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It’s a familiar tug-of-war for anyone with fine hair — the days where we’re simply not up for a full hair wash, yet our greasy roots and flat hair don’t exactly look clean. But instead of rocking a sad slick-back bun, you have other styling options. A dry shampoo absorbs oil and can prevent a lifeless look by giving roots a much-needed volume boost, especially on a non-wash day. “As your hair becomes dirtier in-between shampoos, it’s important to use a dry shampoo with volumizing benefits that will make your hair look like it was just washed and a style that can get you through another day,” explains celebrity hairstylist Christina Giarrizzo.

If you have fine hair and your current dry shampoo just isn’t cutting it, our team of InStyle editors — all with fine hair — tested more than 60 dry shampoos. As we integrated each dry shampoo into our normal hair care routines for two weeks, we paid close attention to how fast and thoroughly it absorbed oil and neutralized odor, any lingering white cast or sticky residue it left behind, if it was easy to use or if it made a mess of our bathrooms, and most importantly, the final result. Did we like the way our hair looked? Did our roots still appear greasy or flat? These are the dry shampoos that we loved the most for the way they gave our (formerly) dirty, fine hair a volumized, full and bouncy looking, fresh start.

Best Overall

Crown Affair The Dry Shampoo

What We Love: This powder formula uses a blend of super finely milled starches to absorb oil instantly. 

What We Don’t Love: Those who use dry shampoo more often than regular shampoo may find that this is a small amount of product.

Not only do we love a dry shampoo that effortlessly soaks up excess oil at your roots, but it’s even better when the product is mess-free, without leaving a white cast or sticky residue behind, with a gentle, pleasant aroma. And this luxe powder formula checked all these boxes. 

Our straight, fine hair tends to show signs of shine and oil within 24 hours of washing, and we needed a dry shampoo that felt light on our scalp, but still neutralized oiliness and odors effectively. We loved using this ultra-fine powder that dissolved into our hair without feeling chalky or creating build-up on our scalp. A little goes a long way, and with the accompanying brush, you can literally paint the powder onto your roots with total precision and control, not to mention, ensuring a mess-free application. Plus, we were obsessed with the light citrusy, floral scent that wafted from the inclusion of persimmon in the formula, which acts as a natural deodorizer with anti-inflammatory properties — perfect for scalp health. 

Type: Powder | Scented: Yes | Size: 0.53 oz 

Best Dry Shampoo for Thin Fine Hair

Act + Acre Volumizing Dry Shampoo

What We Love: Fulvic acid in this formula helps keep scalp health in check while also soaking up oil and odor. 

What We Don’t Love: Although the bottle is small, you don’t need much to get major results.

If you have dry and damaged locks, using a dry shampoo developed with ingredients to keep the scalp nourished and healthy is essential. We found that the clean, all-natural plant-based dry shampoo from Act+Acre was gentle enough for our scalp, our dry strands, and highlighted hair — a tall order! It helped our damage-prone tresses not only maintain a lush, full look for another day or two, but the formula's antioxidant-rich fulvic acid also provides antimicrobial properties, which helped keep our reactive scalp and skin soothed without a hint of irritation.

With a blend of oil- and odor-absorbing tapioca powder and rice starch, our greasy roots were eliminated instantly, giving our hair a much cleaner look and feel. It was also a breeze to target exactly where we wanted to mattify our hair, as each puff comes from the pump's small, pointed opening to release an ultra-concentrated amount of product directly into our hair and nowhere else. Because of this thoughtful design, we only needed a few puffs to bring our hair back to life. Even better, this 0.6-ounce bottle is perfect for travel.

Type: Powder | Scented: No | Size: 0.6 oz

Best Dry Shampoo for Fine Oily Hair

Briogeo Scalp Revival Dry Shampoo

What We Love: It actually cleans hair and stimulates new hair growth.

What We Don’t Love: We wish it provided a little more volume for our fine strands.  

Briogeo is one of our favorite haircare brands for their thoughtful, health-first formulas, and this clean dry shampoo is just another example. It’s lightweight, super absorbent, easy to use, and even though we don’t love a fragrance in a dry shampoo, we didn’t mind this one because it just smelled clean. 

With a combination of natural ingredients, like kaolin clay, and tapioca, and rice starches, this airy dry shampoo soaked up the excess oil and grime from our roots and blended in right away with minimal effort — a true first for our jet-black hair. It also contains witch hazel, a natural astringent known for curbing oil production, and detoxifying binchotan charcoal to keep the scalp free of build-up, along with strand-strengthening biotin to protect future hair growth. (We didn’t notice stronger hair strands within the two-week testing period, but we’ve continued to use it and are excited to see if it delivers on this promise.)

Type: Powder | Scent: Yes | Size: 1.7 oz

Best Dry Shampoo Foam for Fine Hair

InnerSense Organic Refresh Dry Shampoo

What We Love: It’s rare for a dry shampoo to actually cleanse the hair, but this one does.

What We Don’t Love: Since it's a wet formula, we had to blow out our hair after every application, so it may not really save you much time.

If you struggle with a dry scalp, the last thing you need is a dry shampoo that makes it worse and flaky. If this sounds a bit like your hair type, consider the Refresh Dry Shampoo from Innersense. After just one use, our scalps actually felt nourished — a rare feat for a product like a dry shampoo (which doesn’t typically target dryness). Although we were nervous about using a wet foam-to-powder formula, it kept our scalps soothed and hydrated, without causing our hair to dry into piecey strands. Witch hazel is the hero ingredient in this formula, as it works as a natural astringent to control oil production, while also ridding the scalp of bacteria.

We did find that the foam-to-powder texture took some getting used to, but once we got the routine down, we loved the result. After massaging the foam into our hair, we'd use a blow dryer on our wet hair to finish styling, leaving us with hair that looked just as clean as if we actually just showered. Plus, the hair dryer gave us a bit more body, which is never a bad thing in our book. Ultimately, we didn’t mind the extra effort, given that this formula prevented our fine hair from looking dull and flat and it even made our hair feel softer, too. It does have a scent, but the light citrus leans clean and fresh, not cheesy tropical.

Type: Foam to powder | Scent: Yes | Size: 2.37 oz

Best Powder Dry Shampoo for Fine Hair

Odele Dry Shampoo

What We Love: The nozzle makes it easy to concentrate this formula to the areas of your roots that need the most help with oil absorption. 

What We Don’t Love: It's white and will need to be rubbed into dark hair. 

While we can understand why a powder formula may seem intimidating for typical aerosol users at first, the one from Odele makes the process seamless and perhaps even simpler than using a spray. We loved this option for how easy it was to use, especially when we wanted to pinpoint a specific oily area. One of our editors found this option to be especially great on her bangs, which tend to get oily fast, even on days when she actually has washed her hair. The nozzle allowed her to carefully control the amount of powder that released into her fine bangs (because overdoing it would make them look heavy), as well as her roots. Plus, the light little puffs that are released are cute. 

With corn and rice starch, arrowroot powder, and kaolin, it absorbed all the grime easily, and also gave our roots a visible lift.

Type: Powder | Scent: Yes | Size: 1.13 oz

Best Volumizing Dry Shampoo for Fine Hair

Bumble and bumble Dry Shampoo Powder

What We Love: This powder provides hair with visible volume, and it contains UV filters to protect against damage. 

What We Don’t Love: We like to apply this at night to let the white powder really sink in, otherwise, you may be rubbing it into your roots for a minute or two.

While Busy Phillips swears by the Bumble and bumble Surf Spray, we’d argue that the brand's no-nonsense dry shampoo powder is even more impressive for the way it transformed our fine hair into supermodel-worthy volume. Why? It tackles grease and grime like a champ, and it also added a nice, glossy look to our blonde highlights.

“Because this dry shampoo is so light, it actually leaves blonde hair somehow looking shinier than before,” says Fae Norris, hairstylist at the Los Angeles-based Rock Paper Salon. “This is a great and rare achievement for a dry shampoo.” And we quite agree. What really won us over was the striking volume this oil-free powder gave us. Its concentrated nozzle allowed us to hone in on the roots where we wanted to see extra lift. In fact, it made our hair look so bouncy and full of body that our friends asked what styling products we used to get such a lush look. We also loved that it's fragrance-free so we could wear our perfume without having clashing scents.

Type: Powder | Scent: Yes | Size: 0.5, 2 oz

Best Clean Dry Shampoo for Fine Hair

Davines Dry Shampoo

What We Love: It uses sustainable and biodegradable materials and ingredients, and offers a soft and natural finish.

What We Don’t Love: The scent fades quickly.

Davines is one of Kate Hudson’s favorite brands, and it’s not hard to see why. After all, this brand offers a full range of sustainable shampoos, conditioners, treatments, and styling products to choose from, each one developed with 95.5 percent natural, organic, and clean ingredients, making each product within the range among the safest out there for fine hair. So when Norris recommended the brand’s dry shampoo to us, we needed to give it a whirl, and it was love at first spritz. In particular, we loved that it not only made our hair look bouncy and fresh between shampoos, but it had an extra clean feeling to match. As a total bonus, the plant-based ingredients neutralized any lingering odor in our hair after a sweaty workout. And unlike so many other options, each time we ran our fingers through our strands, there wasn't a hint of residue on our fingertips.

“It provides absorption and features excellent ingredients," says Norris. "Overall, it is a great product that will help your hair stay fresh between washings."

Type: Aerosol | Scented: Yes | Size: 8.5 oz

Best Dry Shampoo for Fine Thinning Hair

Vegamour Gro Dry Shampoo

What We Love: Red clover in this formula helps hair grow in thicker and healthier at the follicle.

What We Don’t Love: We know that good things take time, so don't expect to see thicker-looking hair for about three months.

Looking to target two hair-related issues at once? Vegamour’s Gro Dry Shampoo allows you to do just that, as its strengthening formula helps to restore any waning fullness or thinning hair while simultaneously refreshing your roots. Proprietary organically grown photoactives support overall hair health and stimulate the hair follicles to encourage new, thicker hair growth. Red clover tag-teams the effort by addressing common hair loss causes, while organic rice starch makes quick work of grease and grime.

While testing, we found that this dry shampoo truly mimicked the effects of a real hair wash, extra volume included. Despite the initial white, powdery finish, a quick scalp massage made our roots look more lifted and the white cast disappeared. 

Type: Spray | Scent: Yes | Size: 3.95 oz

Best Dry Shampoo for Fine Dry Hair

Sunday II Sunday Root Refresh Micellar Rinse

What We Love: You’ll get plenty of use out of the large bottle.

What We Don’t Love: This has a liquid consistency and leaves a damp finish, so you have to wait for it to dry before heading out for the day. 

Curly hair requires moisture in order to stay, well, curly, so it’s crucial to choose a dry shampoo that won’t strip your hair of the nourishment it needs. Enter: Sunday II Sunday Root Refresh Micellar Rinse Dry Shampoo Alternative. Thanks to the micellar water-based formula (versus a dry, powdery texture), your curls will stay just as bouncy and hydrated as ever.

The brand calls this product a dry shampoo "alternative" due to the unique list of ingredients, most notably, micellar water, which works in two parts. Just as it does in skincare, it cleansed our scalp of all the funky buildup and oily shine, while its hydrating nature ensured that it wouldn't trigger a dehydrating effect, as most other dry shampoos tend to do on curly hair. Apple cider vinegar kept our scalps healthy and happy with the pH-balancing properties it delivered. We found that this worked best when applied the night before as opposed to right before heading out the door to let it really soak into our roots overnight for a totally refeshed look in the morning.  

Type: Liquid spray | Scent: Yes | Size: 8.1 oz

Best Texturizing Dry Shampoo for Fine Hair

Oribe Gold Lust Dry Shampoo

What We Love: It refreshes fine hair without weighing it down.

What We Don’t Love: It can have a tacky finish if you overdo it.

It’s a tall order to ask your dry shampoo to transport you to a tropical island, but that’s exactly what this Oribe option did for us with just one whiff of the brand's iconic signature scent of Calabrian bergamot, white butterfly jasmine, and sandalwood. Best of all, this dry shampoo actually worked wonders for our fine hair. Throughout the two week period, it was lightweight enough to give our hair plenty of zhuzh without the grimy, tacky residue that many other texturizing stylers do. With a fine mist, it was easy to apply and didn’t leave our scalps feeling clogged or weighed down. The cherry on top? A stacked ingredients list filled with hydrators, strengtheners, and nourishing essential oils, along with a particularly helpful hero that offers UV protection, so you can play outside all day as if you were really on that tropical island.

“This dry shampoo feels and smells luxurious,” Norris explains. “It provides just the right amount of oil absorption and it delivers excellent protection from heat and build up, creating touchable, long-lasting styles as a result.”

Type: Powder | Scented: Yes | Size: 1.3 oz

Best Drugstore Dry Shampoo for Fine Hair

Klorane Non-Aerosol Dry Shampoo with Oat Milk

What We Love: It’s safe to use on all hair types, but dry or sensitive scalps will especially benefit from the soothing oat milk.

What We Don’t Love: Its scent may be too strong for those who prefer a fragrance-free mist.

If you’re worried about trying a new dry shampoo for fear that it may irritate your scalp or dry out your hair, there's no safer option than a dermatologist-tested formula like Klorane’s Dry Shampoo with Oat Milk. Corn and rice starches, along with kaolin clay, and other plant-based ingredients sopped up grime and oil from our roots like a magnet, while nourishing oat milk kept our delicate scalps feeling comfortable. Without a single harsh ingredient, the hypoallergenic formula kept us irritation-free.

Natural ingredients aside, we fell in love instantly with this gentle dry shampoo for the bombshell volume it gave us. Although the spray is completely white, you’ll really get a volume boost as you rub it into roots with your fingertips.

Type: Powder | Scent: Yes | Size: 1.7 oz

What to Keep in Mind

• Formula: There are many different ingredients that can make up a dry shampoo formula, but we favor those that are naturally-derived and provide a slew of benefits for your hair and scalp. For oil-absorbing properties, keep an eye out for formulas with arrowroot powder, tapioca starch, rice starch, and kaolin clay, as they will work wonders on keeping your greasy roots in check. We also love formulas with added hair-growth and strengthening benefits like biotin and rice protein, as they help keep your mane looking amazing in more ways that one. 
• Volumizing Benefits: “Reducing oil at the root will always help maximize volume at the root,” notes Paula Peralta, hairstylist and Artistic Director at John Paul Mitchell Systems, while Giarrizzo explains further that “as your hair becomes dirtier in between shampoos, it becomes even flatter because it is weighed down with oil,” making a dry shampoo with volumizing benefits a must-have for those with fine hair. 
• Scent: "A dirty scalp generally has an odor," says Giarrizzo. "So finding a dry shampoo that absorbs any odors and leaves a fresh-smelling scent is key to maintaining a clean feeling and scent.” 
  

Your Questions, Answered

What is the healthiest dry shampoo for your hair? 

Dry shampoos with natural, clean ingredients are stress-free options for fine hair types. Tapioca and corn starches, arrowroot powder, and kanolin clay attract grease and grime instantly without causing build-up on the scalp. Plus, the lack of alcohol in natural formulas prevents dehydration and potential irritation on the scalp. "Just remember that dry shampoo is not meant to replace a cleansing regimen," warns Peralta. "A good shampoo is the way to maintain a healthy scalp and hair."

Why Shop With Us

Madison Barber is a passionate beauty product-researcher and has fine, dark hair herself, so she understands the struggle of finding a dry shampoo that absorbs oil, adds body, and doesn’t leave a white residue on dark-colored roots. For this article, she used and analyzed insights from our testing team to determine which dry shampoos actually worked for fine hair types, and even utilized expert advice from Paula Peralta, a hairstylist and the Artistic Director at John Paul Mitchell Systems, Christina Giarrizzo, a NYC-based hairstylist, and Fae Norris, hairstylist at the Los Angeles-based Rock Paper Salon.

Courtney Leiva is a e-commerce writer based in New York City, covering lifestyle content for an array of media outlets. Besides InStyle, she has previously been published in Huffington Post, Women's Health, Self, The Daily Beast, and Buzzfeed, where she is currently a commerce writer.

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