Tsubaki Dry Shampoo Review

Okay, let me get this one thing out of the way first—this is quite honestly the literal opposite of what you think a dry shampoo is. In fact, I used it and was quite confident that somehow Tsubaki had royally messed up in labelling this as a dry shampoo because dry, it is absolutely NOT. I know, this is a skin care blog, not a hair care blog, but still. It’s definitely not what I normally consider to be a dry shampoo, which was why I was so intrigued by it in the first place. I mean, why is a dry shampoo a liquid in a squeezy narrow-tipped bottle in the first place?

Like the difference between the definitions of toner vs. lotion, ‘dry shampoo’ means something completely different in Japan. *cue confusion*

From what I’ve gathered, a dry shampoo in Japan is just a shampoo that you don’t use water to rinse away—not powder in a spray can that you spritz on your roots.

Yup.

When you use this, it’s going to make your hair wet—and yup, it’s supposed to.
I don’t really know why, but my train of thought was somehow this was powder suspended in liquid that would absorb the oil. Hilariously OFF on that one girl, but you tried.

So How Do I Use Tsubaki Dry Shampoo?

The gist of it is that you rub it in and then let your hair dry again, and your hair is somehow magically cleaner. The packaging makes it perfect for getting right in there, too—you basically part your hair and squirt the product along your scalp. This is not going to be an instant refresh, FYI—so if you’re short on time in the AM, don’t get rid of your Batiste just yet. However, this could be the one for you if you have a little bit more time at night—but more on that later.

The first time I used it was on two-day old hair (and was utterly confused that a dry shampoo was making my hair more wet). I was pretty unconvinced by the instructions—rub product into scalp and brush through—and was sure I had done it totally wrong.

How was my hair so wet from a ‘dry’ shampoo? I dutifully followed the instructions though, hoping that I had missed something and should just expect this to work. At this point, I was just enjoying the cooling menthol feeling on my scalp, not thinking anything else was going to happen.
After about twenty minutes, I went to brush my teeth and saw my hair in the mirror.

It looked AMAZING. Not just as fresh as a proper shampoo, obviously, but it was like the clock had been turned back from two-day old hair to one day old hair. My hair is thick, straight, and stereotypically Asian—combined with an oily scalp, I’m pretty prone to some janky-ass, greasy roots if I’m not careful.
Ok no but for real—it looked great! It also smelled super fresh and minty, and not in a “I’m trying to cover up smells with perfume” way. It literally smelled like I had just washed my hair.

Every time I use this, my hair is always better when I forget about it and let the product evaporate away. I’ve experimented with a couple different ways to use this and for me, the best is using it the night before I think I’ll need to (kinda like that ‘hack’ of using normal dry shampoo the night before!)

I’ll often go to bed thinking I can get one more day out of my hair—and a lot of the time I’ve been wrong, and the next morning I regret not washing it the night before. The Tsubaki Dry Shampoo totally fixes that issue! I’ve experimented with using this before bed and let me tell you—I am impressed.
It was kind of like waking up to day old hair every time—even though it would have been two days since I washed my hair.

I think it works surprisingly well—my gripe with regular dry shampoos and other hair refreshing hacks is I’m often left with a still itchy, now slightly gunky scalp. Gross. The gunk comes from the powder absorbing the oil and staying on the skin, btw. With this, I get a really nice cooling sensation on my scalp (thanks to the menthol) and just that alone seems to calm down any itching from accumulating oils. I’ve also noticed that even if I only use this once a week (which is about average, considering how often I wash my hair after working out) my scalp is way less prone to being hella itchy, which happens to me a lot more in the tropics.

Peeking at the ingredients list, I’m almost sure that this is because it has salicylic acid—a BHA that quite happily dissolves oil and sebum when applied to skin, so I’m sure it’s doing the same on my scalp too. It has an interesting blend of nourishing oils, but also ingredients such as alcohol to ensure that the wetness does eventually evaporate away.

At the end of it, this was an interesting product to use but not something I would run out and pick up again. However, I can see how some would like it!

Tsubaki Dry Shampoo Review