Dry shampoo has become a beauty staple for me – and I think for most people out there! Dry shampoos allow us to touch up our ‘do post-workout, freshen things up a bit and extend our blowouts a little longer (not to mention allow us to sleep in a few more days each week!). Here I’ve shared my additional uses for dry shampoos and which ones I recommend for each. Plus, by brand, I’ve listed all my faves that are out there right now and just why I love them so much, because you will, too!
Dry Shampoo is a Hair Necessity
I’m someone who tries to go as long as possible between hair washes. It’s not just that it’s an undertaking to dry and style my hair, but it’s also about keeping my hair as healthy as possible. The less I use heat styling, the less I wash my hair, the healthier it seems to be. Plus my hair is chemically treated (spoiler alert: those highlights aren’t natural LOL) so it’s extra important to take care of my tresses.
Using Dry Shampoo
Dry shampoo isn’t just for those days where you want to hit the snooze button and skip a hair wash (although yes, that is an excellent use!). It’s ideal for refreshing your style before a night out, absorbing any oil and perspiration after a workout and for adding extra body and volume to your ‘do without the need to backcomb.
Here are a few new ways to use dry shampoo:
- When Using Hot Rollers: Use a spray dry-shampoo at the roots, beneath the rollers on the top of your head to help the style last longer and to add more root volume. Fave Product: Drybar Triple Sec 3-in-1 ($13-28)
- If Your Blowout Has Gone Flat: Rather than back-combing at the crown of your head or around your part, flip those sections of your hair back, spray in some dry shampoo at the root, and you’re good to go. Think of dry shampoo as backcombing in a bottle! Fave Product: Drybar Detox Dry Shampoo ($13-28)
- For Refreshing Your Bangs: Often your bangs get greasy before the rest of your blowout does, so rather than try to wash just your bangs (which can be so tricky), use a foam formula dry shampoo on them. Once it’s dry, use a round brush to restore the style to your bangs. Touch up with a flat iron or curling iron, if required. Fave Product: Ouai Dry Shampoo Foam ($28), Drybar Full-Pint Medium Round Ceramic Brush ($40)
- Safe Detangling: Sometimes after a run, the wind has taken its toll on your hair and you need to run a brush through it to detangle it. Avoid breakage and damage that can be done from the brush by using a dry conditioner before brushing out those locks. Fave Products: Drybar Detox Dry Conditioner ($13-28), Drybar Lemondrop Daily Detangler ($16)
Everything You Need For These Solutions:
My Favorite Dry Shampoos
Dry shampoo comes in three formats – spray, foam or powder. Powder is just too messy for me and is a bit tricky to handle. I feel like I’m just not coordinated to handle this although I’m sure it works really well. Kudos if you’ve mastered this!
I prefer foam and spray formats. Many of these come in formulas for different hair colors, too (finally!). Another thing I love about each of these is that they’re available in a mini-version that’s perfect for travelling or tossing in your purse or gym bag.
Here are some of my faves – I’ve sorted them all by brand for you!
1. Drybar Dry Shampoos
It’s no secret that this is one of my favorite lineups of haircare products – period. Their dry shampoo product, Triple Sec, is my absolute favorite from their entire lineup. It’s a volumizer, texturizer and dry shampoo all in one. Their ‘Detox‘ lineup includes regular dry shampoo as well as a formula for brunettes. They have recently introduced a foam formula and are one of the only brands to offer a dry conditioner.
Many of their dry shampoos come in travel-size and you can often get them in multi-packs to either stock up or keep a few of their formulas on hand. Shop them all here:
2. Ouai Dry Shampoos
Ouai’s Dry Shampoo Foam ($35) is my favorite of this formulation. I have found it to be the most effective, especially for my bangs. Its scent isn’t too overpowering and it works really well. Shop Ouai’s dry shampoos here:
3. Bumble and bumble Dry Shampoos
Thankfully, Bumble and bumble has added a spray format to their popular powder dry shampoo, Prêt-à-Powder! Finally something that I can use without making a colossal mess! I like that Bumble and bumble offers dry shampoos for four different hair shades. These include: A Bit Blondish Hair Powder, A Tint of Brown Hair Powder, Soft Black Hair Powder and White Hair Powder, all of which are in spray format. Shop them here:
Other Dry Shampoos
There are tons of other haircare brands that make dry shampoos, even ones found at the drugstore. Although I like some of these products, I found their scents to be a bit too overpowering for me (I could smell them all day and some of them gave me a headache). If there’s a formulation that you love that we didn’t include, please reach out to us via our contact page – we’d love to try it for ourselves!
