Talk about frustrating. I buy a ‘higher end’ dry shampoo and ended up having to buy a thrifty one… Sigh. But before I tell that story, here’s some background…
I’ve already waxed lyrical ages ago about dry shampoo, declaring it the best beauty find, ever. I haven’t changed my position on this bold statement. It’s still the schizzle and, if anything, I am an even bigger dry shampoo fan now than I was way back when I wrote this blog post.
Are you a dry shampoo virgin? He’s a whistlestop summary:
- It’s a tremendous timesaver: These days I stretch ‘hair wash night’ out to every three, if not four days.
- It’s also economical: I use less of my $40 per-bloody-bottle ‘gourmet’ shampoo and conditioner AND I don’t need as many colour jobs.
What’s not to like? Incidentally, my oily hair has been the bane of my life (along with my oily eyelids) for years and discovering dry shampoo has been a gamechanger. I can’t believe that, pre-dry shampoo discovery, I used to wash and style my hair daily. Nowadays washing and styling my hair is a complete chore (I’d far rather spend 20 mins doing my makeup!!).
I’ve had friends telling me to go the beauty salon so that they can take care of my oily hair. I wasn’t so sure if such a service actually existed here or anywhere else in the world for that matter. It was fascinating to learn about beauty salon bridgend in the UK that specifically cater to the very same oily hair issues as mine. There, salons like Navidi Hair Company offer a variety of non-surgical aesthetic hair treatments and shampoo products
Anyhoo, I’m rambling… You might recall from my recent Empties blog post that my beloved de Lorenzo et Absorb dry shampoo was all used up. I’d decided to live on the edge and I’d subsequently bought a new (i.e. new to me) higher end dry shampoo from Joico their Instant Refresh Dry Shampoo. I really wanted to get out of my comfort zone before buying my fourth de Lorenzo can of goodness. What if there was a better product on the market? Do you hear me? Next time I might try the joico shampoo range of dry shampoo as I have heard such good things! But for now, on to what I purchased this time.
Before I launch in – you’ll see this blog post is called ‘save or splurge’. If you are wondering where I’m going with this, here’s the Exec Summary: Either I got a faulty Joico Instant Refresh dry shampoo or I’m using it wrong. I can’t get it to work for me, at all. I’ve tried and tried – and I’ve admitted defeat. The roots of my hair look as oily after spraying as they did before. I’m super disappointed and my wallet is crying, for with a $25 price-tag, it wasn’t in the ‘cheap as chips’ category. [insert grumble: Should have got a new Maybelline or L’Oreal mascara for that price…. Or some more Australis eyeliners.] So, simply put, dear readers, this blog post is called ‘Save or Splurge’ as I had to buy another new dry shampoo because Joico didn’t deliver.
Let’s compare then. Enter two dry shampoos that I would consider ‘cheap as chips’:
- Batiste Dry Shampoo which I got for approximately $4 from Uncle Bills (in Hastings).
- Fudge Dry Shampoo which I got from The
WarehouseBig Red Shed for $9.95.
How do these cheapies stack up against the splurge version, aka Joico?
Batiste – I’m not a massive fan of the overpowering scent of this product, nor the overly white residue it leaves behind. However, so long as you ‘spray and brush’ (I was dying to say ‘spray and walk away’ just then – in a Chinese accent) there’s no white substance left behind: Just clean looking hair. Having used up the dregs of the Batiste dry shampoo I found stashed at the bottom of my bathroom cupboard to try and remedy my oily hair roots because Joico didn’t do this, I’m reminded that this is a pretty damn solid product. So, assuming you can get Batiste at the cheap of chips price-tag alla Uncle Bills style (Farmers have it for $20), you are onto a huge winner. I personally wouldn’t pay $20 for it. $10-15, yes. More, nup.
Secondly, as my Batiste dregs dried up, I was left, once again, in the precarious situation of having no dry shampoo (damn you Joico). So, once again, I thought I’d live dangerously and purchase another brand to road test. The choice was an easy one: I was at the Warehouse buying soccer shorts for my son, my hair was greasy and there were two brands of dry shampoo on offer: Schwarzkoph and Fudge. It was an easy decision: My bestie tried Schwarzkoph dry shampoo recently and told me it was “shit, don’t buy it”. Alrigthy then, into the shopping basket went Fudge’s dry shampoo.
Good news, Fudge dry shampoo is good! It does what it’s supposed to do: Eliminates my oily roots and leaves me with fresh looking and smelling hair. Like Batiste there’s some white residue that you need to brush out. In a nutshell, Batiste and Fudge, score second place equal in my dry shampoo stakes, though, that said, if I couldn’t get Batiste at the Uncle Bills price, I’d be getting Fudge: It’s cheaper and I’m the Queen of Bargains.
The ultimate verdict?
Go Batiste and Fudge: SAVE your pennies girls. However, if you want to splurge… De Lorenzo et Absorb dry shampoo all the way ($25.20). This is definitely still my Number One for reasons mentioned in this blog post! You can buy De Lorenzo et Absorb at those shampoo stores that seem to have popped up everywhere, like Shampoo Plus (note, Rotorua locals, Shampoo Plus in the mall don’t stock it – yet but rest assured I’m on the case, LOL).
Question: What brand of dry shampoo should I try next? I’m up for a challenge. I’ve decided I’m going to work my way through every brand on the market.
PS In the spirit of a bit more market research, my friend Alyson (fellow beauty addict) and I are doing a swap: She’s taking my Joico dry shampoo AND my L’Oreal Micellar Water and I’m going to try her Garnier Micellar Water and dry shampoo (she’s had a bad experience with both her products). I’ll report back on my Facebook page – stay tuned.
