On the surface, the reintroduction of dry shampoo a few years ago was like the answer to a prayer: the former best friend of the Big Hair proponents of the Eighties had been reborn as the quick and easy solution for keeping your hair looking its best when you prefer a lie-in to having a shower.
It was originally aimed at on-the-go women, but it wasn’t too long before men started cottoning onto the idea of dry shampoos as well.
But according to recent reports, it looks like the party might be over for dry shampoos: recent reports are claiming that overreliance on the can as opposed to a shower could be doing your hair far more harm than good…
Are you spraying your hair away?
As the article points out, there’s nothing beneficially cleansing about dry shampoo. It makes no claims to clean your hair: what it actually does is soak up excess oil. And the problem with that is that is that can easily lead to scalp irritation. Worse than that, it can also lead to clumping and hair loss.
According to an interview with a leading Los Angeles dermatologist in an article in the Atlantic, spraying your hair with rice or corn starch (the key ingredient in dry shampoo) could lead to a world of scalp trouble in the future. “[Dry shampoo] deposits substances to coat the follicle that can build up. The resulting inflammation can weaken the follicles and increase shedding.
These products can also cause hair follicles to stick together, so that a hair that would normally shed during brushing may take two or three strands along with it.”
How can I prevent hair loss?
If you can’t break your addiction to shampoo in a can, experts recommend that you keep your spraying down to three days a week at most. And if you’re using it daily, ease off now: it only takes three daily sessions in a row to ramp up hair shedding.
