The New Olaplex Dry Shampoo Revived My Day-Three Blowout With No White Cast

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While repairing my hair.

When it comes to my beauty routine, I'll always favor the path of least resistance. A detangler that also adds shine and structure to my waves? Sign me up, as that knocks out three haircare needs in one fell swoop. A sunscreen that adds a reflective glow? Great—now I won't need to waste time applying a highlighter. The keyword here is "time," which is why I was secretly delighted to find out that washing my hair every single day can sometimes do more damage than good—most days, I just don't have the capacity to wash, condition, diffuse, and blow out my waist-length hair.

For this reason, dry shampoo has been my saving grace between wash days. Still, many dry shampoos can lead me to dusty-looking roots or clogged follicles, or simply not soak up every last drop of excess sebum from my oily roots. Luckily, Olaplex just released its first-ever dry shampoo, the No.4D Clean Volume Detox Dry Shampoo ($30), and it looks like it's the answer to my prayers.

The Inspiration

Olaplex is a haircare titan known for creating some of the best bond-building technology on the market, and you've likely heard your hairdresser wax poetic about the brand's ability to strengthen broken bonds in the hair and reintroduce shine back to chemically-damaged hair.

"We set out with the intent of launching a dry shampoo that addressed the common pain points people have when using a dry shampoo, including white residue or grit, and an itchy and inflamed scalp," says Lavinia Popescu, chief scientist for Olaplex. Keeping that in mind, the brand aimed to create a dry shampoo that would leave the hair feeling clean without adding a powdered look, prevent product buildup, act as a volumizing styler, and include Olaplex's proprietary multi-patented bond building technology to strengthen the hair over time.

The Formula

Yes, you read that correctly—bond builders in a dry shampoo. Popescu explains to Byrdie, "The benefit of having the bond building technology in our dry shampoo is that the product does more than clean the hair at the surface of the hair—it's also going to repair damage and strengthen hair on a molecular level by relinking broken disulfide bonds."

Many shampoos are formulated with ingredients that can just sit on the scalp, so we wondered how a bond-builder would actually make its way through the powdery formula to reach the hair's cortex. "One of the powerhouse ingredients in the No.4D Clean Volume Detox Dry Shampoo is rambutan seed extract, a sustainable source of antioxidants that detoxifies, soothes the scalp, and neutralizes odor-causing pollutants and impurities." Popescu reveals that in clinical consumer tests, 97% of users said their hair looked clean, and 97% noticed a reduction of oil. Expert clinical graders also evaluated the scalp and found no clogging in the pores.

As for how it soaks up oil, the No.4D Clean Volume Detox Dry Shampoo utilizes ultra-fine micro starch sourced from brown rice to soak up excess oil while leaving a weightless feel and zero traces of grit or residue. In fact, in those same clinical consumer tests, 100% of consumers saw no white residue.

Olaplex No.4D Clean Volume Detox Dry Shampoo ($30)

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How to Use It

Popescu explains that this dry shampoo is safe for all hair types, textures, and colors, mentioning, "Someone with darker hair [can use] it the same way that someone with lighter hair would."

First, you'll want to separate your hair into sections to ensure maximum coverage, and then hold the No.4D Clean Volume Detox Dry Shampoo at a distance of four to six inches from the head. Next, spray the roots and let the product soak in for about 30 seconds to allow the ingredients to soak in; then style with your fingers and apply more dry shampo where necessary.

Since this dry shampoo adds volume, the brand says you can use it to refresh your scalp during your non-wash days, or use it on first-day styles to add body.

My Review

As mentioned earlier, I'm a bit of a dry shampoo queen—but I'm also a dry shampoo snob. Although dry shampoo has been around for ages (did you know it dates back to the Elizabethan era?), many of the newer formulas just can't do it all when soaking up oil, while leaving my hair feeling light and (most importantly) not leaving a puff of white dust on my dark brown roots.

For the naysayers who think a white cast-free, non-tinted dry shampoo doesn't exist: I'm here to tell you that it took me a whopping six re-applications of this dry shampoo to finally see a hint of greyness forming at my roots.

This product really doesn't feel like I have any chalky product in my hair, and, in fact, leaves behind a silky feel once I've styled through my locks with my fingers. It smells amazing, adds volume to my roots, and it completely revived the blowout that I did three days ago. It's been a minute since I've felt love for a product as strongly as I do for Olaplex's No.4D Clean Volume Detox Dry Shampoo, and you might too if you've been longing for an answer to your dry shampoo prayers.

You can shop the Olaplex No.4D Clean Volume Detox Dry Shampoo for $30 at olaplex.com and sephora.com.

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