Dry Shampoo for the Cheapskate

Carol Tuttle recently did a video on the effects of daily washing your hair. And how it's a big no-no.

I realized that in the amount of time it would take for me to write why and for you to read why, you could've watched this video three times over.

So--here ya go.



Now, I've known this for a while. For at least 20 years. Did I follow it? No. Did I believe it? Only for the past 12 years. Even then did I follow it? Ehhh, ish.

Do I follow it today? I try. Honestly, there are days when you just can't do without washing your hair. Especially with my Monday-Friday workouts. I get gross and my hair becomes just as bad.

In this video there is talk about dry shampoos. So what are dry shampoos, really?

As this website states, dry shampoo is "a water-free way to freshen and restyle your hair when you don't have time for a leisurely scrub. Just sprinkle or spray the preparation on your hair, wait a few moments for it to absorb the oil and other gunk that sticks to it, and then brush or blot it out."

Well put.

For the longest time I believed that you could only buy dry shampoos at a salon = too costly for me to justify paying.

Until I saw a commercial about TRESemme's Fresh Start.




And that night I went to the store and bought me some.

It comes with simple, 4 part instructions that sums up to say: Place into oily part of hair with fingertips and scrub dry with a towel.

The scrubbing with the towel is to remove the dirt and oils from your hair.

Well, maybe I just don't know how to "scrub" with a towel. Because my hair looked worse after using it. I've tried this several times, using differing amounts of the product (less is "best", I guess, but none is better) and my hair looked as though I had denied myself any hair care for a solid couple of weeks.

Enter hat. Insist on wearing it even though you and your husband are going on a hot date to a nice restaurant. Nothing says sexiness like a silk shirt, strands of pearls, pearl earrings, gold bracelets and a dingy PHX Suns hat. All because you were gullible enough to believe a $5+ product would actually work and even dumber to give it a try during a time that if it failed you would look like a fool.

TRESemme, TRESemme, ooh, la, laaaaame.

And then my beautiful beautician cousin told me, "Just use cornstarch."

Say what?

This stuff?



Like, fo' realz?

Now I use it every time my hair gets oily. And when they say a little goes a long way, baby, a little. goes. a. long. way.

What I do:

First off, I put the cornstarch in a gallon-sized, plastic, zipper bag for convenience as those little boxes with the wax paper inside is recipe for a disaster when all you need is about a 1/4 tsp at a time. I ignore the fact that it looks like I'm hoarding a million dollars' worth of street drugs in my house.

Cornstarch. Or is it? You tell me.

How to use:

1. Dab the fingertips of your first three fingers into cornstarch. Really peeps, you don't need a lot. And if you have dark hair, especially be cautious.

(Note: COCOA ALSO WORKS. Yep. I've done it and I like it better than the cornstarch as my hair is dark. But I could no longer handle the paranoia of smelling like I bathed in Willy Wonka's chocolate river.)

2. Rub cornstarch into the fingers of both hands. It'll look like there's hardly anything on your fingers but promise me, it's there and it's enough.

3. Finger through the oily parts of your hair. 

4. Repeat first three steps until you have the oily strands covered. 

If by chance you do add too much into your hair and now you have a white patch, scrub out with a towel. This doesn't always work though, hence the reason I say to use a little as you can always add more; not always can you take away.

Now let's compare pricing:

Dry Shampoo: $5 for a 5.7oz bottle---used a handful of times and now sits under your sink with the other products you pathetically wasted your money on.
Cornstarch: $1 for 16oz box that, if used only for your hair, will last you for-ev-uh-ish.

Being cheap wins. 

Oh, P.S. Baby powder works good, from what I hear. It smells nice too if you want to, well, smell like a baby's tush. I've never used it though.

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