Happy Monday! Today’s post is about several years in the making. When we moved into the house in Colorado, I placed a huge Ulta order for a ton of different (mostly affordable) dry shampoos to test out for you. I have tried several that are a bit pricey, but I’ve decided to round them all up in today’s post. I’m going to consider this a living post and update whenever I try a new dry shampoo. I’m limiting this post to aerosol products and grouping the reviews in sets of three, separated by pictures, for the sake of length and keeping it readable. I picked up a ton of powder dry shampoos so I will be bringing those reviews to you in a separate post.
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A LITTLE BACKGROUND ON MY HAIR
Before we get started, I want to provide a little background. My hair is naturally a medium-dark brown, though I am starting to gray. It’s quite thin and there’s not as much as there used to be. I find myself really struggling to get volume at the back of my head, especially if I don’t blow dry. I use dry shampoo almost every day of the week. Typically, I do not use it on Day 1 until the evening. I apply a healthy amount each evening, then touch up an area or two in the morning (using about 1/3-1/2 as much as the night before). My scalp can be easily irritated by dry shampoo products.
I consider a good dry shampoo to last about 3-4 weeks. I wash my hair once a week. Another thing I want to add is that there is not a huge variation in quality. Either a product is terrible, or it works fine, or it does something special. It’s something I’ve said before, but these brands don’t set out to make bad products. Most products will be just okay, and most were, but I’m sharing them here anyway for edification purposes. I’ve included ratings by the names of the products, but if you’re pinched for time….
THE BEST AEROSOL DRY SHAMPOO PRODUCTS
- Living Proof $28
- Not Your Mother’s Plump for Joy $6.99
Honorable Mention: Batiste ($10.99) is really a great product. I just have a reaction and my scalp get so itchy when I use it. If you don’t have that issue, it’s probably the best value for your $$$.
DOVE REFRESH + CARE UNSCENTED DRY SHAMPOO & DOVE REFRESH + CARE DETOX & PURIFY DRY SHAMPOO 1/5
Alright, so I wanted to give this one a test because my scalp is so sensitive I thought the unscented version would be great. I’m including both products together as they were not noticeably different, apart from fragrance. Unfortunately, I did not get very good results. My hair is quite thin, and oil does build up. I found myself using sooo much of this each day. I don’t think the bottle lasted more than two washes, with 5-6 days between washes. It also didn’t add much life or volume. It felt like I was adding product for the sake of adding product, which isn’t very efficient. It didn’t irritate my scalp, but I didn’t feel like my hair stayed looking great even most of the week.
EVA NYC
This is a product that I did enjoy, but also found not memorable. I actually lost my notes on it, so I can’t remember what I said about fragrance, but so many products on this list are either memorable in a good way or in a bad way and this is neither so it definitely falls into the “it’s okay” category. It didn’t last very long either for the amount of product contained within.
BATISTE HINT OF COLOR 3/5
I wanted to try the brunette version of Batiste to see if I liked it, but like all Batiste products, it just made my scalp so dang itchy. I do find Batiste to be one of the worst in terms of white cast, so if you can use Batiste and have dark hair, you may actually quite enjoy this one.
BATISTE ORIGINAL CLEAN & CLASSIC 3/5
I’ve tried using so many Batiste dry shampoos, but I’m going to specifically talk about this one as I hoped it would work for my sensitive scalp. As I said with the Hint of Color, Batiste products just make my head so freaking itchy. I was hoping this one wouldn’t be so fragranced – it just had a neutral, clean smell. And it still irritated my scalp. I really like the effectiveness of Batiste products, they just itch. But if you don’t have the problem of a sensitive scalp, you’ll probably really like these.
PSSSST! DRY SHAMPOO & PSSSST! INSTANT DRY SHAMPOO SPRAY UNSCENTED 3/5
These two products were not particularly memorable, which sounds bad, but really isn’t. The Psssst dry shampoos are well priced and effective, just not outstanding for my hair. If I were to walk into a store needing a dry shampoo to work and none of my go-to’s were available, I would totally grab this formula over taking a chance on something else. I didn’t notice a huge difference between either of these, but my scalp does prefer the unscented if I’m really going to have in sink in.
LIVING PROOF 5/5
This is my favorite aerosol dry shampoo. I don’t know what it is, but I can make these bottles last forever. It’s just potent enough for me. I do know of other people who don’t like it, so I know it’s very personal. But even with the price, I feel like when I compare how long a bottle of Living Proof lasts to many of the other more affordable options, the actual monthly cost isn’t that different.
NOT YOUR MOTHER’S PLUMP FOR JOY BODY BUILDING DRY SHAMPOO 4/5
This was my favorite aerosol dry shampoo of the round that I picked up from Ulta in October. It added volume, it smelled good, and it didn’t irritate my scalp. I still love the Living Proof just this much more, but if budgeting is a factor, I think this is the best option for getting the most bang out of your buck. The bottle lasts a couple weeks, just like the Living Proof, but it is almost twice the size. Overall though, it’s a great choice.
NOT YOUR MOTHER’S CLEAN FREAK DRY SHAMPOO & NOT YOUR MOTHER’S CLEAN FREAK TINTED DRY SHAMPOO 3/5
I’ve used this product a couple of times, and I definitely like it better than the two Dove products from earlier in this post. It lasted longer than they did, it also did not make my scalp itchy like Batiste. But it wasn’t a superhero. It did the job, but if I’m looking to pick up a NYM dry shampoo, I’ll pick up the Plump for Joy over this one any day. It’s fine.
What is your favorite aerosol dry shampoo?
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