We've all been been there. The time has come to wash your hair and you just can't bring yourself to stick your head under the water. Fortunately, that's why humans created the miracle that is dry shampoo. The typical aerosol spray absorbs oil and adds volume when you just can't be bothered with washing your hair. Now, it's gotten an upgrade with the Prose custom dry shampoo. The new launch from the customizable brand allows you to target certain hair concerns while disguising your second — or third or fourth — day hair.
The thing that makes Prose's custom dry shampoo special is that it's the first product of its kind. While several brands in the beauty market offer shampoos and conditioners that allow customers to pinpoint their biggest hair concerns, dry shampoo was left out of that category. Prose has changed that. I tried it on my next-level oily scalp and here's how it worked.
Just like its other personalized hair care items, when you want to try the custom dry shampoo, you'll need to take a quiz. The questions will address everything from how oily your scalp can become, how long it takes for oil to build up in your hair, and how much dandruff you experience. Once you've answered these inquiries about your hair type, the brand will allow you to choose vegan, gluten-free, or silicone-free formulas as well as a scent (or no scent) before generating your custom dry shampoo.
Each dry shampoo will be different, but all of them have a few key elements in common. Every formula is made with 99% natural ingredients and comes in a powder formula (not an aerosol) that is said to leave no residue and help increase volume. The dry shampoo is also obviously meant to help refresh your roots and degrease the scalp. No matter your personal formula, the product retails for $25.
My customization included a few key ingredients meant to target my oilier scalp that can sometimes be prone to dandruff. According to my consultation, this meant the inclusion of witch hazel for oil control, menthol to help detox my scalp, and tea tree oil for dandruff.
If you're accustomed to using an aerosol, the Prose Dry Shampoo will be a bit of an adjustment. The product is powder only, so you'll need to keep it closer to your scalp while using to prevent the formula from exploding everywhere. While the powder is stark white, like the brand explains, there truly is no residue once you rub it into your scalp. My hair is a deep brown — nearly black — and the formula didn't leave behind a white cast, a refreshing change from more traditional dry shampoos that can make me look like I'm going grey a few years too early.
As for its oil absorbing properties, the formula certainly lived up to the claims. The powder formula almost seems to work better for disguising oil than an aerosol spray. There was a drawback here, though. While the product works, my hair is relatively thick and wavy, and in order to get down to the scalp-level oil (as opposed to just my top strands), I had to use a bit more product than is recommended. However, the shampoo certainly got the job done, and in a complete departure, it left zero residue in my hair.
As a dry shampoo loyalist, I often have to use clarifying treatments and shampoos to help rid my scalp of product buildup when the time comes to wash my hair. With Prose's dry shampoo, that wasn't the case.
Finally, there were the volumizing claims. Unfortunately, this is where the product fell a bit short, but it's likely a situation where you're getting a trade-off. Traditional aerosols (like my favorite Batiste) add texture to the hair as they absorb oil, and for my hair, this helps create volume at the root. However, it does leave quite a bit of residue.
With Prose, because there's nothing to add texture (at least in my formula), that residue is gone, and you won't have build-up. However, it's just not quite as effective at creating volume as other products.
Despite a lack of volume, Prose's custom dry shampoo is certainly a product to test for yourself. Thanks to an 8-10 week use time, the $25 price tag is worth it, and given that you won't need to strip your hair with clarifying products after use, your hair health will also likely improve. Plus for Black Friday and Cyber Monday, the brand is offering 20% off site wide.
If you want to try Prose for yourself, head to the brand's website now and get your hands on the world's first ever custom dry shampoo.
