As a devout dry shampoo user, I have often found myself defending it, lest someone wrongly assume I’m a shampoo dodger. “Dry shampoo” is, broadly, a misnomer; the product is less a hair cleaner than a hair styler. It doesn’t remove dirt or grease, but absorbs it, extending a blowdry by a day and adding bulk and grip to fine, flat, floppy hair, whether freshly washed or grubby.
And so it’s with some awkwardness that I now heap praise on a dry shampoo that does actually clean your hair, and which has brought down my weekly shampoo average.
Living Proof Advanced Clean Dry Shampoo (£23, 198ml) is different from any dry shampoo I’ve used previously (and I’ve used hundreds).
It uses powder to absorb grease and dirt like any other dry shampoo, but the key difference is that instead of the powder gradually turning hair manky and the scalp itchy, it comes out with a little shake and a brush, leaving behind no chalky white dust and no discernible dirt.
Think of it as Shake n’ Vac for your hair (a reference for the kids, there). I’m obsessed with it, and handily the innovation has come at a time when I’m already keen to cut down on washes. (Since I changed my hair colour to silver, there’s a whole new faff involving purple shampoos that I can’t face daily.)
It has allowed me to don a shower cap for five days in every week, and my hair looks better for it.
For those temporarily unable to wash their hair (hospital residents and festival-goers, for example), it is terrific. But Advanced Clean is not cheap, and frankly, there is no reason to reject traditional dry shampoos in its favour.
Generally speaking, if you are someone who prefers your hair the day after it’s been washed – “day two” – and finds it more manageable, you’re just as well getting your bulk and grip from something cheap. I particularly love dry shampoos from Klorane, Batiste and Love Beauty & Planet, all under £10.
But if you are someone who likes your hair best on “day one” (that’s me), when it’s freshly washed and dried, Advanced Clean will best mimic it and is well worth having to hand.
And so while I am certainly not saying you need to spend more than £20 on a dry shampoo, I am saying that if you ever find yourself tempted to do so, you really should consider making it this one.
