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I don’t know about you, but my Holy Grail beauty product is definitely dry shampoo! It’s a busy mama’s best friend! Last month, I embarked on a VERY important quest to find the Dry Shampoo of my dreams and wanted to share my opinions on the 5 that I put to the test.

I had been using the drugstore brand Pssst! for years (occasionally throwing in the more pricey, but amazing Oribe Dry Texturizing Spray) but wasn’t loving the amount of white residue it left behind, and it wasn’t giving life to my thick, yet very flat hair the way I knew other brands might!

I took a poll in our Facebook Community to see what everyone was using and loving, and trialed the top 5 recommended!

Along the way, I learned that I was actually “applying” my dry shampoo incorrectly, which makes a big difference!! For almost all of the brands, you want to spray smaller, lifted sections of hair at the roots, wait 60-120 seconds, and then brush through with your fingers or a comb.

Once you know better, you do better because #knowledgeispower.

Top 5 Dry Shampoos Put To The Test:

Here is my personal input + opinion on the 5 dry shampoos I trialed* based on the following criteria (yes, I know, #nerdalert):

• Residue
• Smell (anyone else a scent person?)
• Hair Volume after use
• Longevity (aka, how long until my hair appeared greaseball-ish again)
• EWG or Think Dirty Rating (I don’t want to be spraying a ton of chemicals into the air my family breathes on the daily because, let’s be real, I only wash my hair 2x weekly…)

*I trialed each on “4th Day” hair, and used the same shampoo/conditioner/product, to maintain the integrity of the trial : )

Product Notes

1. Living Proof – Perfect Hair Day Dry Shampoo

Pluses: No residue after brush through, AMAZING volume!!, love the clean smell, the packaging is aesthetically pleasing (important to me!)

Minuses: A little more pricey but not bad ($18 for 4 oz),  an overall “8” on the Think Dirty rating – mostly for the amount of Fragrance it contains (which is a bummer, because I do love the smell!)

2. Klorane – Dry Shampoo with Oat Milk

Pluses: My hair stayed looking clean the entire day – it really did a fantastic job of absorbing oil!

Minuses: On the more pricey side as compared to the others ($20 for 3.2 oz), I was not crazy about the smell,  I didn’t get great volume from the product, and WHOAH…. an 8 on the Think Dirty app for fragrance and chemicals!!

3. Pureology – Refresh & Go Dry Shampoo

Pluses: Smells good (like sweet sugar cookies!), Vegan,  beautiful can, provided volume,  the effect of making my hair less dark and oily at the roots lasted the entire day!

Minuses: Higher price point ($28 for 3.4 ounces), did leave some residue after brush through, I couldn’t find it’s rating on Think Dirty or EWG but did notice that almost all other Pureology products (which I used for shampoo/conditioner until recently switching THIS non-toxic brand for color-treated hair!) are rated 8, so I assume it’s similar…. YIKES!!

4. Dove – Detox & Purify Dry Shampoo

Pluses: no white residue even before brush through, smells fresh, affordable price point ($9 for 4 oz),  gave me decent volume.

Minuses: my hair looked dirty again within 4 hours, some concerning ingredients per EWG (but not nearly as “dirty” as the others!):

5. Batiste – Clean & Classic Original Dry Shampoo

Pluses: Cheap! ($14.53 for THREE cans!!), I liked the scent (a little on the lavender side which I know many have allergies to, so be aware!), it kept the greasy look at bay for the entire day. As compared to the other brands, it had a lower EWG rating, particularly in the area of “Cancer Concern” – which is obviously my number one fear about product ingredients, particularly ones I’m SPRAYING into the air, right?!:

Minuses: A LOT of residue to brush through, although I know there is a brunette version which may be a great option! I did not get much volume from this brand.

Results Of The Dry Shampoo Trial

My overall favorite Dry Shampoo of the 5 I trialed and the Pssst I’d used previously was…. Living Proof Perfect Hair Day!! The number one factor in this dry shampoo being my favorite is that fact that , not only did it make my hair look clean again, it gave me a ton of VOLUME!

That said, I’m still not satisfied with the number of chemicals in Living Proof and am on the hunt for one that is effective AND has CLEAN ingredients.

I am trying my best to be more conscious of what goes into, on and around my (and my family’s) body these days; Apps like EWG and Think Dirty have really opened my eyes to all of the harmful ingredients in many of the products we use in our home daily – even the ones I thought were “Clean”!! I was, admittedly, pretty ignorant to this until a couple months ago, and actually “saw the light” as a result of going through this dry shampoo trial!!

But, like I said earlier, once you know better you do better!!

I recently discovered the Amazon Prime of  all things non-toxic +  clean-living (3 Day Shipping, Subscribe & Save, $10 coupon code on your first purchase,  etc.) and am OBSESSED/overhauling ALL of our household items. However, the one personal care item I need that they DON’T carry yet is dry shampoo.  Alas.

I do have this, ZERO rated on the EWG scale, InnerSense dry shampoo heading my way so I’ll have to update this post with my thoughts on it in a week or so! I’m excited to try a CLEAN version of my holy grail and will make the switch after I use up what I have left of the 5 I trialed!

If you have any other clean dry shampoo recommendations or a DIY recipe, please do share with me in the comments!!

What’s YOUR favorite Dry Shampoo??