The 20 Best Hair Perfumes of 2024 That Will Make You Smell So Nice
Dotdash Meredith and Yahoo Inc. may earn commission or revenue on some items through the links below.
A spritz will get you a delicious scent and tons of hair benefits, too.
InStyle / Alli Waataja
If you’re not one to say no to a bit of indulgence, hair perfumes, mists, and perfume oils can add a little je ne sais quoi to your 'do. A hair perfume can make your hair smell like a rose garden or a day at the beach with a few spritzes. Specially formulated for hair, these perfumes don’t smell as strong as luxury perfumes designed for skin, meaning they’ll make your hair smell lovely without totally overpowering you and those around you.
Hair perfumes can neutralize undesirable odors that linger in the air. Our favorite hair perfumes are formulated with extra hair-loving ingredients to help you achieve a shiny, smooth, soft mane. When selecting a hair perfume, be sure to look for those that are formulated with natural ingredients and little or no alcohol, to avoid drying out your hair wherever possible. After all, you shouldn’t have to sacrifice your hair health to smell delicious.
Best Overall: Moroccanoil Hair and Body Fragrance Mist
What We Love: It hydrates your hair and helps protect it from sun damage.
What We Don’t Love: It doesn't last all day.
You kind of can’t go wrong with a hair perfume that hails from a brand specializing in haircare like Moroccanoil, because you know they’ll have taken care to formulate a safe product that gives your hair a boost. “I absolutely love perfume and as a hairstylist I’m even more infatuated with making my clients’ hair look and smell amazing,” says Ebony Gordon, owner of Hairista Studio and founder of Hairista Essentials. “My go-to hair fragrance has been Moroccanoil’s hair and body mist. Not only is it safe for hair, but the smell is a divine unisex scent great for all hair types.”
Said scent blends amber, magnolia and woody notes for a sweet and spicy finish that’s not overpowering. Formulated without harsh chemicals including sulfates and parabens, this hair and body mist features argan oil for hydrating your strands, vitamin E for supporting a healthy moisture balance, and a sun-exposure absorber for protecting your hair from the drying effects of the sun. This product helps to freshen up your hair between washes, and leaves it looking shiny and soft without any oily residue.
Fragrance Notes: Amber, magnolia, cedarwood | Additional Benefits: Hydrates, nourishes, protects from UV damage | Color-Safe: Yes | Size: 3.4 oz
Best Budget: Pacifica Indian Coconut Nectar Hair & Body Mist
What We Love: It’s made without alcohol and other harsh chemicals.
What We Don’t Love: The scent disappears quickly.
We’re obsessed with Pacifica for natural beauty products at accessible prices that also happen to smell absolutely delicious. This hair and body mist smells of sweet coconut, creamy vanilla and earthy vetiver, and is essentially summer in a bottle — especially for those short and dark days of winter when you may need a pick-me-up (or several) to avoid feeling a bit blah. Unfortunately, though, as is the case with many hair mists, the scent doesn’t linger for that long after application.
This perfume is vegan, cruelty-free, made with clean ingredients and packaged in a recycled and recyclable plastic bottle, all planet-friendly credentials that are pretty rare in more affordable cosmetics. Plus, this mist is alcohol-free to avoid drying out your hair, and is formulated without harsh parabens, phthalates, or propylene glycol. This means that, although this spray isn’t designed to enhance your hair health, it also won’t damage it.
Lastly, if coconut isn’t your thing, the brand makes this hair and body mist in a ton of other scents inspired by faraway destinations, including Tuscan blood orange and Tahitian gardenia.
Fragrance Notes: Coconut, vanilla, vetiver | Additional Benefits: Doesn't dry out hair | Color-Safe: Yes | Size: 6 oz
Best Hair Perfume Spray: Crown Affair The Signature Scent Hair Perfume
What We Love: It’s formulated with glycerin and aloe leaf extract for moisture and shine.
What We Don’t Love: It smells of alcohol after you first apply.
Crown Affair is a total go-to for us when it comes to amazing hair tools and accessories such as brushes for curly hair, hair towels and scrunchies, but we’re also total suckers for any product they make featuring their signature scent. This is a fresh, lightweight, uplifting fragrance with a warm, woody base, a light, floral heart, and a citrusy top. This spray is also vegan, made from clean ingredients, and certified cruelty-free.
Suitable for all hair types — including curly and coily — and textures, it’s formulated with glycerin for nourishing and protecting the hair, and aloe leaf extract for promoting shine and moisture, and smoothing frizz. It also doesn’t contain many of the most common harsh ingredients found in hair care, but unfortunately does contain denatured alcohol, which is drying and smells strongly after you first apply (it will quickly dissipate, though). Depending on how porous your strands are, you may need to apply more or less product to get the scent to your desired intensity, but once you find your sweet spot, it will last a respectable amount of time.
Fragrance Notes: Bergamot, yuzu, lemongrass, lily, fresh water lotus, green tea, teakwood, cedar, amber | Additional Benefits: Non-drying, refreshing scent, boosts shine, hydrates, smoothes | Color-Safe: Yes | Size: 3.4 oz
Best Long-Lasting Hair Perfume: Byredo Mojave Ghost Hair Perfume
What We Love: It looks, feels and smells luxurious.
What We Don’t Love: It doesn’t have any real hair benefits.
If you’re going to spend a bit more on a hair perfume, you very naturally will want the scent to linger all day long (or even until wash day) so that you get your money’s worth. We’re glad to say that this is most definitely the case with this Byredo product, which was recommended by Gordon. “Another favorite of mine is Byredo’s Mojave Ghost because I love the idea of matching my body and hair scents to give a luxurious vibe to any outfit,” she explains.
The scent is a complex composition inspired by the Mojave Desert (obviously), which gives off woody notes and an allure of mystery. While you’ll need to look elsewhere if you want your hair perfume to enhance your hair health, this product has the distinct advantage of not weighing down or drying your hair, as well as refreshing your strands when you don’t have time for a proper wash.
Fragrance Notes: Ambrette, Jamaican naseberry, violet, sandalwood, magnolia, musk, amber | Additional Benefits: Long-lasting, designed to release scent throughout day | Color-Safe: Yes | Size: 2.5 oz
Best Lightweight: Diptyque Eau Rose Hair Mist
What We Love: It smells really fresh and lovely.
What We Don’t Love: You don't get a ton of value from the small bottle.
One of the most important factors to keep in mind when choosing a hair perfume is that the scent isn’t too sickly for you — because it sits super close to your nose all day and could be really uncomfortable if you decide you don’t like it. That’s where cult candle brand Diptyque’s hair mists are great. The Eau Rose scent is especially lightweight, designed to refresh and perfume your hair without smelling too strong, but while still boasting staying power. This one smells of light, feminine roses, with notes of sweet lychee and woody ambroxan.
Meanwhile, this Diptyque hair mist is formulated with less alcohol to avoid over-drying your hair, and infused with camellia oil, which helps to nourish and protect your hair from damage. The bottle is a little small, but most people find you only need a spritz or two to get the scent you’re looking for.
Fragrance Notes: Rose damascena, rose centifolia, lychee, ambroxan | Additional Benefits: Nourishing, protective | Color-Safe: No | Size: 1 oz
Best Hair Mist Perfume for Curly Hair: Gisou Honey Infused Hair Perfume
What We Love: We can’t get enough of the sweet and citrusy scent.
What We Don’t Love: It contains alcohol.
We’re huge fans of supermodel Negin Mirsalehi and her gorgeous line of hair care products, Gisou, which is inspired by her family’s rich history of making honey: The model is a sixth-generation beekeeper, and also happens to boast enviable luscious locks. Heather Bassano, hairstylist and owner of Manuka Salon, calls the scent "incredible, with notes of sweet honey and citrus, and it also delivers the benefits of UV protection and shine." She adds that the formula includes alcohol, meaning it could have a drying effect on strands, the brand claims that the alcohol will evaporate after application.
It’s always a plus when a product is suitable for all hair types, including curly and coily, and we love that this one also helps to fight frizz, refresh your style between washes, and create a glossy finish. The star ingredient, Mirsalehi honey, works to counteract the drying effects of alcohol by nourishing the hair and restoring its moisture balance. The formula is also free of other harsh ingredients including parabens, sulfates, phthalates and more, and the product is certified cruelty-free.
Fragrance Notes: Honey, spring florals | Additional Benefits: Adds shine, hydrates, strengthens hair follicles | Color-Safe: Yes | Size: 3.4 oz
Best for Dry Hair: Chanel Coco Mademoiselle Hair Perfume
What We Love: It’s lightweight, yet the scent lasts all day long.
What We Don’t Love: The bottle is small, especially for the price.
Darryl Do, a perfumer at Delbia Do Fragrances & Flavors, is a big fan of Chanel’s range of hair perfumes, because they’re formulated with dicaprylyl carbonate and glycerine, both of which help to prevent your hair from drying out, and help to promote softness. This hair perfume is beautifully lightweight, and smooths your hair without weighing it down.
The legacy French label makes a great selection of their cult classic perfume fragrances (including N°5 and Chance) as hair mists, but we have a soft spot for Coco Mademoiselle’s ambery yet fresh scent with notes of orange, rose and jasmine. Although the bottle is on the smaller side, a little goes a long way to leave your hair smelling fresh and delicious all day long — and it doesn’t hurt that the bottle is so luxe-looking, either. Your shelfies will thank you.
Fragrance Notes: Orange, rose, jasmine | Additional Benefits: Non-drying, smoothing | Color-Safe: Yes | Size: 1.2 oz
Best Hair Perfume Oil: Ouai Hair Oil
What We Love: It’s suitable for all hair types and textures, and is color-safe.
What We Don’t Love: It only works for fans of floral scents.
If your mane is on the dry end of the spectrum, a hair oil may be the best option for you to achieve delicious-smelling hair without the side effects. Although this particular product from celebrity hairstylist Jen Atkin’s award-winning brand isn’t technically a hair perfume, Bassano finds it totally might as well be. “I instantly fell in love with the scent of this product,” she says. “It smells like a garden full of gardenias, and even though it's not marketed as a hair perfume, it has such an incredible fragrance that I use it as such." Alongside gardenia, this one is scented with equally floral and lovely violet, ylang ylang, and white musk. The problem with that is it just won’t work for you if you don’t like floral scents.
Because Ouai is a hair care brand, and they make it their mission to promote healthy, beautiful hair for all, you can also trust that this product will take good care of your strands. “It protects the hair from humidity and frizz, adds radiant shine and offers UV protection, which keeps your hair color lasting longer,” says Bassano. Plus, it’s suitable for all hair types and textures, is color-safe, and is free of sulfates, parabens, and phthalates.
Fragrance Notes: Violet, gardenia, ylang-ylang, white musk | Additional Benefits: Non-drying, smoothing, nourishing | Color-Safe: Yes | Size: 1.5 oz
Best Alcohol-Free: Kayali Hair Mist Déjà Vu White Flower | 57
What We Love: It’s formulated with lots of hair-loving ingredients.
What We Don’t Love: The smell dissipates quickly.
In an ideal world, all hair perfumes would be alcohol-free, but sadly alcohol is often the best way for brands to get their product to spritz properly. But by all accounts, Kayali has managed to circumvent this problem, creating a hair mist that’s totally alcohol-free while still enveloping your hair with gorgeous scent.
On that note, the brand’s Déjà Vu White Flower | 57 scent is all warm florals, with notes of gardenia, jasmine absolute, orange flower, tuberose, and Tahitian vanilla. It’s absolutely perfect for refreshing your hair after a sweat sesh, but sadly the smell does dissipate fairly quickly. Meanwhile, as well as being free of drying alcohol, this product is formulated with a blend of panthenol, camellia oil, aloe vera, and castor oil, which combine to give you smooth, frizz-free, shiny, strong hair.
Fragrance Notes: Gardenia, jasmine absolute, orange flower, tuberose, Tahitian vanilla | Additional Benefits: Conditioning, adds vibrance, smoothing | Size: 2.54 oz
Best Vanilla: Phlur Vanilla Skin Hair & Body Fragrance Mist
What We Love: We would describe this scent as a perfect vanilla.
What We Don’t Love: It contains alcohol, which can be drying.
We love a vanilla perfume as much as the next girl, but it can quickly become overpowering if it’s not carefully blended for a subtle scent. Phlur, by way of perfumer Clement Gavarry, has totally solved that problem, with this dreamy vanilla-based aroma that blends the sweet note into its deeper ingredients, like sandalwood and agarwood, creating a woodier, deeper effect. The heart notes are then more on the floral side, and the top notes are sweet and feminine. It’s complex and sophisticated, yet feels fun and nostalgic. We also love the beautiful, sleek bottle for dressing up your bathroom shelves.
Unfortunately, this product is designed for scent above all and doesn’t have any particular hair benefits; in fact, it contains alcohol, which may zap moisture from strands. With that said, it is formulated without harsh chemicals like phthalates, sulfates, and parabens, all of which can be damaging.
Fragrance Notes: Vanilla, pink pepper, pink apple, sugar crystals, lily, jasmine petals, cashmere wood, sandalwood, agarwood | Additional Benefits: None | Color-Safe: No | Size: 8 oz
Best for Summer: Kilian Love, Don't Be Shy Hair Mist
What We Love: It smells summery and protects your hair from the drying effects of the sun.
What We Don’t Love: It contains alcohol as its first ingredient.
Feeling fancy? We love the idea of investing in an extra special, extra luxurious hair mist like this one from high-end French perfumery Kilian. The Love, Don't Be Shy fragrance features a sweet marshmallow base, which is elevated by notes of neroli, vanilla and orange blossom for a fresh, sunny feel.
Speaking of which, this product is specially formulated to bring hydration to your strands, as well as protect them from the drying effects of the sun — which is why this product is such a perfect choice for the warmer months. Don’t let us stop you from spritzing it year round, though, because it just smells that delicious. We just wish this one didn’t have denatured alcohol as its first ingredient, since that’s not so good for your hair health.
Fragrance Notes: Neroli, vanilla, orange blossom, marshmallow | Additional Benefits: Hydrating, provides UV protection | Color-Safe: No | Size: 1.7 oz
Best Hair Perfume Mist: Dior Miss Dior Hair Mist
What We Love: It smells fresh and sophisticated.
What We Don’t Love: The scent lasts longer on some hair types than others.
Frankly, who wouldn’t love having hair that smells like a metaphorical (and, well, literal) bed of roses? We’re super grateful that Dior — and other similar luxury fashion houses — offer some of their most iconic perfumes as hair mists, so that with just one spritz, you can feel like you’re fresh out of the salon.
In particular, the Miss Dior fragrance smells like citrusy bergamot, floral and sophisticated Grasse rose, and fresh rosewood. As for the hair mist, it’s formulated to add shine as well as making your hair smell delightful. The scent evaporates quickly on thin and fine hair, while those with thicker or curly strands tend to enjoy a longer-lasting fragrance.
Fragrance Notes: Bergamot, Grasse rose, rosewood | Additional Benefits: Adds shine | Size: 1 oz
Best Odor-Fighting: Oribe Cote d'Azur Hair Refresher
What We Love: It neutralizes all the unwanted odors lingering in your hair.
What We Don’t Love: The fragrance doesn’t last more than a few hours.
If your hair absorbs smells easily, you might often find that your post-workout hair is a little iffy, or that your baked salmon from last night is still flavoring your strands (sub-ideal). For that, as well as adding scent to your hair, you may want to choose a hair perfume that also neutralizes the smells you don’t want to stick around. Oribe’s Hair Refresher contains a patented odor neutralizer that makes spin-class-salmon hair a thing of the past, and makes you smell like delicious fruit and flowers instead. Phew.
On the other hand, Oribe has carefully formulated this product to nourish and protect your hair. It’s made with aloe leaf juice for hydration and smoothing, amber extract for conditioning, Oribe's signature complex for protecting your hair from damage, and cetrimonium chloride for fighting static.
Fragrance Notes: Calabrian bergamot, white jasmine, sandalwood | Additional Benefits: Reduces static, provides UV protection | Color-Safe: Yes | Size: 1.6 oz
Best for Shine: Kérastase Chronologiste L’Huile de Parfum Fragrance Hair Oil
What We Love: It leaves your hair feeling soft, shiny, smooth, and healthy.
What We Don’t Love: It offers more haircare benefits than scent.
“Based in Paris, Kérastase is a professional hair care line that promotes hair health and has a beautiful, shiny finish with their products,” says Bassano. “This luxurious hair oil smells incredible, is safe for hair, and offers many additional benefits. It fights frizz, adds brilliant shine and contains hyaluronic acid to hydrate and condition the hair.” It also contains abyssine for a little added volume and bounce, and vitamin E for protecting your hair from daily damage. All in all, it leaves all hair types and textures feeling shiny, soft, smooth, and healthy — what more could you ask for?
You may be wondering where the “hair perfume” of it all comes into play, but we’re getting to that. This oil is scented with tea rose, light woods, and musk for a lovely, fresh fragrance that’s not too floral. Most people absolutely love how it smells, but like with any perfume, it’s not for everyone.
Fragrance Notes: Tea rose, musk | Additional Benefits: Hydrates, volumizes, protects against environmental aggressors | Color-Safe: Yes | Size: 3.4 oz
Best Hydrating: Fable & Mane HoliRoots Hibiscus Hydrating Hair Oil Mist
What We Love: It leaves your hair looking super shiny and healthy.
What We Don’t Love: The bottle is poorly designed.
Fable & Mane was founded by a brother and sister duo, and borne out of co-founder Nikita Mehta’s vision for bringing the Indian tradition of hair oiling to people around the world. This hair oil mist is totally aligned with that mission, formulated with red hibiscus flower for promoting a shiny mane, amla for vitamin C, and plant-derived squalane for extra hydration. This product also helps combat frizz and protect your hair from harmful UVs, and is free of all the main nasty ingredients that can damage your hair. It’s also color-safe and suitable for all hair types, but is especially designed for dry hair.
Fragrance-wise, this hair oil mist features notes of red champaca — a rich, floral scent — and jasmine sambac — a sweet and floral scent. Unfortunately, the packaging lets this one down, with many bottles leaking after just a handful of uses. While we wait for the brand to come up with a better bottle, it’s still totally worth purchasing this one and transferring it to an empty spray container so you can reap the product’s benefits.
Fragrance Notes: Red champaca, jasmine sambac | Additional Benefits: Provides UV protection, hydrates, adds shine | Color-Safe: Yes | Size: 2.5 oz
Best Hair and Body Mist: Skylar Coconut Cove Hair & Body Mist
What We Love: The brand is AAPI-founded and committed to clean beauty.
What We Don’t Love: It doesn’t have any additional hair benefits.
Starting with its adorable sky blue bottle, this product is as refreshing as it gets. It’s scented with fresh bergamot, creamy coconut, velvety ambrox, rich jasmine, and floral gardenia, and designed to spritz all over your hair and body. Fans of this mist find it smells absolutely gorgeous, and lingers for hours — causing an onslaught of compliments all day long.
While we wish this product came with additional hair benefits, we do love that Skylar is woman- and AAPI-founded, and that all the brand’s products are formulated to be vegan, cruelty-free, hypoallergenic, and sensitive-skin safe. All of that really seals the deal for us.
Fragrance Notes: Bergamot, coconut, ambrox, jasmine, gardenia | Additional Benefits: Hypoallergenic and safe for sensitive scalps | Color-Safe: Yes | Size: 2.7 oz
Best Fresh Scent: Tocca Stella Hair Fragrance
What We Love: It contains coconut oil for moisture and shine.
What We Don’t Love: The scent is a bit too subtle, depending on your personal preference.
“Tocca hair perfumes have a wonderful scent and use coconut oil to moisturize your hair,” notes Do. The oil also adds a little shine to your hair, making it look healthy and glowy. We selected the Stella scent because it’s a little different from many of the other fragrances on this list, with rich, summery blood orange, spicy lily, sweet and floral white freesia, and warm and leathery sandalwood. The fragrance is lightweight enough to not make you feel lightheaded — important when it’s meant for spritzing so close to your nose — though some people find it a little too lightweight for their taste, meaning the scent doesn’t linger. Still, this may depend on your hair type, because others find it smells lovely all day long. These things are personal, you know?
Fragrance Notes: Blood orange, lily, white freesia, sandalwood | Additional Benefits: Moisturizing, boosts shine | Size: 1.7 oz
Best Woody: Juliette Has a Gun Not A Hair & Body Mist
What We Love: It’s planet-friendly thanks to its continuous atomizer spray.
What We Don’t Love: The scent is quite subtle.
For those who love the deeper, more sensual feel of woody fragrance notes — especially come fall and winter — Juliette Has a Gun has just the thing. Formulated with synthetic ambergris for a warm and woody smell, this mist features a continuous atomizer spray application that helps preserve the planet (i.e. instead of an aerosol system).
However, the scent is really light, and works better layered with other Not a Perfume products than on its own. Still, some people find that lightweight scent hits the spot for them, so it’s really a matter of preference. Meanwhile, we’re handing out bonus points for this product being alcohol-free, which is a rarity in the hair perfume space.
Fragrance Notes: Cetalox (synthetic ambergris) | Additional Benefits: Rebalances pH level in hair follicles | Color-Safe: Yes | Size: 2.5 oz
Best Hair Perfume for Natural Textures: Flora & Curl Rosewater Curl Mist
What We Love: It’s formulated with delicious-smelling natural ingredients that promote the health of your curls.
What We Don’t Love: You'll want to follow up with a more hydrating oil to keep strands nourished.
Those with type three or four curls should steer well clear of super drying ingredients and formulas, and instead opt for products designed to promote healthy, hydrated hair. On that front, this hair mist is super clever in that it’s formulated with a bunch of natural ingredients that smell divine as well as helping you keep your hair at its best. It features rose water for hydration, aloe vera for moisture, white jasmine oil for purifying the scalp, lavender oil for soothing the scalp, honey for softening your hair, and vitamin E for its antioxidant properties.
In short, this hair mist will leave your hair looking, feeling AND smelling amazing. It’s also free of sulfates, silicones, drying alcohols, parabens, petroleum, mineral oil, artificial fragrances, and artificial colors, so you can trust it to take really good care of your curls. That said, you should follow it up with a more heavy duty hair oil to seal in the moisture, or you’ll have to keep applying the mist throughout the day to reap its shiny benefits.
Fragrance Notes: Rose, aloe vera, lavender, jasmine, sandalwood | Additional Benefits: Hydrating, refreshing, softening, soothing | Color-Safe: Yes | Size: 8.5 oz
Best Natural Hair Perfume: DefineMe Delphine Hair Fragrance Mist
What We Love: DefineMe considers the environment throughout their production process.
What We Don’t Love: Some people find the scent overpowering.
DefineMe is a planet-conscious indie brand to know. They strive to use organic, natural ingredients wherever possible, are certified vegan and cruelty-free, and manufacture their products locally in California. In line with the brand’s ethics, this hair fragrance doesn’t contain phthalates, BHT, parabens, petroleum, colors or dyes. It also comes in locally sourced, FSC-certified packaging, and finished with plant-based ink.
Scent-wise, this spray diffuses in a fine mist to cover more surface area, and smells like flowers with a base of coconut and rosewood. The scent lingers all the livelong day — just note that you should go with a different scent if you’re not into florals. This perfume is also formulated to refresh and nourish your hair between washes, and help tame frizz as well. Plus, it’s suitable for all hair types, including curls, and compatible with other hair products since it’s so gentle.
Fragrance Notes: Lilac, gardenia, ylang-ylang, freesia, coconut, rosewood | Additional Benefits: Anti-frizz, smoothing, hydrating | Color-Safe: Yes | Size: 2 oz
What to Keep in Mind
Non-Drying Formulas
Non-drying Formulas: For Bassano, it’s so important to choose a non-drying hair perfume, since otherwise it’s just like needlessly adding a potentially damaging factor to our hair. “Our hair already withstands a lot of sun exposure, time spent swimming, hot styling tools and air pollution,” she says. “All of those factors already take a toll on the hair, so when looking for a hair perfume, it is important to find a product that will only hydrate and protect the hair against these types of exposures.” That’s why you should never use regular perfume on your hair, because it typically contains a lot of alcohol, which can do a lot of harm to your strands. Instead, when shopping for hair perfume, “look for products with natural oils and extracts, as these will deliver natural fragrances,” says Bassano. “Ingredients like hyaluronic acid will hydrate the hair, which we love to see as an added benefit. I always love to look for clean products with a seal on the bottle that uses clean ingredients and is vegan and cruelty-free.”
Scent Intensity: Because hair perfume is designed to sit so close to where your nose is, it’s super important that the scent isn’t too strong — however, hair perfumes often have the opposite problem, and don’t smell strong enough for some people. “Currently, there are fragrance industry regulations that limit the fragrance oil concentration to a lower limit than your perfume so you shouldn't worry about the strength being too much,” says Do.
Odor-Fighting Ingredients: Though alcohol in hair perfume is unfortunately drying, Do notes that this ingredient has the benefit of helping to minimize odors. But that’s not your only option: “I love a product rich in essential oils and extracts to refresh hair after a hard workout or for days two or three without washing,” says Bassano. “Many dry shampoos also have delightful fragrances to absorb sweat and leave the hair smelling fresh. My preference would be to apply a dry shampoo at my root followed by a perfumed oil through my ends.”
Hair Benefits: Many hair perfumes also offer great benefits for the health of your hair. For example, “Gisou’s honey-infused hair perfume offers UV protection and shine, while Kérastase fragrance oil fights frizz and nourishes the hair with hyaluronic acid,” says Bassano. “Ouai’s hair oil leaves the hair with a silky smooth finish.” With that in mind, hair perfume is absolutely not designed to be used in place of your nourishing hair care products. “I don't think there is one hair perfume that checks off all the boxes for what varied hair types and styles there are,” says Do. “I would use a favorite hair perfume in addition to your arsenal of hair treatment products on your shelf and experiment with what gives you the best results.”
Your Questions, Answered
Is hair mist better than perfume?
“I do not recommend a spray hair mist over a nutrient-rich fragranced oil,” says Bassano. “If you can have the combination of something that smells great and adds a benefit to your hair, I would reach for that on the shelf every time.”
While you shouldn’t use regular perfume as hair perfume, the reverse doesn’t hold true. Bassano says that it’s totally fine to use hair mist as perfume, noting that “it is a more subtle scent than traditional perfume.” Also, hair mist implies that it’s a more lightweight product than perfume, but there’s no hard and fast rule here. “Hair perfume may be more concentrated than mist, but it seems to be a matter of semantics in most cases,” says Bassano. “Some products are marketed as hair and body mists to be used as both.”
Are hair perfumes safe?
Well, yes and no. “While hair perfume typically contains less alcohol, many of the trending products on the market do have alcohol listed as the primary ingredient,” says Bassano. “I cannot blankly say that all hair perfume is safe for any kind of hair. However, there are some products that are not only safe but actually extend the life of the hair color. These products protect your hair from the sun and air while also hydrating the hair.” If you’re concerned, opt for an alcohol-free product like our picks from Juliette Has a Gun and Kayali.
With all that said, while some hair perfumes may have a slight drying effect, that’s not to say that they’re unsafe per se. “As long as the brand is following industry regulations, the product should be safe,” says Do.
How do you use hair mist perfume?
Hair mists and perfumes are pretty self-explanatory. “Simply spray it at a safe distance away [from your hair], keeping away from your eyes and airways as best you can,” says Do, while Bassano advises spraying it into your hands first if you prefer a lighter scent.
If using an oil-based spray, Bassano advises sticking to the lengths to avoid getting your scalp oily. If the product is more of an oil than a spray, it’s better to dispense a small amount into your hands and apply it into your hair that way, then brushing it through.
Why Shop With Us
Iris Goldsztajn is a Paris-born, London-based freelance writer with 10 years of experience covering fashion, beauty, wellness and lifestyle for the likes of InStyle, British Vogue, Marie Claire, Cosmopolitan, Bustle, Refinery29 and many more. In order to write this article, she researched the best-selling hair perfumes to find the highest quality products, and spoke to hair care experts who shared their recommendations: Heather Bassano, hairstylist and owner of Manuka Salon, Ebony Gordon, owner of Hairista Studio and founder of Hairista Essentials, and Darryl Do, a perfumer at Delbia Do Fragrances & Flavors.
For more InStyle news, make sure to sign up for our newsletter!
Read the original article on InStyle.
