I recently shared this letterboard on my Instagram page:
And all the moms said Amen. Most days you’ll find me in leggings with a coffee cup in hand and hair that was last washed at least 2 or 3 days ago. Since becoming a mom, I have gone through countless bottles of dry shampoo but have yet to find a brand I love. Ready to find something that works for my hair, I decided to create my own lineup of different dry shampoo brands (at different price points), document each use over the next couple of months and hopefully find one (or more) that I enjoy using.
Herbal Essences: Cleanse
[$4.18, Target]
Initial Wash: January 26, 2020
Hair Day 2 | January 28, 2020
On Sunday I washed my hair and let it air dry. Yesterday, I had an early morning workout with my trainer with my hair pulled up with a teletie hairband, curled it with my L’ange wand and this morning I chose to to start this venture with Herbal Essences’ Cleanse Dry Shampoo. First thoughts: smells great and no residue! I’m not a big fan of dry shampoos that blast you with white residue that makes you look like you dumped baby powder on your head. Then I’m self conscious wondering if I got it all massaged into my roots. When I began to work this dry shampoo into my scalp it felt like my hair was wet, however, I quickly realized it just came out of the bottle VERY cold. I noticed no added volume to my hair but was happy with the feel of my hair.
Before | After
Hair Day 3 | January 29, 2020
This morning my hair was ready for a little boost all over. I sprayed the dry shampoo around my ears under several layers around the crown of my head. Still no white residue! I thought maybe I just didn’t shake it up enough for the first use, but it went on clear once again. Once worked into my roots, it did start to feel a little sticky like there was a lot of product build up in my hair. This is when I’m usually grossed out and ready to shower, but I’m going to give my hair another day and see how it does by tomorrow morning and see if this dry shampoo can give me one more day. However, I did notice more volume today. I could also reactivate the volume throughout the day with a quick fluff to my roots with my fingers.
After (9:00am) | After (2:00pm)
Hair Day 4 | January 30, 2020
Well, I managed to push through the point where I always feel like I need to wash my hair and my hair actually feels pretty good. Yesterday, Laney came home from school with an irritated area on one of her eyes. Still the same this morning, I decided to call the nurse who said we should come in. Soon after that we finally got the call from the appointment desk with an appointment time … 30 minutes from then. I still needed to get all of us dressed and ready for the day. I literally had just enough time for a quick spray, brushed my hair and didn’t even give it a second look. I didn’t see my hair in a mirror until I recorded some videos for my Instagram stories and I was honestly impressed how it had just naturally settled back into waves with some volume. Now sitting here in bed typing this, my hair feels surprisingly good and is still going strong. My goal is to get one more day out of it and wash it tomorrow night.
Before | After
Hair Day 5 | January 31, 2020
Today was another day that began at the gym. I worked out with my trainer from 5:30-6:00am and did a little extra on my own afterwards. That’s just to say that I’m on Day 5 and had it pulled up once again. Laney is coming off a little 24 hour cold, so we made the call to keep her home from school to be sure she didn’t spread any germs to her classmates though she was at the point where she probably could have gone. We made a quick Sam’s run to make a return and pick up some chicken and I’m glad I did nothing more to my hair than just spray it with a little dry shampoo and run a brush through it — Mom life doesn’t always allow me to watch the weather and I’m glad I didn’t spend much time on my hair because we got drenched in the rain I wasn’t expecting!
Before | After (10:30am) | After (5:30pm)
Final Thoughts | 4.5 out of 5 Stars
I’m so impressed that I was able to go as long as I did! I’ve never gone that long between washes and I’m glad to have set the bar here as a comparison point now to use with the other dry shampoo brands. I honestly almost put this dry shampoo back a couple of times before I finally threw it under the stroller and told myself I was going to try it. This was my unexpected choice because all of the others I bought are the typical brands others know and recommend. Once I got over the Day 3 hump, my hair felt like it adjusted according and had so much more volume than I’m used to! It was also nice to not worry about washing my hair as often and being able to wake up to hair that was pretty much ready to walk out the door each morning. For this price point, I give this dry shampoo and solid 4.5 stars out of 5. I love that it never left the white residue on my hair but did feel like the first couple of uses gave me that cakey product feeling, though the days after felt great.
Not Your Mother’s: Clean Freak Original
[$4.79, Target]
Initial Wash: January 31, 2020
Day 1 Hair | February 1, 2020
After my shower last night, I let it air dry during the night. Brad and Morgan appear to have caught the cold Laney fought several days ago so with no plans other than to lounge around the house, I pulled my hair up for the day — no dry shampoo.
Day 2 Hair | February 2, 2020
Happy Palidrome Day! Fun Fact: Today is 02/02/2020 which is the first time the date has been this way for over 900 days since 11/11/1111. Today is also the 33rd day of the year with 333 to go! Also Happy Super Bowl Sunday! It was another lazy day around here with online church, lots of laundry and crafts. I’ve had my hair pulled back half of the day — no dry shampoo. I’ll be testing this new bottle of dry shampoo out tomorrow morning after my workout with my trainer.
Day 3 Hair | February 3, 2020
So this morning was another gym morning. I pulled my hair back in a low bun and met my trainer at 5:30am for a 30 minute work out session. Back home, I showered with my shower cap and then sprayed my hair with dry shampoo prior to styling. Though I like the smell, my hair was covered in white residue. I mean covered. It took a lot of massaging to work the product into my roots for the residue to go away and the dry shampoo didn’t make my hair feel any less dirty. The appearance did look less dirty; however, every time I looked in the mirror throughout the day I wasn’t thrilled. My hair didn’t look fresh, it lacked volume and it didn’t feel good to run my fingers through my hair — it had that sticky, stiff sensation. I’m going to see how it does tomorrow in Day 5 hair, but my hopes aren’t high and I am prepared to wash my hair tomorrow night before bed.
Before | After (12:30pm)
Day 4 Hair | February 4, 2020
Once again I’m disappointed with all of the white residue. I even tried holding the bottle a little further away than I normally do, just in case it was operator error from holding it too close to my roots when I sprayed it. No luck. Once I’ve worked the dry shampoo into my hair and no longer look 60+, I see no change in the volume of my hair. It also still has that slightly dirty feel to it that I wasn’t loving yesterday though it’s not quite as bad today. This may be due to the fact that I sprayed a bunch more today hoping that maybe I just didn’t absorb enough of the oils. I’ve also noticed while styling my hair the last 2 days, that I can see where my hair was wrapped on my curling wand; almost like an oil transfer as my hair almost sometimes feels stuck to the wand. (My hair is not burning, I don’t use a very high temp.) I noticed no wand residue like this while using the Herbal Essences, which is the only comparison point I have at this time. You can see in the After picture below that on the one side of my hair you can see where I finger combed my hair slightly at the roots prior to taking a picture and it literally stuck in that position since I didn’t smooth it back down. I’m not stretching this out for another day. I don’t think my hair will stand for it and I don’t want to so time to wash and on to the next dry shampoo!
Before | After (1:30pm)
Final Thoughts | 2 out of 5 Stars
This is the second time I’ve used a Not Your Mother’s Dry Shampoo. The first time was a couple of years ago and it was the Volume version. I didn’t love it and switched to a different brand. Now that I’ve given it a second chance, this time with Clean Freak, I’m pretty confident in saying that I won’t be repurchasing this brand again. I know so many people who love this brand and recommend it. But now it makes me wonder, do you truly love it or do you love it because it’s what everyone else supposedly uses so you think you should love it too? Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me. No extra volume + too much residue + lack of looking and feeling clean = I’m out. Mic drop. Anyone want to use the rest of this bottle?
Monat: The Champ Dry Shampoo
[$34 Retail, $29 VIP]
Initial Wash: February 4, 2020
Hair Day 1 | February 5, 2020
Because I showered and washed my hair just before bed, today basically counts as washing my hair the same day, so no dry shampoo is needed.
Hair Day 2 | February 6, 2020
Early this morning I made it into the gym for a sweat session on the stair climber with my hair pulled back in a low bun. The forecast was calling for rain all day and bad afternoon thunderstorms, so it was good that we had already planned to stay put at the house. It turned into a jammies and craft day which was just fine with me. With that said, there was no reason to style my hair, so after a quick shower during the girls’ nap time, I gave my hair a quick spray with the dry shampoo, worked it in to my roots, gave my hair a quick finger comb and that was it. The fragrance is fine, there’s not much to it that really stands out for me to describe was it smells like. I don’t love the smell but I don’t hate it either. This dry shampoo does give off a white residue, which as you know by now is not my favorite thing; however, this one does quickly and easily dissolve into your hair. Unlike the Not Your Mother’s that took more time and effort to blend into my roots than I’d like. I also noticed no additional volume.
Before | After
Hair Day 3 | February 7, 2020
What a night! Yesterday brought some really crazy weather — heavy rain, thunderstorms and in the middle of the night when I thought the worst of it was gone, really high winds. We lost power for about 30 minutes yesterday afternoon and then again this morning at 6:00am. I woke up just before I heard the whole house shut down because Morgan’s baby monitor started beeping at me due to a bad connection. I fell back asleep and when my alarm went off at 7:15am, the power luckily came back on about minute after I was awake. But man, my before picture is rough — bags under my eyes and I didn’t even realize the picture was slightly blurry until now. Ha. #tired
So, bad news. After a few sprays, I ran out. I had already been using this bottle prior to this little ‘study’ so I know I can give an accurate review at this point. (See below) Because I have run out, I am going to go ahead and wash my hair tonight to get started on the next dry shampoo!
Before | After (10:00am)
Final Thoughts | 3.5 out of 5 Stars
I like this dry shampoo, it gets the job done and I would use it again. But for the price point and accessibility (having to order online and pay shipping), I know I can find something I like the same if not more from Target for less. I luckily didn’t pay the full price for this product — I got it as part of a bundle deal on Black Friday. I would have given it 4 stars had it not been for the white residue issue.
Batiste: Volumizing Dry Shampoo
[$7.29, Target]
Initial Wash: February 9, 2020
Hair Day 1 | February 10, 2020
My day started out with a sweat session with my trainer at 5:30am. My hair was pulled back with a spiral hair band during my workout. It was a school day so my time is limited to get ready. I spritzed some of the Batiste Volumizing Dry Shampoo in my hair and honestly didn’t see any drastic difference in the volume. I liked the smell of it and was happy to see that it did not coat my hair with white residue. So far so good!
Before | After (9:15pm)
Hair Day 2 | February 11, 2020
I initially planned to start my day off at the gym but Laney’s middle of the night wake up call for me to tuck her back in and my snooze button got the best of me. I snapped a before picture of my bedhead day 2, but never took an after as I wore my hair back in a low bun with a spiral hairband for the remainder of the day. The girls and I ended up going on a 2 mile walk to the park, it was super windy and the forecast was calling for afternoon rain so I didn’t bother styling my hair, therefore I never added any dry shampoo.
Hair Day 3 | February 12, 2020
I managed to get back into the gym this morning for a date with the stair climber. Again, I wore my hair down in a low bun with a spiral hairband. Back home and after a quick shower, I doused my hair with dry shampoo to get ready to take Laney to school. Surprisingly my hair didn’t look all that dirty, especially in the areas I usually start to see issues with first like the hair right behind my ears. However, once I sprayed (only my second application) of dry shampoo, my hair had that icky feel to it. I let it settle while doing my make up and then massaged it into my hair. Once styled, my hair still felt blah and sort of heavy. For the rest of the day, whenever I adjusted my hair and could feel all of the residue I made an internal yuck face. I was also self conscious in the grocery line wondering what the back of my head/hair looked like to the girl behind me. It felt like it was probably matted and greasy so I flipped my hair back off of both of my shoulders so it all hung down my back. By lunch time, my hair was pulled up and I knew this was the last day I would be able to go before another wash.
Before | After
Final Thoughts | 3 out of 5 stars
Pros: great smell & no residue (which is the only reason this one scored higher than Not Your Mother’s). Cons: no drastic difference in volume, not worth the additional money since it did nothing more than the regular Batiste line at a lesser price point, did not extend the time between washes like other brands (it’s possible I did myself a disservice not using it on Day 2, but here we are) and gave my hair that icky, sticky feel. I do not plan to buy this one again. There is a De-Frizzing Dry Shampoo counterpart to this one which I initially wanted to try but my Target was out at the time I was purchasing everything for this blog post. Now having had the experience I did with this one, I don’t think I’ll try this one either if I’ll be paying extra just for it to make my hair feel gross. I’ll just stick with my smoothing cream to tame the frizz.
Kristin Ess: Style Reviving Dry Shampoo
[$4.99 (mini), Target]
Initial Wash: February 13, 2020
Hair Day 1 | February 14, 2020
Oh my gosh! I don’t want to jump the gun on this as I’m not yet to the end of this little experiment, but I think I may have found my new favorite! First off, it smells great! I wouldn’t call it masculine, but it definitely has more of that vibe rather than 
fruity, fresh/powdery scents. Second observation was that it did have a little bit of white residue; however, with a light massage it instantly went away. It was nothing like the work I had to do to get rid of the residue from Not Your Mother’s. I also then noticed that while I worked it into my hair, I couldn’t even feel it! It felt so natural! I couldn’t believe! It literally felt like I hadn’t sprayed any product in my hair. My hair had also been pulled back for my 5:30am workout and then I pulled it back again after I sprayed it because I had a tennis match. I ended up leaving it in a low bun the rest of the day. (No after picture since my hair was pulled back all day.)
Hair Day 2 | February 15, 2020
I almost caved and washed my hair to start over with this one because of my tennis hair, but held strong during my shower last night and kept my shower cap on. I wanted to see how it did after another day and night with more activity than normal. This morning, we got up early to turn a work trip for Brad into a family adventure. My hair didn’t look too bad that morning all things considered and I gave it another spray. This time there was more white residue than yesterday, but again it almost immediately went away with a quick finger comb through my roots. Once ready, we set off to Charleston! We spent about an hour at Brad’s job site and then we headed to Folly Beach for a quick walk to put our toes in the sand. It was SO windy! I forgot to take my normal ‘after’ picture, but this is one we took just after getting back in the car from the beach. With a quick adjustment, I don’t think my hair looked too bad considering what it had just been through.
Before | After
Hair Day 3 | February 16, 2020
I forgot to share yesterday and the same went for today — my hair felt like it didn’t even need dry shampoo. My oils still felt totally under control and my hair still felt product free. I have never experienced this with dry shampoo before. I definitely don’t see volume from this dry shampoo like I did others, but I guess you just have to pick what you prefer. I’m not a fan of that texture product feeling in my hair so I may just have to forgo volume if I want to stick with this clean hair feeling dry shampoo. I planned on doing my hair this morning before leaving Charleston but the girls were ready to get to breakfast, so I gave it a quick spray (no white residue this morning!) and pulled it back into a low bun, thus no after picture.
Hair Day 4 | February 17, 2020
I had planned on washing my hair last night, but life happened so here we are on Day 4. I woke up to a text from my trainer that he was under the weather, so I went in and did my cardio instead. My hair was pulled back into a low bun with a spiral hair band and endured one last sweat session because it’s definitely getting washed tonight. This was the first day my hair had the stiffer feel to it that some of the other dry shampoos give me after using it for a day or so. The top of my head wasn’t too bad, but since this dry shampoo doesn’t give much volume, my hair was looking pretty blah. The only real place I noticed as a problem area was the part on the back of my head where my hair splits to be pulled to the front of my shoulders on both sides. I’m sure just the frequent touching of me fluffing my hair and then pulling the hair back to the front from the relatively same spot doesn’t help so that was my indicator for it being time to wash. Surprisingly though, there was no white residue that came from the can when sprayed this morning prior to styling.
Before | After
Final Thoughts | 4.5 out of 5 Stars
I absolutely loved this one! By far my favorite scent and I loved that it made my hair feel like it had zero product in it. However, if you are looking for major volume, this product isn’t for you. Normally white residue is a deal breaker for me as I’m sure you’ve learned by now, but this one dissolved so easily and quickly into my roots it was never an issue. I never felt self conscious that I had a white patch on the back of my head. I will definitely be buying this again, next time in the full size! I am also curious to try this brand’s texture spray. I know I’ve said I don’t like that texture feel, but with the experience I have had with this dry shampoo, I’m willing to give it a try to see if it’s not as heavy as others to give me a little more volume.
Batiste: Original
[$2.99 (mini), Target]
Initial Wash: February 17, 2020
Hair Day 1 | February 18, 2020
Having just washed my hair last night, it didn’t need a whole lot of help this morning, but I wanted to give it a little life. Therefore, I sprayed it with some Original Batiste. Initial thoughts are that it smells like baby powder — not my favorite. Second, it turned my hair white with residue. However, like the Kristin Ess dry shampoo, it felt pretty weightless in my hair and not like I had just poured texture product into my hair. It was hard to get the residue to blend into my roots; I saw some lingering in various areas while I was curling it. I’d say it also gave me a little volume. (After picture is a screenshot from a video 🙂 haha and after I had been out in the rainy weather.)
Before | After
Hair Day 2 | February 19, 2020
This morning I had an hour-long training session at the gym since I had to reschedule from my trainer’s cancellation on Monday and me being out of town on Friday. It was tough. My hair actually recovered pretty well after being pulled back in a low bun during that time. I gave my hair a few sprays to soak up some of the oil but nothing too crazy because I didn’t want to have to deal with blending it in. I then just pulled part of it up in a top knot, lightly curled the rest of my hair and called it a day.
Before | After
Hair Day 3 | February 20, 2020
I don’t necessarily love my hair on day 4 unless it’s just a day around the house. So for that reason and wanting my hair to look and feel the way I want it to for my grandmother’s funeral, I chose to wash it this morning to have time for it to hold style today and then be on Day 2 hair tomorrow.
Final Thoughts | 3.5 out of 5 Stars
Smell is ok, hair texture is noticeable though fine, but I hate that it puts off such a thick white residue that is hard to work in. I even would spray and let it sit while starting my make up to see if that would help it before massaging it into my roots, but no luck. I’d use this one again if needed, but I definitely have a couple that rank higher than this one at this point.
Klorane
[$10 (travel size) , Amazon]
Initial Wash: February 20, 2020
Hair Day 1 | February 21, 2020
I styled my hair post-wash yesterday afternoon before we hit the road to Beaufort, SC so that it would make for an easy process this morning. Today is the day we celebrate my grandmother’s life and lay her to rest.
It was a quick night. After finally getting Laney down a little after 10:00pm, Morgan woke up at 10:45pm and I couldn’t get her back down until around 11:20pm. Then I woke up at 5:00am worried that I had forgotten to set my alarm (my 2 alarms were still on) and then went back to sleep until my alarm went off at 6:30am. My before picture for this one is rough! Ha! After a quick shower with a shower cap, I gave Klorane a try. I originally heard about this one from the Rambling Redhead. She raves about this stuff, so I finally caved and ordered it from Amazon since it’s not sold in stores, at least not from what I’ve seen. Sidenote: Jenn is a great follow if you aren’t already following her. You can find her @ramblingredhead.
First spray I noticed a little bit of white residue and a scent I couldn’t quite put my finger on. I honestly don’t even know how to describe it other than having that feeling of “I know I’ve smelt something like this before, I just don’t know where” feeling. The scent was a little strange for a hair product but not bad enough for me to not use it. It’s probably just the oat milk, which I’m not used to. The residue wasn’t too hard to get to go away. My favorite thing about this one so far is like Kristin Ess, I can’t really feel it in my hair. I’ll have to report back if I feel like it gives me more volume than Kristin Ess or not.
Before (6:30am) | After (8:30am) | After (9:00pm)
Hair Day 2 | February 22, 2020
This morning my hair still felt clean and product free even though I’m on Day 2 of using this dry shampoo. Looking at the pictures I would definitely say this one gives a little more lift at my roots than Kristin Ess. I wouldn’t say the volume is consistent, but is easily reactivated with a quick rake of the fingers. My hair still looked pretty good at bedtime which is saying a lot because it was a crazy day … wild kids, 2.5 hours at the USC Equestrian Meet, driving around to look at land and dinner at a Mexican restaurant (National Margarita Day!).
Before (10:00am) | After (2:30pm) | After (8:00pm)
Hair Day 3 | February 23, 2020
We decided today would just be a productive day around the house which meant my hair got pulled up on top of my head. I didn’t use any dry shampoo and will probably wash it tonight so that it’s ready for the week. That being said, this will conclude the line up I created for this little experiment.
Final Thoughts | 4 out of 5 Stars
I think my expectations were a little high for this one since another blogger I follow raves about it so much therefore I think I had built it up to the point where I didn’t love it as much as I thought I would. I loved that it was lightweight, but didn’t love the smell and the fact that it was yet another dry shampoo that sprayed white residue onto my hair. I also don’t love that I would have to order it from Amazon. I like the convenience of just being able to grab what I need from Target when I need it.
Overall Rankings
7. Not Your Mother’s (2/5 Stars)
6. Batiste Volumizing (3/5 Stars)
5. Monat (3.5/5 Stars)
4. Batiste (3.5/5 Stars)
3. Klorane (4/5 Stars)
2. Herbal Essences (4.5/5 Stars)
1. Kristin Ess (4.5/5 Stars)
What is your favorite dry shampoo? Based on my opinions and results, which brand(s) do you now want to try? Let me know! I’ve linked all of the pictures (except for Monat) for you as well. 🙂
Wishing you many happy hair days ahead,
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