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The Best Alcohol-Free Dry Shampoos
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If you prefer to avoid hair care products that contain alcohol, but aren’t ready to give up dry shampoo, don’t fret: Alcohol-free dry shampoos — and good ones, at that — do exist. Finding them, however, does take a bit of digging, so to save you the effort, you’ll find five of the best alcohol-free dry shampoos rounded up ahead. They all do a great job of absorbing excess oil and refreshing your hair, and they’re all packaged in non-aerosol bottles, since aerosol and alcohol tend to go hand in hand. Choosing the right one for you, though, will come down to some personal preferences: For example, do you prefer scented products or fragrance-free products? What about the type of bottle? And of course, what color is your hair?
The good news is, most of the dry shampoos on this list work for all hair colors. The key is to make sure you’re applying your dry shampoo correctly (that goes for whether your hair is golden blonde or jet black). To avoid a white residue, massage the dry shampoo into your scalp thoroughly with your fingers; then, comb through your hair with a boar bristle brush to make sure the product has been completely blended in.
Last, one quick thing: It’s important to note that not all alcohols are bad for your hair. “Good” (aka non-drying) alcohols include cetearyl alcohol, cetyl alcohol, stearyl alcohol, and lauryl alcohol. But to make things less confusing, no dry shampoo featured here contains an alcohol of any kind, so you can shop with complete confidence.
Scroll on to shop five of the best alcohol-free dry shampoos, all for less than $25 on Amazon. And if you’re interested in more super-gentle hair products, be sure to check out this guide to the best alcohol-free shampoos for in-shower use.
1. Best French Dry Shampoo
Klorane’s Dry Shampoo With Oat Milk is an award-winning, cult-favorite dry shampoo made with soothing oat milk, starches derived from rice and corn, and clay and silica particles. It helps add volume and texture to your hair as it soaks up excess oil, which should help you last another day or two between washes. This French-pharmacy favorite is free of alcohol, silicones, and parabens, and it’s vegan as well.
Fun fact: Klorane invented their first dry shampoo in 1971, and now, one is sold every 10 seconds. Best of all, the company donates a portion of its sales towards an initiative that teaches kids through garden-based learning.
2. Best Organic Dry Shampoo
It’s hard to find organic beauty products in general, let alone an organic dry shampoo. But this one from ACURE has been certified organic by the USDA, which is one of the toughest organic certifications for a product to land. (And despite that, it costs just $10.) It’s a super-fine blend of corn starch, arrowroot powder, kaolin clay, and rosemary and peppermint oils, which work together to absorb oil and give your hair a refreshing, slightly herbal scent. Reviewers on Amazon note that a little of this powder goes a long way, so start with just a small amount, and work your way up if needed.
3. Best Unscented Dry Shampoo
Though most of the dry shampoos on this list are free of synthetic fragrance, some of them do have scents derived from essential oils (and the Klorane dry shampoo does, in fact, contain parfum). But this Act+Acre dry shampoo contains no fragrance whatsoever, so it’s a great choice for people who are sensitive to scents. The key ingredients in here are are rice and tapioca starches, rice powder, silica, and fulvic acid, which the brand refers to as a “super nutrient” for your hair. Since it comes in a pretty small bottle, it’s a particularly great choice for travel.
4. Best Dry Shampoo For Dark Hair
As mentioned earlier, all of the dry shampoos on this list should work well for all hair colors as long as they’re blended in properly. But this one, from Handmade Heroes, is designed specifically for dark hair, so it has more of a gray tint, rather than a white one, which makes it even less likely to show up on dark hair. It features all the heavy hitters to clean and refresh hair between washes (aka rice powder, charcoal, and cacao powder), while essential oils like geranium rose oil, lavender, peppermint, and eucalyptus give it a lovely scent.
5. Best Biotin Dry Shampoo
Luxury hair lovers are probably familiar with the cult-favorite, vegan-friendly brand Briogeo, best known for their Don’t Despair, Repair! hair mask. But they make this really great dry shampoo as well, which uses charcoal, clay, rice and tapioca to keep your hair clean between washes. The real star of the formula, though, is the B vitamin biotin, which may be able to promote hair growth, though the science is admittedly limited. Still, it can’t hurt, can it?
6. The Best Natural Dry Shampoo According To Amazon Reviewers
Amazon reviewers are a bit obsessed with this Hair Dance dry shampoo; it’s been awarded over 5,000 positive ratings and reviews thus far, and many people have deemed it the “best dry shampoo ever.” It contains soothing colloidal oatmeal, in addition to oil-absorbing silica and rice starch, while lavender essential oil gives it a lovely lavender scent. If you prefer a more citrus-y fragrance, consider trying the grapefruit version instead.
