I Had Given Up on Dry Shampoo — Until I Tried K18’s
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I’ve been fighting myoily hairsince puberty. If I washed my hair before bed, I would wake up in the morning with my scalp looking like an Exxon oil spill. If I washed my hair in the morning, I usually could at least make it through the day before it started looking super-flat.
Over the years, I’ve tried everything to fix it: “hair training,” switching up my scalp care, buying clarifyingshampoos, cutting out conditioner, professional scalp assessments, and, of course, trying everydry shampooon the market. Living Proof, Klorane, Oribe — you name it, I’ve had a can of it in my bathroom at one point. But I could never find a formula thatreallyworked. They almost always left a white-grey cast on my dark hair, or created a buildup of residue on my scalp, or left my hair looking flat — or, worst of all, only lasted a few hours before my roots started to look greasy yet again. And, no matter which one I tried, my scalp always felt dirty. I realized I was living in dry-shampoo-induced delusion. Last year, I gave up on them entirely and tried something new: just washing my hair every other day.
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It wasn’t a perfect solution. Going through all the trouble of a blowout just to wash away the results the following day was demoralizing, while trying to carve out a few hours each day for air-drying didn’t always work with my schedule, so I’d inevitably end up running errands with a wet head of hair. But I was not willing to go back to my dependency on dry shampoo.
Until I got sent a bottle of K18’s AirWash. This is the product I’ve been waiting for since I turned 12. True to its name, it’s basically a wash day in a can. Unlike other powder formulas on the market, the AirWash initially feels wet when sprayed and then dries down to a hairspraylike texture. It’s a no-brainer to apply: Shake, hold the can six inches from your scalp, and spray a few pumps onto each section at the crown and hairline. Then I massage it in with my fingers. I’m not sure exactly what kind of magic K18 has cooked up in its lab — the brand is notoriously secretive about its formulas — but what I do know is that it somehow leaves my hair looking freshly washed and styled. And my scalp didn’t justlookclean; it felt clean, too.
I even used it after a workout, which is something I haveneverdone before. I’m a sweaty person by nature, and I usually leave the gym looking like I have just stepped out of a sauna. But somehow the AirWash absorbed my sweat-drenched hair, too.
The other crazy part? The day after applying it, I woke up with my roots looking even more voluminous than they did the day before and still, somehow, not greasy. I can now stretch my wash day from every other day to every third day. As for product buildup, K18’s got me covered there, too. A weekly application of its Detox shampoo keeps my scalp squeaky clean.
My one and only caveat is that AirWash ain’t cheap. The full-size bottle runs nearly $50; however, it’s a very generous four fluid ounces. I’ve had mine for nearly three months: I use it two or three times a week, and I haven’t even made it through half of the bottle yet. The very cute mini-AirWash, which I keep on a keychain in my bag for emergency touch-ups, is a still sizable 1.6 ounces and only $24. And let’s be real: While there are plenty of cheaper powder formulas on the market, not a single one comes close to K18’s results. It is truly innovative, unlike any other dry shampoo I’ve ever tried. And I’ve tried plenty.
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