Dry shampoo. One of man’s greatest modern inventions (especially for the busy mom on-the-go!). Don’t have time to wash your hair? No problem! Just use some dry shampoo for a quick refresh. Want to quickly zap that grease? Dry shampoo to the rescue! Want textured beachy waves? There’s that dry shampoo again! But how does it actually work?

Available in spray or powdered form, dry shampoo contains ingredients (usually something involving starch or silica and often mixed with alcohol) which absorb the excess oils caused by the sebaceous glands on your scalp. Most oil comes from your roots, so that’s where most dry shampoo products have you apply it. It’s important that you let the product sit in your hair for at least two minutes to give it time to actually sop up the grease (as tempting as it is to brush the white stuff out right away). And you WILL need to comb or blow-dry it through as to distribute the white residue.

If you’re really in a pinch with no actual dry shampoo on hand, some people swear by baby powder or cornstarch to achieve the same effect (for less money, no less!).  Just make sure you really brush it in or else you’ll experience a major hair faux-pas. And remember, dry shampoo just absorbs the extra oil from your head like a sponge, it’s not actually cleaning it – so eventually you will have to wash that hair (or not – to each their own).