Dry shampoo has gone from dressing table afterthought to bona fide beauty essential. These days, it’s less about masking third-day roots and more about extending a blow-dry, adding texture to clean hair or simply buying back time on busy mornings. Whether you’ve overslept, squeezed in a reformer class at lunch or simply can’t face wash day, a good dry shampoo formula is the ultimate reset button.
What’s more, brands have come a long way since a dusting of Johnson’s baby powder. That’s right, the latest dry shampoo innovations boast skincare-inspired ingredients, biotech odour neutralisers, pollution shields and fine-fragrance-level scents, all while avoiding the dreaded chalky cast. Unlike traditional shampoos, which rely on surfactants and water to rinse away oil, dry shampoos use starches and absorbent powders to soak up excess sebum at the root. The result? Instantly revived volume and movement.
Application is simple: target the roots, let it sit briefly, then massage or brush through. The result should be fresher-looking hair with zero residue. With prices ranging from under £5 to well over £40, we tested the lot to find the formulas truly worth your money.
Read more: 35 best shampoos and conditioners for good hair days
The best dry shampoos for 2026 are:
- Best overall – Arkive the reset: £14, Boots.com
- Best budget buy – Batiste sensitive scalp: £2.87, Boots.com
- Best for coloured hair – K18 airwash: £48, Cultbeauty.co.uk
- Best for volume – Sam McKnight lazy girl: £19.20, Spacenk.com
How we tested
We put myriad dry shampoos through their paces, using them on hair that needed all the help it could get, after not being washed for three days. We tested a mix of light and heavy-duty formulas for use on up-dos and when wearing our hair down. We considered scent, finish, added volume, how discreet or visible each dry shampoo was, and, of course, value for money. For more details of everything we factored into our review, scroll down for our full testing criteria.
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