Batiste Dry Shampoo

I used to wash my hair every day when I was a kid.  I was also kind of a daydreamer/shower-singer so there have definitely been times where muscle memory just kicked in and I'd shampoo twice.  Or three times, if I had a particularly good song going.

Then I went on this hideous trip where I had no access to a shower for five straight days.  I'm too traumatized to remember, but I think it involved several multikilometer portages.  I had a friend who was complaining about greasy hair...let me just remind you that as an everyday shampooer with oily skin and scalp...no one could touch me when it came to greasy hair.  I argued as much and finally offered her my head to touch.  We're still friends and she has yet to ever touch my head again.

A couple years later, after not one, but two hyper-damaging perms, I finally got my hair act together. I went through a very difficult two-week phase of not washing my hair, and it changed my life.  And my hair.  First of all, did you know that your hair can get so dirty, it almost looks clean again?  It could be a direct result of no longer knowing what clean hair looks like, but I'm fairly certain that your hair has a fail-safe mechanism and cleans itself.  Ha.

Anyway, I've learned to stretch my shampooing routine to a few days; first day wash, second day heat style, third day dry shampoo, repeat as needed.  I've been a diehard follower of Klorane dry shampoo on Phil's recommendation, and I do love that one.  It really does take away that gross hair smell and replace it with something wonderful.  And it cleans your hair.

Then I had a twitter conversation with Rasilla, and she mentioned how great Batiste dry shampoo is.  $8.99 for a 200 ml can?  Impossible.  Then I tried it.

Holy mother of grease-fighting.

The Original* dry shampoo smells the best -- it smells fresh and soapy, exactly the way a shampoo should.  It left my hair feeling clean for a full 24 hours, which is impressive since I usually have to reapply after 10 - 12.  Blush* works exactly the same way as the original.  I can see a lot of people preferring this scent; it's floral, like a light cologne.  XXL Volume* has an extremely vanilla/caramel gourmand scent, and Dark & Deep Brown* smells like chocolate.

These all perform fairly similarly -- in the video, I show you how much volume the XXL gives me.  As for the Deep Dark, it's not quite as dark as my hair, but it definitely doesn't leave as much residue.  It's actually light enough to work for a lot of dirty blondes, but I imagine that the light version could act as a temporary root touch-up.  One thing I will say about the Dark & Deep Brown is that it didn't collect in white flakes at my roots.  After a full day of wearing the others, I'd scratch my head, and all the product would flake off.  It's less of a problem if you're blonde, but on my dark hair it got to be pretty noticeable and I'd have to wash my hair.

All in all, these are a freakin' steal.  They're readily available at Rexall, Pharmaplus, Shoppers Drug Mart, Sobeys, or online at www.farleyco.ca -- $4.99/50 ml, $8.99/200 ml.

*PR Sample