A good dry shampoo can work wonders by bringing new life to second-day hair, but there's one catch. If you have fine hair, some of the most beloved formulas may also weigh your hair down. Instead, the best dry shampoos for fine hair will boost volume while also combatting greasiness. Since corn starch can be too mattifying and heavy, you should look for products made out of lighter weight powders (like rice or tapioca starch) that still allow for movement in your tresses.
When shopping for the right dry shampoo for your needs, some brands make it easy and indicate right on the bottle that their's is literally "for fine hair." You can trust that those are formulated to do all the things dry shampoos are supposed to do — like absorb oil — but go a step further by not weighing down your tresses with heavy powders.
Another great trick for reenergizing flat, lifeless hair is to dispense your dry shampoo only where you need it — a loose powder product that comes in a squeeze bottle with a precision cap can help you zero in on your roots. Also, if your scalp is particularly sensitive, look for a fragrance-free dry shampoo that will still deliver body to your delicate hair, minus the risk of irritation.
With that in mind, scroll on to shop five of the best dry shampoos for fine, thin hair, so you can start to fake your way to fuller locks until your next rinse!
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1The Overall Best
With more than 500 (and counting!) perfect five-star reviews on Amazon, Living Proof's Perfect Hair Day Dry Shampoo is consistently rated one of the best on the market for taking hair from limp and oily to bouncy and clean-feeling in a snap. It contains rice starch, but there's another aspect of the ingredients list that makes it particularly amazing for fine hair types — it's the brand's patented Healthy Hair Molecule. This clever weightless liquid helps promote fullness and thickness while warding off oil, sweat, and odor instead of just absorbing it like most other dry shampoos do. Instead of residue, you'll be left with smoother, cleaner hair. Living Proof's product is silicone-free, sulfate-free, paraben-free, phthalate-free and cruelty-free, to boot.
2The Most Affordable
You know you're getting exactly the right formula for your hair when you see it written directly on the bottle — and this budget-friendly John Frieda Dry Shampoo is labeled specifically "for fine hair." The hero ingredient in this formula, rice starch, has a smaller particle size than other oil-absorbing ingredients (like aluminum or corn starch) often found in dry shampoos. This makes it much lighter weight on your hair, which in turn, helps keeps your volume intact. Rice starch is also a lot more transparent, so it won't leave a white residue behind when you spritz it. For an extra bit of volume, Amazon reviewers suggest spraying the dry shampoo along your roots and then blasting the area with your blow dryer for a few seconds. That hack helps seal in the volume, giving your hair even more of a major boost.
3The Best For Sensitive Skin
If your scalp tends to get easily inflamed or irritated, then reach for this No Nothing Very Sensitive Dry Shampoo. It's fragrance-free, vegan, and, as the brand name indicates, omits other possible allergens like gluten, soy, and colorants. But that doesn't mean it won't do the work. "I have thin hair and this adds great volume too," wrote one happy customer. "I hold up and [spray] sections of hair like hair spray, rub in with fingers, blow dry with low heat briefly and rub with fingers again, then brush it out. No scent and feels good.”
4The Best Dry Shampoo Powder
A dry shampoo powder, like this one by Verb, is great for fine hair because it's targeted and buildable. Instead of a spray, you use the precision-tip nozzle to apply the powder directly onto your scalp, giving you full control of where it goes. It also means you can decide exactly how much gets puffed out — either a light wash of oil absorption or a huge boost of volume. On the ingredients list, you'll find hydrating glycerin, antioxidant-rich super fruits, and tapioca starch. What you won't find? Parabens, sulfates, or gluten. (The formula is cruelty-free, too!) "My super fine hair just gets way too oily for a spray to save," reported one Amazon fan. "I put this powder in every day and I can usually go 3 days without washing my hair."
5You May Also Like: This Cult-Favorite Texturizing Spray
While it's not exactly in the direct dry shampoo family, you can think of Oribe's Dry Texturizing Spray as a not-so-distant cousin. It's a multi-award-winning styling product that users with fine hair especially love because of how much extra volume it delivers. Plus, thanks to what the brand refers to as "zeolite crystallines," it has excellent oil-absorbing properties. A little goes a long way to add texture to limp hair, so you'll wind up getting a lot of use out of this big bottle. "I have fine, straight hair and this gives my hair extra volume (not to mention smells amazing!)," boasted one Amazon reviewer. "It's great to use on dry hair too! I sometimes spray it in my roots to act as a substitute dry shampoo when I don't feel like washing it." To top it off, this pick is vegan, cruelty-free, and free of parabens, sulfates, gluten, and sodium chloride.
