In Singapore’s hot and humid weather, not washing your hair for even a day can cause it to look limp, greasy and flat.
Enter dry shampoos – these veritable hair saviours work to quickly absorb oil, sweat and odour, while adding volume and leaving your hair feeling fresh, bouncy and more vibrant. They can even help extend the life of blowouts!
We put seven dry shampoos to the test:
This article was published in Singapore Woman’s Weekly
Photo: 123rf
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Packaging:
Its tall and slim canister is great for gym bags, or for your dressing table or office desk. The nozzle is very easy to use and each spray dispenses just the right amount of dry shampoo.
How it feels:
The mist is very lightweight and didn’t leave behind a powdery or crunchy texture on our hair. In fact, our hair fel a bit softer and more manageable.
How it looks:
It didn’t leave a chalky cast, which is always a good sign. Formulated with colour-enhancing Kalahari Melon Oil, it also added a bit of healthy lustre to our colour hair.
Smell:
It leaves a really refreshing fragrance and aromatic fruit melon scent, as though you’ve just washed your hair.
Effectiveness:
It was very easy to rub in and left our hair feeling cleaner and looking more voluminous, especially the crown.
Overall:
This dry shampoo for coloured hair works like a charm – it’s easy to use, lightweight and boosted the vibrancy of our mane. It’s free of sulphates, parabens and artificial colours, and available in four other exotic variants: Argan, coconut, charcoal and chia seed.
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Packaging:
It comes in a small transparant bottle so you can see the fine, slightly grey powder inside. Application is a bit tricky as the mouth of the bottle is quite large, so be careful when tipping the product out to avoid pouring a mound of powder on your hand.
How it feels:
It is a powder, so no surprise that it left a chalky feeling on our fingers. A little goes a long way, so don’t overdo it otherwise it may leave a gritty build-up on your scalp. Make sure to brush out well to spread it more evenly.
How it looks:
Don’t worry if you have dark hair – the grey powder blends well and disappears as soon as it is worked into your tresses.
Smell:
It has a subtle and refreshing scent of lavender, eucalyptus and peppermint. The scent doesn’t longer but it effectively eliminated odours.
Effectiveness:
We applied this in the morning and were amazed that is lasted a full 12 hours without any touching up needed. It absorbed oils almost instantly and left our hair looking matte throughout the day. It also added a bit of oomph and movement to otherwise straight hair.
Overall:
A travel-friendly dry shampoo that gives life to limp, straight hair that needs body and texture. It’s all natural and free of preservatives, so you don’t have to worry.
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Packaging:
As the one containing the most amount of product, its can is larger in size too. It produces a fine mist which shoots out quickly, almost like hairspray.
How it feels:
It feels cool on the scalp when first sprayed. Absorbs well without leaving hair feeling sticky or chalky. Our hair also felt a lot lighter, instead of weighed down and lank.
How it looks:
Make sure to give the can a good shake before spraying, to avoid leaving a white tinge on your hair.
Smell:
It gives out a strong uplifting scent that might be overpowering at first, but nixes odour and leaves hair smelling fresh-out-of-the-salon clean.
Effectiveness:
Just a few targeted sprays at the roots instantly pumped lipm and fine hair full of weightless volume. Make sure to brush your hair out for an even fuller effect. It managed to do a good job absorbing excess sebum although hair did feel a bit greasy after a while.
Overall:
It is an instant hair volumiser as each spray gives fine and flat hair volume and body that look natural, although it isn’t as long lasting as the others we tried.
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Packaging:
The can is very handy, with a stylish design. It took a few more sprays than usual as the nozzle is a bit short and requires more strength to press. It’s best to spray with confidence to get a more even distribution at the roots.
How it feels:
This sprays an ultra-fine mist that didn’t leave a chalky or gritty feeling. It initially feels a bit wet but dries almost instantly and blends well into the hair.
How it looks:
It didn’t leave any white residue at all, even when sprays closer to the scalp.
Smell:
It has a light, minty aroma with hints of rhubarb and geramium, that’s quite refreshing.
Effectiveness:
Our hair and scalp definitely felt cleaner and smelled freshing afterwards, and it did soak up oil build-up and is great if you don’t have a super oily scalp. It did add volume and hair felt lighter too.
Overall:
If you need a quick hair pick-me-up or post-gym refresh, this does the trick, removing sweat and oil efficiently while masking odours.
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Packaging:
Its slim body fits nicely in gym bags. It’s very easy to use; the nozzle is sturdy and each spray distributes a good even amount of product.
How it feels:
It’s made of extremely fine powder that doesn’t leave roots or scalp feeling dry or chalky, although hair did feel slightly ‘crunchy’ after some time.
How it looks:
There was a noticeable white cast when first sprayed on dark roots, but it melts away after running our fingers through a few times.
Smell:
It has a very strong and lingering fresh aroma, which covers up unpleasant odours.
Effectiveness:
It soaks up oil really well, so our hair didn’t look or feel greasy or clumpy. Limp hair was revived and looked cleaner, bouncier and more voluminous, which lasted all day.
Overall:
An efficient dry shampoo that won’t break the bank, for days when you need a quick hair perk-up. Besides Cherry, there are more than 10 other scented variants, so you’ll find one that suits your taste.
Packaging:
The bottle has a simple chic design, and you can easily control the amount of foam to dispense each time by adjusting how hard you push the nozzle.
How it feels:
The foam, which could be mistaken for whipped cream, is malleable, which makes it great for styling. It feels like you’re actually shampooing your hair without using water, as the foam dissolves when you massage it into your scalp.
How it looks:
It’s best to apply in front of a mirror and check to ensure that all the product has completely dissolved.
Smell:
It has a strong by pleasant floral fragrance, which helps to mask odours and leave hair smelling fresh.
Effectiveness:
Once the foam was worked into the hair and scalp, hair felt fluffier and cleaner, like we just stepped out of a salon. There were fewer flyaways and scalp felt fresh and non-greasy.
Overall:
Createdd by the Kardashian’s hairstylist Jen Atkin, this unique foam dry shampoo lives up to the hype. Despite being messy on the hands, it improves hair’s manageability and cleans really well.
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Packaging:
It comes in a compact and lightweight metal can that is really convenient to carry around in your handbag. The nozzle is easy to use and dispenses a fine white powder very quickly.
How it feels:
It sprays on finely without build up or any gritty feeling. When rubbing the product in, it does feel quite dry on the head and powdery on the fingers but just let it sit for 2 minutes and then brush it out to remove any residue or powder.
How it looks:
There is some white deposit which absorbs easily and quickly. those with dark hair cannot for the tinted version with mineral pigments that adapt better to your hair colour.
Smell:
Very natural and not overpowering at all a bit light scented baby powder.
Effectiveness:
It didn’t irritate the scalp and felt light and cooling when first sprayed on. It also did a good job of removing any greasy feeling so our hair looked and felt a lot cleaner and fresher in minutes. After brushing it out we also noticed a slight lift at the roots.
Overall:
Made with botanical based ingredients, this aerosol dry shampoo is great for those with more delicate scalps and very oily hair, and made unwashed tresses look healthy and smell good.
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