Dry Shampoo Review
DETAILS
When — 2026
What — Dry Shampoo
Brand — Several
I Finally Broke Up With Aerosol Dry Shampoo
My all-time favorite dry shampoo used to be Drybar. When I traveled, I would usually grab Batiste because it was easy, inexpensive, and available almost anywhere.
And honestly? It worked. I just eventually decided aerosol was one of the things I was ready to move away from.
Barely Surviving Boy Mom recently asked me where someone would even start if they wanted to make more eco-friendly or cleaner choices. My answer is always the same: one thing at a time.
Clean-ish living does not have to mean throwing away everything in your house and replacing your entire life by Tuesday.
For me, it started years ago with laundry detergent because that was something I was using day in and day out on clothes, sheets, towels, and everything my family touched. Eventually, dry shampoo made the list.
No judgment if you are not there yet. You do you. I lived a very happy Drybar-and-Batiste life for a long time. But at this point, I wanted a non-aerosol option that worked well enough that I would actually use it.
Because the cleanest product in the world is useless if it makes your hair look like powdered sadness. So I decided to try non-aerosol dry shampoos.
What I Expected (the Promise)
What I Expected was very simple: less oil, no scalp irritation, and no looking like I was late for a Revolutionary War reenactment.
I tested several non-aerosol dry shampoos; these three made the final list:
Odele Dry Shampoo Powder
Crown Affair The Dry Shampoo
Commence 2-in-1 Instant Dry Shampoo
What Happened (real life)
Here is what I learned very quickly: the formula matters, but the pump might matter even more.
With aerosol dry shampoo, the delivery system is easy. You spray, you wait, you zhuzh, and you go.
With non-aerosol powders, the pump has to distribute the product in a fine enough mist that you do not end up with a chalky explosion at your roots. That is apparently harder than one would think.
We can send people to the moon, but we still cannot reliably keep our hair from getting oily without aerosol propellants or a faulty pump.
I digress.
If you buy one of these and the pump does not work well, exchange it immediately. Do not assume the product itself is bad. When I read reviews on non-aerosol dry shampoos, one person will say it is life-changing and another will say the pump barely worked. Based on my experience, both people may be telling the truth.
Rating: MEET (This was my favorite overall.)
The formula worked well, and of the three I tested, the Odele pump gave me the finest mist and the most even application. That matters because dry shampoo powder can go wrong quickly. Too much product in one spot, and suddenly you are not “refreshed,” you are George Washington.
Odele absorbed oil, added a little volume, and did not make my scalp itch. The other major win is accessibility. It is affordable and available at Target, which makes it an easy clean-ish swap.
The only downside is that it is slightly bigger than I want for travel. My toiletry bag is already carrying the emotional weight of midlife.
Rating: MEET (my travel pick)
Crown Affair gets a lot of love online, and I understand why. The formula is good. It feels elevated. It did not make my scalp itch, and the product itself performed well.
My original issue with Crown Affair was travel. The full-size packaging was not my favorite to pack, their newer travel size changed that for me.
The pump worked well, though in my experience it was not quite as fine as the Odele. But with these non-aerosol pumps, that could be product design, or it could be the luck of the pump. I had a better spray experience with Odele, but Crown Affair still performed very well. This is now my travel pick.
Commence 2-in-1 Instant Dry Shampoo
Rating: MISS for me
I really, really wanted to like this one.
It is Brooke Shields, people. I want to use whatever she is using on her hair. If Brooke tells me there is a product for over-40 hair that makes sense for this stage of life, I am listening.
Unfortunately, this one did not work for me.
The scent was too strong for my preference, and something in the formulation made my scalp itch. To be clear, the reviews are good, and if you are not sensitive to fragrance or scalp irritation, you may have a completely different experience. But for me personally, it was a miss.
Final Verdict:
Odele is the one I will keep using most often because it is affordable, accessible, and had the best pump experience for me.
Crown Affair is the one I will travel with, especially now that the travel size exists.
Commence is the one I wanted to love, but the scent and scalp irritation made it a no for me.
This is exactly how I think clean-ish living should work. You do not have to change everything at once. You do not have to be perfect. You do not have to panic-buy your way into a new personality. Just pick one thing. For me, this time, it was aerosol dry shampoo.
And if you are still using aerosol, no judgment. I was there for years. But if you are ready to make the switch, I would start with Odele or Crown Affair.
Just remember: if the pump does not work, exchange it immediately.
Because apparently, the real innovation frontier is not space travel. It is finding a way to apply dry shampoo without looking like a three-year-old who got into the flour.
Not sponsored. Not gifted. This review is based on my own personal experience.
This post may contain affiliate links. If you buy through these links, I may earn a commission at no extra cost to you.
