Running short on time to do your hair? Want to absorb oil? Need some oomph? The Best Products editors want our dry shampoo to do it all — save us time, transform our tresses, and bring some overall hair-refreshing magic to our lives.
“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 keeping a dry shampoo in your stash to absorb oil while keeping your strands looking shiny and bright for longer.
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. It can even add volume to limp locks and some grit to your squeaky-clean hair if you want to whip it into an updo for a special occasion.
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.
How We Chose
Each product that earns a spot in any of our stories goes through a rigorous testing process. To determine the all-time best dry shampoos, 10 testers tried 26 different products for a total of 300 hours. We tested everything from drugstore buys to salon-quality brands. In the end, we found only 10 dry shampoos that 100% deserve a spot on your bathroom countertop.
So, how exactly did we test all 26 dry shampoos? For starters, our 10 testers used these dry shampoos in the real world to ensure they live up to their respective claims. We considered their hair texture and how the products interacted with their strands, like how long they could go without regular shampoo. They also shared feedback on all aspects of the product, including its scent, residue, texture, price point, and overall quality.
Here are 10 oil-absorbing dry shampoos that are guaranteed to bring your hair back to life.
Perfect Hair Day claimed the top spot in our dry shampoo trial for tester Ashley Phillips. She says this fan-favorite product works the best because its innovative formula actually cleans the hair and repels dirt and oil, instead of only masking dirty strands with powders and perfumes.
The true star of the formula (and what sets Living's Proof's dry shampoo apart from the rest of the pack) is the brand's patented OFPMA molecule. Thanks to the inclusion of this “healthy hair” molecule, Living Proof’s dry shampoo effectively absorbs and eliminates oil, sweat, and odor to take it a step beyond simply refreshing the hair.
Standout Ingredients: Antioxidants, vitamin E, and panthenol
Once we heard that a bottle of this sells every 4 minutes, we had to include it in our dry shampoo test. R+Co makes one of our favorite traditional shampoos, so it’s no surprise that we love the brand’s answer to dry shampoo, too. We like this one because it effectively absorbs oil, leaving our hair soft, flexible, and shiny — without any white residue or cast that dulls our strands.
Testers Zarah Kavarana, Dana Baardsen, and former Men’s Health senior style editor Adam Mansuroglu all fell in love with this ultra sheer formula for its no-residue look and feel. Plus, it smells amazing.
Standout Ingredients: Rice protein, vitamin E, silica, and pro-vitamin B-5
All the editors who tested this brand's First Class Charcoal Detox Dry Shampoo had a positive experience — and cleaner-feeling strands.
Testers Danielle St. Pierre and Melanie Yates both became fans of this option for its heavy-hitting charcoal formula that sucks up dirt and oil without sacrificing the soft feel of your locks.
Our only caution is that this one is very fragrant. It smells amazing (like a blend of cocoa and sandalwood), but if you're sensitive to strong scents, this may not be the dry shampoo for you.
Standout Ingredients: Charcoal and white tea powders
Moroccanoil offers different formulas for light and dark hair. Made from ultra fine rice starch, each spray is color-specific to match your roots. This helps you avoid that harsh, powdery cast. Our raven-haired tester Danielle St. Pierre considers the dark variation a favorite!
Similarly, those with light-toned hair can rest assured knowing that their dry shampoo will blend in effortlessly with their shade.
Even if Oribe's Dry Texturizing Spray isn't technically a dry shampoo, our testers say that it works just like one — and an incredible one, at that.
One spritz instantly provides insane volume and texture, and it also absorbs oil just like a traditional dry shampoo. This product is basically a supercharged version of the brand's lighter dry shampoo.
Fun fact: The scent of these sprays was so popular, they made it into a perfume!
Standout Ingredients: Mango and aloe extracts, crystalline zeolites, and Oribe's Signature Complex (lychee, watermelon, and edelweiss flower)
This one is clearly superior to the old version, and packed with impressive ingredients that deliver amazing benefits. It features rice starch to absorb oil, volcanic minerals to naturally cleanse and detoxify, and rhodiola rosacea extract to fight free radicals.
Tester Katie McBroom tried this one, and was shocked at how quickly and effortlessly it boosted her strands and refreshed her scalp. Like all other OUAI products, she noted that it smells amazing, too.
Standout Ingredients: Rice starch, volcanic minerals, and rhodiola rosacea extract
Come for the fabulously festive bottle, stay for the incredible results! Amika's dry shampoo is by far the most fashionable on our list. Beyond the epic packaging, it truly lives up to its name, perking up hair that needs a little oomph.
This shampoo in a shaker effectively cleans excess oil for a refreshed feel. It also pumps volume into your strands and leaves behind the sweetest scent of fruity berries and warm vanilla.
Standout Ingredients: Rice starch and sea buckthorn
Only willing to spritz the purest ingredients onto your strands? Then try Playa's new dry shampoo, which leaves out all of the red flags and includes nourishing ingredients like wild rose and sunflower extracts to revamp hair without weighing it down.
Tester Danielle St. Pierre loves this dry shampoo for adding some bounce and shine to her hair, along with a gorgeous rose scent.
Pure Dry Shampoo also earned the Clean at Sephora tag, indicating that it’s free from more than 50 “unclean” ingredients, such as parabens, formaldehyde, sulfates, and more.
Standout Ingredients: Wild rose, sunflower extract, and star anise
If you're sensitive to scents, you might want to grab a bottle of this dry shampoo. Tester Erica Murphy loves this pick for its light, fresh aroma and instant, oil-absorbing formula.
This dry shampoo is formulated with pink clay to absorb oils in your hair, so you'll have a fresh feel all day long. It also features UV filters to help protect your strands from the sun.
Those with straight, wavy, and curly hair have the most to gain from using Bumble and bumble's dry shampoo.
Standout Ingredients: French pink clay and UV filters
The blowout professionals from Drybar designed this Detox Dry Shampoo to add body while reducing oil. This tried-and-true dry shampoo provides just a little bit of grit to hold your style in place throughout the day.
It's great to use when heat-styling hair, especially if you're using a curling iron — it adds a little extra hold to curls that would normally go flat.
Standout Ingredients: Micro-fine rice powders and golden root extract
Sizes available: 2
Katie McBroomBeauty EditorKatie McBroom is an award-winning content creator and beauty/grooming expert.
Jennifer HusseinBeauty EditorJennifer is the 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.
Nicole SaundersBeauty EditorNicole Saunders is the Beauty Editor at BestProducts.com, where she oversees coverage on all things beauty.
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