One Small Thing: A Dry Shampoo For Hot Adult Dirtbags

How to have great hair without even trying that hard

By Molly Osberg  |  July 29, 2021 | 7:15pm
BeautyStyle
One Small Thing: A Dry Shampoo For Hot Adult Dirtbags
Photo:Michael M. Santiago (Getty Images)

Forgive me a bit of explanation before I recommend my favorite dry shampoo, which has a mortifying name but has functionally changed my life. I’m not exactly what you would call a high-maintenance person. I wear the same outfit (black), accessorized with the same necklace and hoops (gold) every day. I’ve been using the same brand of makeup since it was recommended to me by a friend who at the time worked for Glossier. Someday, I may pay for this, but I find complicated skincare regimens onerous—whose idea was it to rebrand the chore of a “routine” as a meditative “ritual” in the first place? Face wash and moisturizer seem completely reasonable, and humanity has gotten along just fine for millennia without the regular slathering of hyaluronic acid or whatever across its collective pores.

My style, if you could call it that, is “hot dirtbag”; now that I’m no longer in my 20s, I’ve updated it somewhat to “hot adult dirtbag,” which basically means having fewer tears in my jeans and smelling good most of the time. None of which is to say I don’t have preferences about how I look. I like my hair big and my earrings big and my t-shirts french-tucked. It’s consistent, and I know I look exactly how I prefer to look, every single day.

It’s the big-hair thing we’re going to address today. A few years ago, one of my most glamorous friends casually told me she only washes her hair once every few weeks, if that. I was shocked—she’s so fancy!—but it was the best piece of so-called beauty advice I’ve ever received. Turns out, the hair I thought was straight was actually quite wavy, and even tended towards the occasional curl. I found that if I simply conditioned the ends every week or so, my hair looked consistently incredible, and certainly far better than it had when I’d attempted to coax it into reaching new heights with an endless parade of “volumizing” shampoos and mouses and spays. The only problem, of course, is that eventually, the roots of my new effortlessly incredibly hairstyle would start to look a bit shiny and limp, which didn’t particularly fit in with the “adult” part of my look. I needed a good dry shampoo to reinvigorate the greasy parts near my scalp, and I’m so sorry to report the best I’ve found is called Big Sexy Hair Volumizing Dry Shampoo.

This shit isn’t for the weak of heart. For anyone concerned about drying out—it’s basically industrial strength— it should be used sparingly. But it’s been indispensable on days when either my hair needs a lift or I am too busy (or lazy) to take a shower and wait for all that hair to dry. I’ve taken it on long camping excursions and reporting trips and used it in office bathrooms. Generally, when it’s time to refill, I’ll just buy a couple of smaller cans to stash in basically any place I plan to be for a period of time. Unlike some other dry shampoos, it’s intended to be a styling aid, so a few spritzes near the top of my head will give the whole deal a nice textured lift along with removing the evidence of my various hygienic failures, which I deeply appreciate. Also, thanks to Big Sexy Hair Volumizing Dry Shampoo I have been able to spend less time washing my hair and more time doing literally anything else.

One Small Thing only features products we paid for ourselves. We have not been sent samples or otherwise bribed.

 
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