I'd Gatekeep This Dark Hair–Friendly Dry Shampoo, But It's Too Good Not to Share

Welcome to Deep Reviews—your one-stop destination to discover the absolute best products and brands the beauty industry has to offer. Every month, the Who What Wear staffers you already know and trust will research, test, and review the market's most sought-after and buzzed-about products to see which formulas (of the hundreds up for consideration) are truly worth your hard-earned money and attention. You can expect honest, completely uncensored feedback and no-BS recommendations our hard-to-please testers endorse without reservations. To put it simply, stick with us, and buyer's remorse will be a thing of the past.

The majority of our Deep Reviews will feature our editors' honest, ultra-hot takes on entire product categories or multiple products from a particular beauty brand, but every so often, we'll sprinkle in a special single-product format called Honestly, I Love It. As the name suggests, these reviews will hone in on one standout beauty formula our editors quite literally can't shut up about. This time around, I'm highlighting Olaplex No.4D Clean Volume Detox Dry Shampoo ($30). 

I realize this may be a controversial opinion, but I typically steer clear of dry shampoos at all costs. I have deep, raven-toned hair. No matter what dry shampoo I use and how much I rub it in, it seems that I'm always battling white streaks at my roots.

Even if I'm not left with white chunks in my hair á la Cruella de Vil, dry shampoo never fails to leave some kind of filmy residue that somehow makes my hair feel even dirtier than what I started with. If you regularly use dry shampoo, you know what I'm talking about—the spray can leave hair feeling like it has an unnatural coat on top of it.

My typical dislike of dry shampoo runs in direct opposition to my lifestyle choices. I dye my hair darker, so I try to avoid washing it as much as possible for color preservation. I also lead a pretty active lifestyle, so my hair is very often sweaty (TMI, sorry). If I boil it down, dry shampoo is kind of essential for me, but I find myself either slicking my hair back or washing it an extra time to avoid using it. 

Olaplex's latest innovation, its No.4D Clean Volume Detox Dry Shampoo, has proved to be a game changer for me in the few short weeks I've had to test it. The first time I got to try the newest dry shampoo, celebrity hairstylist and Olaplex ambassador Jimmy Paul styled my (unwashed) hair using it. At the time, I was on second-day hair that was beginning to fall flat at the roots and could undoubtedly benefit from being spruced up. 

When I left, I thought my hair looked great, but I was mostly wowed by how light it felt. My head felt two pounds lighter. It felt like I'd just gotten the ultimate bouncy blowout á la 90s supermodels. It felt like I'd just fastened a hose to a fire hydrant filled with clarifying shampoo and blasted my scalp with it. There was no white or filmy residue in sight, and I knew I had a new cult favorite on my hands, especially for people with dark hair like me. 

As you might guess, none of this is an accident. Olaplex wanted to create a dry shampoo that solved common dry shampoo woes like residue or irritated scalp. "The formula leaves no grit or powdery residue," says Lavinia Popescu, Olaplex Chief Scientist. "This launch is significant for us as we lean into the skinification of hair, [or] the idea that everything we use on hair not only needs to have a tangible benefit but that ingredients need to boost the health of hair."

In particular, Olaplex wanted to ensure that its dry shampoo focused on a hot-button issue lately: scalp health. You can't have healthy hair if you don't start with a healthy scalp. "Your scalp is skin, and if that skin is disrupted in any way, your hair will not look its best," says Popescu.

Popescu explains that the formula is packed with scalp-friendly ingredients. Its star ingredient is rambutan seed extract, which is a sustainable source of antioxidants that calms and detoxifies the scalp while neutralizing odor. Like all Olaplex products, the No.4D Clean Volume Detox Dry Shampoo also has Olaplex Bond Building technology, which means it's also working to repair damage and strengthen hair by building bonds.

"In clinical consumer tests, 100% of consumers saw no white residue, 97% said their hair looked clean and 97% saw a reduction of oil," says Popescu. "Expert clinical graders also evaluated the scalp and it was shown not to clog pores." Anyone can use Olaplex's new dry shampoo formula, but it will particularly benefit anyone with dark hair who struggles with white casts from dry shampoos or anyone with an itchy or sensitive scalp that's easily irritated by other dry shampoo formulas. 

To use Olaplex's newest formula, you'll start by separating your hair into sections. Once your hair is separated, you'll spray the dry shampoo at the root from four to six inches away. Before doing anything else, let the product sit for at least 30 seconds to start working its magic, then style it as usual. 

Clearly, I got the VIP treatment when Paul did my hair, but let's talk about my experience test-driving the Olaplex No.4D Clean Volume Detox Dry Shampoo at home. To truly test out this dry shampoo's capabilities, I decided to ask the absolute most of it. I went on a run in the morning on third-day hair, and I had dinner plans that night, so my hair couldn't just look passable, it had to look freshly washed. 

Before using the dry shampoo, my hair was dull at the roots and beginning to feel heavy and stick to my scalp. After applying the dry shampoo and waiting the recommended 30 seconds before working it in with my fingers, my hair immediately felt more lifted and looked rejuvenated. After styling using a Dyson Airwrap, the results were even more apparent: it looked like I'd just washed my hair and gotten a blowout, and it didn't feel like there was anything in my hair at all. The oil absorption even seemed to improve as time went on. 

If you're like me and feel like most dry shampoos fall short of expectations, you'll be happy you took this one for a spin. Honestly, I love it, and my hair clearly does too. 

Shop Other Olaplex Products I Swear By

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