Dry shampoo for thick hair

Drybar Detox Dry Shampoo has the best record for thick hair: 30 of 33 shoppers said it soaked up oil at the roots and freshened their hair without residue. Each record counts just shoppers who said they have thick hair. amika Perk Up Talc-Free Dry Shampoo shows the same share as the leader at 20 of 22, from a smaller group, while Not Your Mother's Clean Freak Dry Shampoo has the weakest record here at 11 of 14.

  • 261 store reviews counted
  • Ulta and Sephora shoppers
  • Apr 2016 to Jul 2026

Updated . How we count

Did it soak up oil without residue? What shoppers said
  1. Drybar Detox Dry Shampoo 33 said either way
  2. amika Perk Up Talc-Free Dry Shampoo 22 said either way
  3. Living Proof Perfect Hair Day Dry Shampoo 51 said either way
  4. IGK First Class Charcoal Detox Dry Shampoo 42 said either way
  5. Batiste Original Dry Shampoo 15 said either way
  6. Bumble and bumble Prêt-à-Powder Dry Shampoo 19 said either way
  7. Not Your Mother's Clean Freak Dry Shampoo 14 said either way

Share of reviewers who stated an outcome for oily roots in thick hair. Ranked by the lower bound of a 90% confidence interval, so a product needs both a good share and enough reports to rank high.

Drybar Detox Dry Shampoo Best record Drybar Detox Dry Shampoo 30 of 33 say it soaked up oil at the roots and freshened thick hair without residue See price & reviews on Amazon
What stands out

White residue comes up for several of these: 28% of Not Your Mother's reviews, 11% of IGK reviews, 10% of amika reviews and 8% of Living Proof reviews mention it. Those shares count every review of a product, not just shoppers who stated a result, so they are not the same as the records.

The ranking, product by product

Praise and complaints are the points reviewers repeat most, shown as a share of each product's counted store reviews.

1 Drybar Detox Dry Shampoo

Drybar

Detox Dry Shampoo

30/33 say it soaked up oil at the roots and freshened thick hair without residue

30 of 33 shoppers said it soaked up oil at the roots and freshened thick hair without residue. Complaints that repeat include price (6%) and white residue (6%), while 24% of its reviews praise the scent.

What buyers praise

  • Nice scent 24%
  • Buys an extra day 18%
  • Works on dark hair 18%
  • Adds volume 16%
  • Good value 6%

What buyers complain about

  • Strong or bad scent 6%
  • Too expensive 6%
  • Leaves white residue 6%
Where buyers said it
  • Ulta 12 of 12
  • Sephora 18 of 21
By skin type (Sephora reviewers)
  • Combination5 of 6
  • Oily2 of 3
  • Normal3 of 3
  • Dry3 of 3
By skin tone (Sephora reviewers)
  • Fair to light5 of 5
  • Light-medium to medium5 of 6
  • Medium-tan to tan3 of 3
2 amika Perk Up Talc-Free Dry Shampoo

amika

Perk Up Talc-Free Dry Shampoo

Best for a nice scent

20/22 say it soaked up oil at the roots and freshened thick hair without residue

Scent is the draw, praised in 53% of its 30 reviews, and 30% say it buys an extra day, though 10% mention white residue. Among shoppers with thick hair, 20 of 22 said it soaked up oil at the roots and freshened their hair without residue.

What buyers praise

  • Nice scent 53%
  • Buys an extra day 30%
  • Adds volume 13%
  • Good value 10%
  • Works on dark hair 10%

What buyers complain about

  • Leaves white residue 10%
  • Strong or bad scent 7%
Where buyers said it
  • Sephora 20 of 22
By skin type (Sephora reviewers)
  • Combination13 of 14
  • Dry5 of 6
By skin tone (Sephora reviewers)
  • Fair to light13 of 14
  • Light-medium to medium5 of 6
3 Living Proof Perfect Hair Day Dry Shampoo

Living Proof

Perfect Hair Day Dry Shampoo

42/51 say it soaked up oil at the roots and freshened thick hair without residue

More shoppers weighed in on this dry shampoo than on any other here (51), with 42 of 51 saying it soaked up oil at the roots and freshened thick hair without residue. 35% of its reviews praise the scent, while price is a repeat complaint at 13%.

What buyers praise

  • Nice scent 35%
  • Buys an extra day 33%
  • Adds volume 15%
  • Good value 15%
  • Works on dark hair 10%

What buyers complain about

  • Too expensive 13%
  • Leaves white residue 8%
  • Strong or bad scent 5%
Where buyers said it
  • Ulta 22 of 25
  • Sephora 20 of 26
By skin type (Sephora reviewers)
  • Combination13 of 15
  • Dry3 of 4
  • Oily0 of 3
By skin tone (Sephora reviewers)
  • Fair to light13 of 16
  • Light-medium to medium4 of 5
4 IGK First Class Charcoal Detox Dry Shampoo

IGK

First Class Charcoal Detox Dry Shampoo

34/42 say it soaked up oil at the roots and freshened thick hair without residue

Complaints that repeat include white residue (11%) and a sticky or gritty feel (11%). Still, 34 of 42 shoppers said it soaked up oil at the roots and freshened thick hair without residue.

What buyers praise

  • Buys an extra day 29%
  • Nice scent 27%
  • Works on dark hair 12%
  • Adds volume 11%
  • Good value 9%

What buyers complain about

  • Leaves white residue 11%
  • Sticky or gritty 11%
  • Too expensive 5%
  • Strong or bad scent 5%
  • Itchy scalp 4%
Where buyers said it
  • Ulta 18 of 22
  • Sephora 16 of 20
  • Brand site 1 of 1 shown, not counted
By skin type (Sephora reviewers)
  • Combination10 of 12
  • Oily4 of 6
By skin tone (Sephora reviewers)
  • Fair to light12 of 14
  • Light-medium to medium2 of 4
See price & reviews on Amazon

Share of 56 store reviews that mention each point. A full bar is 50%.

5 Batiste Original Dry Shampoo

Batiste

Original Dry Shampoo

13/15 say it soaked up oil at the roots and freshened thick hair without residue

A small group weighed in, and its complaints are scattered, with none repeating. 13 of 15 shoppers said it soaked up oil at the roots and freshened thick hair without residue, while 24% of its reviews say it buys an extra day.

What buyers praise

  • Buys an extra day 24%
  • Nice scent 12%
  • Adds volume 12%

What buyers complain about

No repeated complaints yet.

Where buyers said it
  • Ulta 13 of 15
  • Brand site 5 of 6 shown, not counted
See price & reviews on Amazon

Share of 17 store reviews that mention each point. A full bar is 50%.

6 Bumble and bumble Prêt-à-Powder Dry Shampoo

Bumble and bumble

Prêt-à-Powder Dry Shampoo

Best for adding volume

16/19 say it soaked up oil at the roots and freshened thick hair without residue

Price splits opinion on this one: 30% of its reviews call it good value, while 17% call it too expensive. 16 of 19 shoppers said it soaked up oil at the roots and freshened thick hair without residue, with volume praised in 33% of its reviews.

What buyers praise

  • Adds volume 33%
  • Good value 30%
  • Works on dark hair 17%
  • Nice scent 17%
  • Buys an extra day 13%

What buyers complain about

  • Too expensive 17%
  • Sticky or gritty 13%
Where buyers said it
  • Sephora 16 of 19
7 Not Your Mother's Clean Freak Dry Shampoo

Not Your Mother's

Clean Freak Dry Shampoo

11/14 say it soaked up oil at the roots and freshened thick hair without residue

White residue is the main complaint here, in 28% of its reviews. It has the weakest record here at 11 of 14, from a small group, though 33% of its reviews say it buys an extra day.

What buyers praise

  • Buys an extra day 33%
  • Nice scent 22%
  • Good value 22%
  • Adds volume 11%

What buyers complain about

  • Leaves white residue 28%
  • Strong or bad scent 11%
Where buyers said it
  • Ulta 11 of 14
  • Brand site 1 of 1 shown, not counted

Where these numbers come from

The 7 products ranked here carry 52,998 reviews at Ulta and Sephora. We searched them for oily roots in thick hair and read the newest matching reviews, up to 40 per product and store, posted between Apr 2016 and Jul 2026.

A review counts only when the reviewer used the product themselves. We drop reviews written in exchange for a free product or a sweepstakes entry (0 on this page), and products that are no longer sold.

Ulta also shows reviews first posted on brands' own websites. They run much more positive than store reviews of the same products (across 19 products with both, 76% of brand-site reviewers said the product solved the problem, against 55% of Ulta shoppers), so we show them on product cards but never count them.

Because we searched for the problem, people who had it are overrepresented. Compare products with each other rather than reading a share as your own odds.

Skin type, skin tone and age splits use what reviewers chose on Sephora's review form (and age on Ulta's when given). We only show a split when enough reviewers fall on each side.

Amazon buttons appear only on products that most reviewers here say fix the problem (at least 60%, with enough reviews to trust it). Everything else gets no buy link.

An AI model labels each review against a fixed list of points, and we spot-check the labels before publishing. We publish counts, never the reviews themselves.

Read the full method

Product pages we read

  1. Drybar Detox Dry Shampoo Ulta and Sephora (50 reviews counted)
  2. amika Perk Up Talc-Free Dry Shampoo Sephora (30 reviews counted)
  3. Living Proof Perfect Hair Day Dry Shampoo Ulta and Sephora (60 reviews counted)
  4. IGK First Class Charcoal Detox Dry Shampoo Ulta and Sephora (56 reviews counted)
  5. Batiste Original Dry Shampoo Ulta (17 reviews counted)
  6. Bumble and bumble Prêt-à-Powder Dry Shampoo Sephora (30 reviews counted)
  7. Not Your Mother's Clean Freak Dry Shampoo Ulta (18 reviews counted)

Questions buyers ask

Which dry shampoo works for thick hair?

Drybar Detox Dry Shampoo has the best record (30 of 33), followed by amika Perk Up Talc-Free Dry Shampoo (20 of 22) and Living Proof Perfect Hair Day Dry Shampoo (42 of 51).

Does dry shampoo leave white residue on thick hair?

Sometimes. White residue comes up in 28% of Not Your Mother's reviews, 11% of IGK reviews and 10% of amika reviews, while 6% of Drybar reviews mention it. These shares count every review of a product.

Does Living Proof Perfect Hair Day Dry Shampoo work on thick hair?

Mostly, yes: 42 of 51 shoppers said it soaked up oil at the roots and freshened their hair without residue, and more shoppers weighed in on it than on any other dry shampoo here. Price is a repeat complaint, at 13% of its 60 reviews.

Which of these dry shampoos are sold on Amazon?

IGK and Batiste are sold there by third-party sellers, not official ones, so check who the seller is. The other five, Not Your Mother's among them, are sold there by the brand or Amazon itself. The best pick sold on Amazon is Drybar Detox Dry Shampoo at 30 of 33.

Related problems

Dry shampoo Dry shampoo with no white residue Top pick: Olaplex No. 4D Detox Dry Shampoo 301 buyer reports Dry shampoo Dry shampoo for oily hair Top pick: IGK First Class Charcoal Detox Dry Shampoo 362 buyer reports Dry shampoo Dry shampoo for fine hair Top pick: Living Proof Perfect Hair Day Dry Shampoo 278 buyer reports Shampoo Shampoo for thick hair Top pick: OUAI Detox Clarifying Shampoo 246 buyer reports

HiveTried earns a commission when you buy through the "See price & reviews on Amazon" buttons. It never changes the ranking: the order comes from buyer reports only, and a product gets an Amazon button only when buyers here say it works.