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We Tested the 6 Most Innovative Dry Shampoos

Here are the ones that are life-changing
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About a year ago, I was the Queen of washing my hair daily. At the time, I was working at a salon as a receptionist and wanted to have fresh, bouncy hair that clients would swoon over. It wasn't until my coworker told me how bad it was to wash my hair as much as I was that I decided to hop on the dry shampoo bandwagon. Little did I know my life would be changed forever.

Okay, I get it. Dry shampoo changing my life sounds Kardashian dramatic, but trust me, it's the truth. With the first spray of the mattifying powder, I was hooked. Since then I've tested just about every dry shampoo on the market -- though I always stuck with the typical spray-on aerosol. Much to my surprise, I've been seeing a ton of innovative dry shampoos popping up and knew I needed to give them a try.

I went ahead and found six of the most innovative new dry shampoos from of my favorite retailers and put them to the test. I waited until my hair was at the point of wash-or-die and found out which ones came to the rescue -- and which fell flat.

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This innovative dry shampoo by Living Proof is the first of its kind, as it claims to actually clean your hair rather than just mask the dirt and oil. It is powered by their patented healthy hair molecule OFPMA to cleanse the hair and actually deliver a light, clean scent throughout the day.

Packaging: This normal aerosol can totally worked for me. I have to say that this sprayed out a lot of product in one shot, so make sure you're working it into the hair quickly so you don't waste product.

Effectiveness: In a word: superclean. I was very pleased with the way my hair looked after spraying this product throughout the root area. As someone who has hair that gets very oily very quickly, this really did make my hair look and feel clean for the rest of the day -- without any tackiness or powdery residue.

Scent: I'm a fan of the scent as it really is light and clean as they claimed it would be. I didn't notice the smell hanging around for the entire day, but that may very well be because I got used to the scent.

Visibility: As mentioned above, this spray comes out quickly and it's very powerful compared to the other options I tested. Make sure you're holding the can an arm's distance away and not focusing on one area for more than a second to avoid the dreaded white cast.

Overall: 4/5

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R+Co switched up the dry shampoo game by creating a formula that you apply with your fingers -- in paste form. It sounds super unrealistic and sketchy, but I was actually amazed by the results.

Packaging: This is the first time I tried a dry shampoo that you don't puff or spray into your hair, so I was skeptical at first. When using this paste, make sure that you have a sink handy as your hands may be a bit pasty after application.

Effectiveness: Much to my surprise, I really loved this unique take on dry shampoo meets styling paste. I found it worked best on third-day hair when I had messy waves, as it added a great amount of texture to the roots and looked like the perfect, textured Instagram waves. With straight hair, I wasn't such a fan of this paste.

Scent: The scent on this dry shampoo paste is almost non-existent to my nose which I was more than okay with. I've had one too many dry shampoos that I hated using simply because of the scent, so this was a blessing in disguise.

Visibility: Obviously, you won't get any sort of white cast with this texture-enhancing dry shampoo. It's made with volcanic ash and plenty of effective ashes, so on my brown hair I wasn't left with any sort of visibility.

Overall: 4/5

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Ouai Dry Shampoo Foam, $28
Is it just me or does every lady want Kardashian hair? For their perfect waves, textured bed head, or slicked back ponytails, you can credit their hairstylist, Jen Atkin. Banking on this, she created her own haircare line, Ouai, and one of the first products she released was a dry shampoo foam. Yes, you heard us correctly.

Packaging: Aside from the packaging being ultra-chic, it's efficient too. It dispensed perfect amount of product from the applicator. It released the perfect portion to do a bit of hair at a time and not waste product.

Effectiveness: Again, much to my surprise, I really loved the way my hair looked and felt after this foam. Out of all that I tested, this was the one that I felt really made my hair look the cleanest.

Scent: The one aspect of this product that threw me off a bit was the scent. Some may love it, but it was a little too floral for me. On the plus side, you definitely wouldn't smell dirty hair through this scent.

Visibility: There was no white cast whatsoever with this product which was an absolute joy. Also, once you completely work this into your roots, you don't see any sign of its foamy texture either. So put those fears of '80s-style crunchy mousse to rest.

Overall: 4.5/5

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This brand-new dry shampoo powder from R+Co comes in gorgeous packaging, which made me even more excited to try it. To use this product, lift up chunks of hair, spritz it in, then rustle it around with fingers or a brush.

Packaging: I won't lie: It takes a little getting used to. The first time I tried it, I was already dressed in my black outfit for the day. This little dispenser pumps out white powder, and I wasn't pleased to see that it left a fine dusting all over my clothes. Still, if I held it closer to my roots, the white cast was visible.

Effectiveness: Once I worked in the white powder, my hair looked much cleaner. It also did a great job giving me some extra volume.

Scent: Of all the products I tested, this way probably my favorite scent. R+Co describes it as "rosy eyed" which is a mix of bergamot, wild fig, cedarwood, lotus flower and more.

Visibility: Again, if this product is properly worked into the roots, you don't have to worry about a white cast, but make sure you have a minute or two to work your fingers through.

Overall: 3.5/5

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BY KRISTEN BOUSQUET | OCT 9, 2017 | SHARES
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