Dry Shampoo Reviews: Batiste, Umberto Giannini, VO5, Garnier, Aussie

I have always been a lover of dry shampoo and as someone with oily hair, it's a must. My hair starts to get oily already on day 2 but I am too busy (and lazy!) to be washing my hair every single day. So I wash my hair every other day and use dry shampoo in between washes. I have tried many dry shampoos in hope of finding one that can absorb the oil, leave no residue and last throughout the day. Here are some that I have tried and what I think about them:


Batiste Coloured Dry Shampoo  - Black - 200ml
£3.99 at Boots (new version)

This was one of the very first dry shampoos I tried and since then, they have changed the packaging and do not produce one specifically for black hair.

This is the newer version of the coloured dry shampoo and I have not tried it so I'm not sure if the formula has changed. 

I tried this about 5/6 years ago so I can't fully remember what I thought about it but from what I can remember, this did not leave any visible residue and absorbed the oil in my hair. However when I massaged it into my roots to distribute it, the colour transferred onto my hands which was not great. This was the main reason why I stopped using it.


Umberto Giannini Morning After Dry Shampoo - 200ml
£5.49 at Boots

This is my current favourite and I have gone through many bottles of these and it's the one that I can always rely on to work. It does not leave any white residue in my hair, absorbs the oil and also gives some volume. It is really easy to work with as it's not super wet and the spray isn't too strong. The scent isn't too overpowering and I'd say it lasts about 5 hours in my hair which is pretty decent. The only problem with this dry shampoo is that once there's about 25% left in the bottle, it will start to leave some white residue in your hair. But I don't really find this a problem as it lasts about 2 to 3 months before that starts to happen so I can just purchase a new one. As I have used this for about 3 years, I got a bit bored of the scent which is why I have currently stopped using it in order to test out other brands but if I can't find any that are better, I will always go back to this one.


Umberto Giannini Thickify Volumising Dry Shampoo - 200ml
£5.49 at Boots

Now after all the nice things I said about the other Umberto Giannini dry shampoo, this was definitely not of the same standard. I decided to try this because I love the Morning After version so much and I had gone through so many bottles that I wanted to try something new. I have always liked Umberto Giannini products but something just went wrong with this one. At first this worked great, pretty much the same as the Morning After version, it had a lovely scent and absorbed all the oil. But for some reason, after about 2/3 uses, it would stop working. The spray nozzle became really stiff so it was really difficult to get out any product and the formula also turned very watery so it wasn't a mist anymore. When I shook the bottle it sounded really empty like I had used most of it up, but in actual fact I had only used it once or twice. I wasn't sure if I had just bought a faulty one so I went out and got another one and the same thing happened! I have no idea what went wrong because the Morning After version never had this problem so I am really confused as to why this happened. But needless to say, I won't be repurchasing this version.


VO5 Refresh Me Quick Dry Shampoo - 200ml
£3.59 at Boots

I bought this because looking at reviews, people said that it didn't leave any white residue and as it's quite cheap it didn't hurt to try. It was actually pretty good at first. It didn't leave any white residue and it did a good job absorbing the oil. But after a while the nozzle started to turn white and the spray left white marks in my hair. I think it was a good product as first but it just didn't last that long before it started to give white marks. I'd say it works for about a month or less before you have to buy a new one.

Batiste Dry Shampoo - Cherry - 50ml
£2.99 at Boots (200ml)

I received this mini version in a goody bag quite a while ago and because I haven't had the best experience with Batiste dry shampoos, I wasn't eager to try this one out. But seeing as Batiste is the most popular dry shampoo brand in the UK, I thought that I should give this one a go. Unfortunately I was not impressed. Firstly, it sprays out in very strong and short bursts so it was difficult to evenly distribute it and then the worse thing was that it left huge white patches in my hair. Of course this could have been rubbed in to be less noticeable but when you have dark roots like me, it doesn't totally disappear. The only good thing I have to say about this is the scent which I think is the main selling point of this as you will get a lovely cherry scent. I think if you have blonde or light coloured hair, this might be better for you.


Garnier Ultimate Blends - The Silky 7-in-1 Dry Shampoo - 150ml
£3.99 at Boots (on sale now for £2.65)

This is a new product from Garnier so I was quite interested in it and what most excited me was that it said 'NO VISIBLE RESIDUE' on the front! Due to this I immediately had high hopes and well, it turned out alright. Firstly I have to mention the scent which is absolutely amazing. It has the most wonderful vanilla scent which lingers for quite a while. I was actually debating whether to get this one or the Revitalising version which has a lemon and green tea (scents that I also love) but this one said it's for mid to long hair and the other one is for normal hair. Now I don't really know why a dry shampoo would be different depending on the length of your hair but since I have medium length hair I went with the vanilla one. Now most importantly, it didn't leave any white residue! Yes! It was completely invisible which is just what I want. Unfortunately it doesn't really do a good job of absorbing the oil in my hair as I noticed very little difference. I was so pleased with how it didn't leave any white marks but I also want a dry shampoo that can clean my hair and this just didn't do that. This ended up more like a hair perfume than a dry shampoo so I don't think I'll be buying this again.


Aussie Miracle Dry Shampoo - Mega Instant - 180ml
£4.99 at Boots (on sale now for £3.32)

This dry shampoo is also new and as Aussie is well known for good hair products, I thought I should try it out. This was actually very good, it didn't leave any white residue, it absorbed all the oil and also gave some volume. The scent is quite strong so make sure you don't inhale all of it(!) but other than that it seems like a really good product. There are 3 versions or this dry shampoo: Mega Instant for normal or greasy hair, Aussome Volume for fine, limp hair and Colour Mate for coloured hair. I actually have greasy, limp and coloured hair so it was difficult making a choice but I thought that I could try out one and if I like it I might try the others. Seeing how good the Mega Instant one is, I think I might go and purchase the Aussome Volume one next.
[UPDATE] So after about 5 uses of the Aussie dry shampoo, it has stopped working like the Umberto Giannini Thickify dry shampoo. The spray now doesn't work so another wasted bottle of product. Definitely going to stick to the Umberto Giannini Morning After.

My opinion from best to worst:

1. Umberto Giannini Morning After
2. VO5 Refresh Me Quick
3. Batiste Coloured
4. Garnier The Silky
5. Batiste Cherry

6. Aussie Mega Instant
7. Umberto Giannini Thickify Volumising

Tell me what your favourite dry shampoo is and I will gladly take recommendations.

Hopefully this was helpful!

Mimi x