Review: Batiste Dry Shampoo in Fresh

There are simply days in a busy woman’s life when she cannot be bothered to wash her tresses. So what to do on such cranky hair days? We thank the inventors of dry shampoo, of course.

Today I’ll be sharing my thoughts on a heavyweight in the drugstore dry shampoo world: Batiste Dry Shampoo in Fresh. 

Photo courtesy of Holly Arabella

First things first, a quick explanation of what dry shampoo is and how it works.

Dry shampoo is a powdered substance used to clean the hair when you want to extend the length of a blowout or when it is not practical to use water and traditional shampoo. The ingredients in dry shampoo soak up oil and dirt on the scalp. When your hair appears greasy, it’s usually just the roots (close to the scalp) that need to be refreshed. Applying a dry shampoo effectively soaks up any oil and dirt, leaving your hair looking refreshed and clean. There are basically two types of dry shampoos: ones that come in a loose powder form and ones that come in an aerosol (spray) form. Powder dry shampoos can be applied directly on to the scalp from the bottle and either brushed through or massaged in using your fingers. Dry shampoo aerosols can be sprayed directly onto the scalp from a few inches away and likewise may need to be brushed or massaged through the area.

Batiste explains the steps of use for its pressurised aerosol spray can dry shampoo as follows:

Step One: Shake can vigorously and spray Batiste into the roots, keeping the nozzle 30cm from hair.

Step Two: Massage through with fingertips.

Step Three: Brush through and style as usual.

Among all the Batistes that I sniffed, without a doubt, I liked this scent the best. The rest were either too cloying, too powdery, too floral, too fruity (although to their credit, their coconut-scented Tropical variant really does smell like coconut) – this one was just right. Clean, uncomplicated, crisp. Batiste describes it as:

Contemporary, tantalisingly, cool & crisp notes make this unisex dry shampoo as liberating for blokes as it is for babes.

I do reckon they did good with this scent, as it seems unoffensive and gender-neutral enough for even men to not really fuss about the prospect of “smelling like a girly girl” after use.

However, I’m afraid I don’t have that much by way of positive commentary beyond that.

It did a reasonable job of getting rid of oil and grease at the roots of my hair, but sadly it didn’t last for very long – maybe half a day? I think that may be due to Singaporean heat and humidity more than the product in and of itself, but I was a bit disappointed with Batiste’s performance here.

I also didn’t understand why no matter how much I brushed, I ended up with a ton of residue on my scalp regardless. It was a touch frustrating, and only made me want to wash my hair even more!

To be completely frank, I would only recommend this product to those of you who have a less oily scalp than I do. I will still use this product when I need a quick fix for a few hours, but doubt I’ll repurchase once I run out. Hopefully I’ll find a dry shampoo that fits my needs a bit better – I’ve seen Tresemme and Klorane’s offerings on the market but have yet to venture out and give them a whirl.

I bought my 200ml aerosol spray can in a dinky little store in Little India, Singapore for SGD 6.00. This is less than half of the same product’s selling price at Watson’s or Guardian, so do take the time to explore Little India’s fun little stores for price-point gems like these. Just be prepared to fight the hordes a little bit.

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