’s scented orange mango and liked that one as well. This is probably be one of my top go-to affordable brand recommendations for anyone looking for a new dry shampoo, but just depends on what you like.

PRICE: Around $5-7 depending on where you buy.

PROS:

Smells really great and masks the scent of dirty head lol - minus their original scent. It just has a chemical smell to it that isn’t my favorite.
Affordable
Absorbs grease pretty darn well
High quality product for lower price
Doesn’t sit heavily in your hair even after a few days of use
Isn’t hard to work through your hair
Restores volume if you need it
I like the design on this packaging because it’s clean but still fun

CONS:

Can be gritty after a few days of using it
I have to be careful to not run my fingers through my hair when this is in it because it has a tendency to get on my hands and then it’s inevitable that I touch my black dress pants afterwards which leaves white finger prints all over the place — cool cool.
It’s not uncommon for my hair to look greasy the next day even though this is still in my hair. So, I end up just spraying a shit ton more in there because now it has to power through the day before’s layer of dry shampoo too.
I know I use a lot of dry shampoo every week, but I feel like these bottles run out really quickly. I’m not sure if it’s due to the point above of where I feel like I have to respray a ton in my hair on the second/third day to counteract the spots that didn’t hold up from the previous day or if I am just using too much lol.

Batiste Dry Shampoo - Tropical

Before I tried Batiste dry shampoo, I had heard mixed reviews on it. Some people love it and some people hate it. I actually just watched a YouTube video and the girl said she loves adding a smidge of this dry shampoo to her hair to give it volume. So, to each his or her or whatever pronoun you identify with own. I also have always associated Batiste with women from a more seasoned generation because one of my aunts used to (or still does) use their cans of perfume/body spray regularly. I just never considered trying any of their products because of that which is why Batiste has never been a brand at the top of my radar.

PRICE: $7-8 depending on where you buy it.

PROS:

Smells great and they have quite the variety of scents
The packaging is super cute
Disperses a lot of product in one little spritz, so you don’t use a lot each time.
Affordable
Will add volume if you need it
Will keep the grease from your hair at bay pretty well for at least the first two days

CONS:

You better WERK! *Cue either Ru Paul or Lizzie McGuire Movie — Seriously though, you really have to work this through your hair with your hands, a brush, etc. just to get the white to go away. Even after I’ve worked it in enough for it to be acceptable, I sometimes feel like it’s definitely noticeable that there’s a white cast to my roots. Not enough that I think other people notice it, but I do.
- Note: Batiste does have dry shampoo options made for specific hair colors. I believe they have one for blondes, brunettes and people with very dark brown almost black and/or black hair. I haven’t tried those yet, so those might eliminate the white reside factor, but considering this wasn’t my favorite dry shampoo ever, I’m not sure I will try it. Therefore, if you’ve given any of those a shot, please let me know how they treated you!
GRITTY AF. This makes your hair feel so gritty. You can’t tell looking at it, but once you put your fingers in there, it’s like running your fingers through sand. I’m not a huge fan of that, so if you don’t like that feeling either then I do not recommend trying Batiste.
This leaves white residue on my hands no matter what. Even if I’m just lightly moving my hair back from my face, I need to be careful not to get white finger prints everywhere. So, I guess if you don’t touch your hair hardly at all during the day, then you don't have to worry about it.
This dry shampoo will start to build up after a few days of using it. My hair starts to look heavy and dry - which, I know dry hair is the point, but I feel like it starts looking dry and dull vs. silky/light.
It masks your grease and any smell, but doesn’t necessarily make your hair feel any cleaner.

Dove Refresh + Care Dry Shampoo

I bought this little guy from the travel-size section of Target for my trip to Colorado. When it comes to Dove, I love their body wash, deodorant, I use their bar soap to clean the makeup out of my beauty blenders, etc., but I don’t usually reach for this brand when it comes to haircare. In this case, I figured a vacation would be a great time to try it because the only other travel-size dry shampoo option was Not Your Mother’s and I already knew my feelings on that.

PRICE: $5-7 depending on where you buy and I believe there’s different sizes available(?). Target’s website says $4.89 for the 5 oz can.

PROS:

I love love love the smell of this dry shampoo. It smells clean, but not powdery by any means. Definitely similar scent to some of their other products, but it lived up to its name and refreshed my hair for sure.
Did not leave a white residue in my hair by any means and I don’t recall it getting any white residue on my hands during the day
Sat lightly in my hair
Minimal to no grit feeling
Added volume if you need it
Made my hair look/feel cleaner
Packaging: it’s pretty Dove-basic, but that’s also why I like Dove because it says what it is and that’s that.

CONS:

I know I only used the travel size, but I felt like this formula was a little thinner, so I had to spray quite a bit to cover the areas that needed covering.
Doesn’t necessarily hold up between days. My hair didn’t look dirty by any means the next day, nor did it feel heavy with product, but I just had to spray a lot again the second/third days to get it back to where I wanted it to be.
It’s definitely a pro that there’s no white residue, but it’s also a mild con because I never knew how much I had sprayed in my hair because it isn’t super visible. I know I’m being picky on this one, but it’s just something I noticed.
Provided nice volume, but didn’t always sustain the volume for as long as I’d hoped.

Living Proof - Perfect Hair Days Dry Shampoo

Living Proof - Perfect hair Day (PhD) Dry Shampoo

Now, this brand isn’t necessarily drugstore. I know you can buy it at Ulta, but I don’t think you will find it at Meijer. Maybe Walgreens? I’m not completely sure tbh, but, in the words of Queen Lizzo, this is dry shampoo is 100% THAT bitch. I had heard of Living Proof a handful of times before I actually caved and bought this. My girl, Hanna Q, is a regular user of LP products and recommended it to me before. I also listen to a podcast called Girls Gotta Eat (highly recommend) and Living Proof is one of their sponsors which means if I used the GGE promo code, I got a discount lol. And, y’all know ya girl loves a good discount. So, I bought this about 2 weeks ago and am obsessed.

PRICE: $20-25, depending on where you buy it. Ulta’s website has it at $24, Amazon has it for $20. Do your research and compare prices is the conclusion here. Totally worth the price though.

PROS:

For starters, the products of Living Proof are created by MIT scientists, so you know this shit is legit lol. Plus it’s silicone, paraben, sulfate and cruelty free. So, there ya go.
The scent is awesome. To me, it’s a mixture of clean, sweet and a touch of floral, but none of the scent notes overpower the other. It’s truly a balanced aroma.
This dry shampoo eliminates sweat, oil and odor. So, I feel like my hair is actually getting cleaned when I’m using it.
Sustains the clean to the next day, so that I just have to do a couple of touch-up spritzes vs. apply a whole new layer onto what was already in my hair from yesterday.
Easy to work into your hair.
Provides volume and doesn’t weigh your hair down
Minimal to no gritty feeling

CONS:

It is a little pricier than your typical drugstore dry shampoo, however, as I said above, it’s totally worth it.
Although it’s super easy to work into my hair and doesn’t leave a white cast on my roots, if I run my hand through my hair at all, I will have white on my fingers. So, if you don’t play with your hair much or don’t mind that, then it’s not a big deal. I’ve just had a few experiences of white hand prints left on my dress pants at work… self inflicted but still annoying.

Welp, there ya have it! Hopefully this helped any of you who are transitioning to minimal washing per week.

If you have any questions about any of the brands above, let me know! Or, if there’s a brand you’ve been wanting to try, but aren’t sure, let me know and I’d be happy to try it out for you.