Essential Facts on Dry Shampoo

What is it and does it really work?
Dry shampoo has been around for thousands of years. In Asian cultures, women would apply clay as a cleanser to their hair and then comb it out, and in the courts of France hundreds of years ago, women would “powder” their hair to clean it. (Or alternatively they would simply wear a wig to avoid washing altogether!)
While dry shampoos were traditionally used when there was really no other option—on camping trips or during travels in remote places where water was not readily available—today sales are climbing. Some clients claim the time-savings benefits (after all, you are skipping the wet, shampoo, rinse cycle) while others say that dry shampoos have a volumizing effect on their hair and that by not washing every day, a salon blowout can last a good bit longer.
But let’s face it: dry shampoo does not clean your hair as well as the old-fashioned shampoo and water, and it doesn’t leave that nice smell afterwards either. Your hair can get dirty in just one day, especially if you live in the city, so go a few days without washing and even the best dry shampoo won’t get it really clean. And then there’s the issue of conditioning. If you dry shampoo your hair, how will you condition it? Answer: you won’t.
The beauty of dry shampoo is that it doesn’t require water to wash your hair. But perhaps the reason dry shampoos have never truly caught on is because we like the ritual of wetting our hair to clean it; it gives us a boost in our day and we feel better about ourselves when we step out of the shower. So in extreme situations, why not try dry shampoo, but for everyday, it might be wiser to stick with the tried-and-true.