Yes, You Can Overdose on Dry Shampoo

Dry shampoo is one of those wonder products we can’t even remember living without. The days of post-gym shampoos, canceling plans with friends because we have to wash our hair and succumbing to flat, limp locks, have long ago left our memories. Yet, there are those days when too much dry shampoo leaves our hair feeling even grimier. So this begs the question: can you overdose on dry shampoo?

The answer is yes. Just because it’s a miracle product, it isn’t actual magic—like anything else, there is a such thing as too much dry shampoo. Second and third-day hair is acceptable to blast with dry shampoo, but once you hit that fourth day, it’s time to wash. Go too long without a wash, and “the product will mix with the oils on your scalp, and will create a paste-like substance which doesn’t look or feel good,” says Davines master Session Ambassador Joseph DiMaggio. Remember: dry shampoo can only absorb so much oil, so please, don’t count on it to do the work of a proper shampoo. Eventually you’re just layering more and more product on top of your grease, which, pass.

But that doesn’t mean you can’t still use it every day—you just need to be careful about how you use it. If you’re using it to soak up heavy-duty scalp oil, daily use is a definite no-go. “If you’re using it lightly to finish or mattify your hair, then you can use it everyday,” says DiMaggio.

The biggest danger of overdosing on dry shampoo? Clogged pores. That’s right: it’s not just something you need to worry about on your face. The pasty dry shampoo/oil mix will prevent the hair follicle from breathing. Once clogged, the pores on your scalp will go into overdrive to flush out the product with more oil. See the vicious cycle we’re creating here? You try to fight oil and create more oil. DiMaggio says that you should wash your hair twice a week to ensure your pores remain healthy and unblocked by buildup.

So how much shampoo is too much? If you don’t brush the dry shampoo through your hair, you can overdose in one application. Yikes! “Brushing it throw allows even distribution so the product doesn’t clog up your roots,” DiMaggio tells us. “Plus, this allows the oils on your hair shaft to be absorbed in addition to the oils on your roots.”

And if you’re using dry shampoo as a styling agent, overuse can actually end up doing the opposite of what you want it to. “If you have very fine hair, using too much dry shampoo can decrease volume and make hair more limp,” says DiMaggio. Avoid this by lifting the top layer of hair and spraying underneath at the root, rather than dousing all your hair indiscriminately. This way, you’ll have lovely grease-free—and healthy—locks!

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