Shampoo for oily scalp

OUAI Detox Shampoo has the best record for an oily scalp: 19 of 20 reviewers with oily hair said it stayed clean longer or felt less oily, and it holds up at both stores. Bumble and bumble Sunday Clarifying Shampoo follows at 22 of 25, then Paul Mitchell Tea Tree Special Shampoo at 13 of 15. The gaps are modest, so check the notes on each pick before you buy.

  • 363 store reviews counted
  • Ulta and Sephora shoppers
  • Feb 2020 to Sep 2026

Updated . How we count

Does hair stay clean? What buyers said
  1. OUAI Detox Clarifying Shampoo 20 said either way
  2. Bumble and bumble Sunday Clarifying Shampoo 25 said either way
  3. Paul Mitchell Tea Tree Special Shampoo 15 said either way
  4. Olaplex No. 4 Bond Maintenance Shampoo 23 said either way
  5. Briogeo Scalp Revival Scrub Shampoo 22 said either way
  6. Moroccanoil Moisture Repair Shampoo 13 said either way
  7. Verb Ghost Weightless Shampoo 27 said either way

Share of reviewers who stated an outcome for oily 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.

OUAI Detox Clarifying Shampoo Best record OUAI Detox Clarifying Shampoo 19 of 20 say their hair stays clean longer or feels less oily See price & reviews on Amazon
What stands out

The two clarifying shampoos take the first two spots. Olaplex, Moroccanoil and Verb have solid records among reviewers who stated a result, but 28%, 37% and 37% of their reviews also mention hair getting greasy fast.

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 OUAI Detox Clarifying Shampoo

OUAI

Detox Clarifying Shampoo

Best for a clarifying wash

19/20 say their hair stays clean longer or feels less oily

62% of its reviews say hair stays clean longer, and 23% like the scent. It is strong at both stores: 13 of 13 at Ulta and 6 of 7 at Sephora. The main complaint is price, at 12%.

What buyers praise

  • Nice scent 23%
  • Good value 8%
  • Leaves hair soft 8%

What buyers complain about

  • Too expensive 12%
  • Drying or stripping 8%
Where buyers said it
  • Ulta 13 of 13
  • Sephora 6 of 7
See price & reviews on Amazon

Share of 26 store reviews that mention each point. A full bar is 50%.

2 Bumble and bumble Sunday Clarifying Shampoo

Bumble and bumble

Sunday Clarifying Shampoo

Best for a gentle clarifying wash

22/25 say their hair stays clean longer or feels less oily

57% of its reviews mention hair staying clean longer and 20% call it gentle on the scalp. Complaints are small: 10% call it drying and 10% say hair still got greasy fast. All counted reviews are from Sephora.

What buyers praise

  • Nice scent 27%
  • Gentle on scalp 20%
  • Good value 7%
  • Leaves hair soft 7%
  • Hair looks fuller 7%

What buyers complain about

  • Drying or stripping 10%
Where buyers said it
  • Sephora 22 of 25
By skin type (Sephora reviewers)
  • Combination14 of 15
  • Dry4 of 5
  • Oily2 of 3
By skin tone (Sephora reviewers)
  • Fair to light12 of 15
  • Light-medium to medium3 of 3
3

Paul Mitchell

Tea Tree Special Shampoo

13/15 say their hair stays clean longer or feels less oily

46% of its reviews say hair stays clean longer. The catch is dryness, which 25% mention, and 21% say hair still got greasy fast. All counted reviews are from Ulta.

What buyers praise

  • Nice scent 8%
  • Good value 8%

What buyers complain about

  • Drying or stripping 25%
  • Bad or strong scent 17%
  • Itchy or irritated scalp 8%
Where buyers said it
  • Ulta 13 of 15
  • Brand site 1 of 1 shown, not counted
4 Olaplex No. 4 Bond Maintenance Shampoo

Olaplex

No. 4 Bond Maintenance Shampoo

19/23 say their hair stays clean longer or feels less oily

Reviewers who stated a result lean positive, at 19 of 23. 24% say it leaves hair soft and 28% like the scent, but 28% of its reviews also say hair gets greasy fast and 16% call it drying.

What buyers praise

  • Nice scent 28%
  • Leaves hair soft 24%
  • Hair looks fuller 10%
  • Good value 5%
  • Gentle on scalp 5%

What buyers complain about

  • Drying or stripping 16%
  • Too expensive 7%
  • Itchy or irritated scalp 7%
Where buyers said it
  • Ulta 11 of 13
  • Sephora 8 of 10
  • Brand site 0 of 1 shown, not counted
5 Briogeo Scalp Revival Scrub Shampoo

Briogeo

Scalp Revival Scrub Shampoo

Best for oily hair with flakes

18/22 say their hair stays clean longer or feels less oily

60% of its reviews say hair stays clean longer, and 30% also say it cleared flakes. 13% say hair got greasy fast. All counted reviews are from Sephora.

What buyers praise

  • Clears flakes 30%
  • Nice scent 13%

What buyers complain about

  • Too expensive 7%
Where buyers said it
  • Sephora 18 of 22
6 Moroccanoil Moisture Repair Shampoo

Moroccanoil

Moisture Repair Shampoo

11/13 say their hair stays clean longer or feels less oily

Sold as a moisture shampoo for damaged hair. 11 of 13 reviewers said their hair stayed clean longer or felt less oily, and 37% say it leaves hair soft. But 37% of its reviews also mention hair getting greasy fast. All counted reviews are from Sephora.

What buyers praise

  • Nice scent 37%
  • Leaves hair soft 37%
  • Gentle on scalp 7%
  • Good value 7%

What buyers complain about

  • Drying or stripping 10%
  • Itchy or irritated scalp 7%
Where buyers said it
  • Sephora 11 of 13
By skin tone (Sephora reviewers)
  • Fair to light6 of 8
  • Light-medium to medium3 of 3
7 Verb Ghost Weightless Shampoo

Verb

Ghost Weightless Shampoo

21/27 say their hair stays clean longer or feels less oily

The most reviewers weighed in on this one, 27 in all. 21 of 27 said it helped, the weakest record here, though still a clear majority. 37% of its reviews say hair gets greasy fast and 12% mention an itchy scalp. On the brand's own site, 7 of 7 say it helped, which we show but don't count.

What buyers praise

  • Leaves hair soft 20%
  • Nice scent 18%
  • Color lasts 4%
  • Gentle on scalp 4%

What buyers complain about

  • Itchy or irritated scalp 12%
  • Drying or stripping 10%
  • Too expensive 6%
  • Tangles hair 4%
  • Bad or strong scent 4%
Where buyers said it
  • Ulta 6 of 9
  • Sephora 15 of 18
  • Brand site 7 of 7 shown, not counted
By skin type (Sephora reviewers)
  • Combination6 of 7
  • Oily5 of 6
By skin tone (Sephora reviewers)
  • Fair to light9 of 10
  • Light-medium to medium4 of 6

Where these numbers come from

The 7 products ranked here carry 33,861 reviews at Ulta and Sephora. We searched them for oily hair and read the newest matching reviews, up to 30 per product and store, posted between Feb 2020 and Sep 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. OUAI Detox Clarifying Shampoo Ulta and Sephora (26 reviews counted)
  2. Bumble and bumble Sunday Clarifying Shampoo Sephora (30 reviews counted)
  3. Paul Mitchell Tea Tree Special Shampoo Ulta (24 reviews counted)
  4. Olaplex No. 4 Bond Maintenance Shampoo Ulta and Sephora (58 reviews counted)
  5. Briogeo Scalp Revival Scrub Shampoo Sephora (30 reviews counted)
  6. Moroccanoil Moisture Repair Shampoo Sephora (30 reviews counted)
  7. Verb Ghost Weightless Shampoo Ulta and Sephora (51 reviews counted)

People asking about it on Reddit

  1. My scalp gets oily so fast even after washing, any shampoo that actually helps? r/beauty, Oct 2025, 67 comments
  2. Shampoo for oily scalp r/Sephora, Mar 2025, 32 comments
  3. Best shampoo/conditioner for oily scalp + a lot of hair r/Sephora, Jun 2023, 67 comments

Questions buyers ask

Which shampoo works for an oily scalp?

By these reviews, OUAI Detox Shampoo has the best record at 19 of 20, then Bumble and bumble Sunday Clarifying Shampoo at 22 of 25 and Paul Mitchell Tea Tree Special Shampoo at 13 of 15. The shares are close, so check the complaints on each pick.

Are clarifying shampoos good for an oily scalp?

The two clarifying shampoos here, OUAI Detox Shampoo and Bumble and bumble Sunday Clarifying Shampoo, hold the first two spots, at 19 of 20 and 22 of 25. A few reviewers found them drying, at 8% of OUAI Detox Shampoo reviews and 10% of Bumble and bumble Sunday Clarifying Shampoo reviews.

Is Olaplex No. 4 Bond Maintenance Shampoo good for an oily scalp?

Reviews are mixed on it. 19 of 23 reviewers said it helped, but 28% of its reviews say hair gets greasy fast.

Does Verb Ghost shampoo work for oily hair?

21 of 27 reviewers said it did, and 22% of its reviews say hair stays clean longer. The catch is that 37% say hair gets greasy fast.

Related problems

Dry shampoo Dry shampoo for oily hair Top pick: IGK First Class Charcoal Detox Dry Shampoo 362 buyer reports Shampoo Shampoo for dandruff Top pick: Briogeo Scalp Revival Scrub Shampoo 315 buyer reports Conditioner Conditioner for fine hair Top pick: Pureology Nanoworks Gold Conditioner 283 buyer reports Shampoo Shampoo for thinning hair Top pick: Bumble and bumble Thickening Volume Shampoo 270 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.