14 Editor-Approved Dry Shampoos for Cleaner Hair on No-Wash Days
We spent more than 300 hours testing to find the best of the best.
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Whether you're shopping for a busy mom who only has a few minutes to get ready in the morning or a hair-obsessed loved one whose beauty collection rivals Sephora, dry shampoos make for an excellent beauty gift. And the best part? These editor-tested dry shampoos start at just $11 on Amazon!
At Best Products, we aim to help you make smarter gifting decisions, so we connected with one of the music industry's most in-demand hair professionals to find out what they use on their clients. After you get the 411 on all things dry shampoo, check out the 14 best dry shampoos in the game.
Best Dry Shampoos
What is Dry Shampoo?
Is your giftee running short on time to do their hair? Do they want to absorb oil? Add some extra body? Dry shampoo will save your giftee time getting ready by infusing tired tresses with a little extra oomph. The Best Products editors want our dry shampoo to do it all — save us time, add some volume, and bring some hair-refreshing magic to our lives.
Dry Shampoo Benefits
Dry Shampoo is Great for Color-Treated Hair
“Washing your hair often will soften the gloss and cause your color to fade faster,” says Rachel Bodt, celebrity hair colorist to Beyoncé and Frank Ocean. “Even if your shampoo is sulfate-free, your color will fade a little. The minerals in the water can also pull the color out of your hair.” To combat this, Bodt recommends using dry shampoo to absorb oil while keeping strands shiny and bright for longer.
Dry Shampoo is the Perfect Addition to All Hairstyles and Textures
Beyond sparing precious primp time in the morning, dry shampoo can work wonders as a styling product, from extending the life of a sleek blowout to adding texture to beachy waves. Want to be the beauty gifting hero for a loved one with fine hair? Then, dry shampoo is an ideal fix. Dry shampoo adds volume to limp locks and some grit to their squeaky-clean hair if they want to whip it into an updo for a special occasion (or after a grueling workout).
How We Chose
Since nearly every dry shampoo brand claims to be the best, we put our dirty strands to the test to bring you our definitive guide to the best dry shampoos for every occasion and styling need. Each product that earns a spot in our stories undergoes a rigorous testing process. To help you discover the best dry shampoos, our 11 testers tried 30 different products for a total of 300 hours. We tested everything from drugstore buys, such as OGX Refresh Revitalize Extra Strength Dry Shampoo, to salon-quality brands, such as Joico and Oribe. Ultimately, we found only 14 dry shampoos that made the cut.
So, how exactly did we test all 30 dry shampoos? For starters, our 11 testers, including our beauty editor, Nicole Saunders, used these dry shampoos in the real world to ensure they live up to their respective claims. From hitting the gym and long walks through New York to nights out with our girlfriends, we incorporated these dry shampoos into our daily lives to ensure they fit into your giftees’.
We also ensured our testers had a variety of hair textures and carefully observed how the products interacted with their strands, for example, how long they could go without regular shampoo. Our testers also shared feedback on all aspects of the dry shampoos, including their scent, residue, texture, price point, and overall quality.
Here are 14 oil-absorbing dry shampoos guaranteed to bring your loved one's hair back to life.
Nicole Saunders is the beauty editor at Best Products with over seven years of experience researching, writing, and editing lifestyle content. She specializes in breaking down complicated topics, like high-frequency wands and microcurrent devices, into easy-to-understand guides. She takes great pride in heavily researching and testing featured beauty products, — such as hairdryers and foundations — on our site, and spotlights her all-time seasonal favorites in her quarterly column Best New Beauty. And she tests quite literally thousands of launches for our Beauty Awards package.
Jennifer is the former beauty editor for BestProducts.com, where she’s testing out everything from the latest lip gloss to the craziest skincare trend sweeping the online beauty-verse. Her work has been featured in Allure, Byrdie, HelloGiggles, and more. When she’s not swatching eyeshadow all over her arms, you can find the NYC-based editor scouring for hours on end for vintage finds, eating pad thai, and hanging out with her cat, Chunks.
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