O&M Dry Queen Dry Shampoo 300ml

Dry shampoo buys a day or two between washes, and it does it mechanically: an absorbent powder takes up oil at the root, then you brush the lot out. Dry Queen is the untinted original in O&M's range, built on rice starch, and it leaves behind texture as well as a cleaner-looking root.

What's in it

• Rice starch (Oryza sativa) — the absorbent doing the oil pick-up.
• Silica and disteardimonium hectorite — grip and body once the oil is gone.
• Quandong and lilly pilly fruit extracts — native Australian fruit extracts.
• Cetrimonium chloride and glycerin — conditioning agents that keep the hair from feeling stripped.

How to use it

Shake first, then spray at 20–30cm across parted sections, since most patchiness comes from spraying too close. Give the powder a moment to absorb before you massage and brush — that pause is the step most people skip. Style as usual afterwards.

Worth knowing

The formula is untinted, so it can leave a light cast on very dark hair; O&M Dry Queen Brunette is the tinted version for medium to dark brown. Useful between washes and good for lift on fine hair, but it is a stopgap rather than a replacement for cleansing.