Dry shampoo or other remedy for clean but sweaty hair at work?

December 29, 2024 2:49 PM

For perimenopause reasons, I often find myself flushing and perspiring in the late morning at work, particularly in the head and scalp area. I take a shower each day before work, and can't shower at work or anywhere nearby during the day. Is there a good dry shampoo for this, or do people who sweat and sometimes don't have time to shower afterwards have recommendations?

I am in my late 40s, with thinning light brown shoulder length hair, with some waviness to it. I have hot flashes and my head and scalp get sweaty during the day at work. I usually end up just pulling my hair back into a ponytail every day, but it gets disheveled and doesn't look as nice as I would like, particularly along the hairline.

Right now I just blot my hair with paper towels, brush out any tangles, and pull it back into the ponytail to try to hide the problem. What products might best help this process and result in a more styled/professional look and can also be used fairly quickly in a work bathroom?

As a side note, so far perimenopause has been great otherwise, and has solved years of PMS symptoms and hormonal migraines.

posted by lizard music to Clothing, Beauty, & Fashion (11 answers total)

Klorane Oat Dry Shampoo is my favorite. It's pretty affordable and a bottle usually lasts me at least 3-4 months. If you style your hair in the morning, this should help you get your scalp and roots dry and more or less back into your regular style.
posted by notjustthefish at 3:59 PM on December 29 [3 favorites]

Seconding Klorane. You can put some in your hair in the morning before you go to work, it’s best if you can apply it and let it sit for a few minutes before you scrub it in with your fingertips and then brush it through. One application in the morning might be enough to soak up any moisture during the day with some additional fingertip activation, or you can always reapply in your work bathroom.

Note that Klorane sells tinted dry shampoo for brunettes and blondes but the original oat milk is the best formula and dries to invisible regardless of your hair color.
posted by stellaluna at 4:38 PM on December 29 [1 favorite]

Thirding that specific type of Klorane dry shampoo. No other dry shampoo I’ve tried (Dove, Batiste) seems to be as good as Klorane. They all smell very strong overly perfumey compared to Klorane, too.
posted by VirginiaPlain at 4:44 PM on December 29 [1 favorite]

It’s fluppin’ expensive, but Living Proof dry shampoo is the best I’ve ever tried.
posted by cakelite at 7:12 PM on December 29 [3 favorites]

I use Living Proof also and it's very good (I get the extra strength one). I haven't tried Klorane.
posted by hazyjane at 7:48 PM on December 29

I use the unscented Not Your Mother's dry shampoo and like it for my fine sometimes-curly hair.
posted by 4th number at 8:24 PM on December 29

Mod note: Something weird going on with Ulta site linking; I've tried to fix the link in stellaluna's comment above. If anyone still cannot access it, the thing to look for is "Klorane Ultra-Gentle Dry Shampoo with Oat Milk." Stellaluna linked to the travel size version of the product, which is now returning an error.
posted by taz (staff) at 9:39 PM on December 29 [2 favorites]

Dry shampoo is great. You could also try keeping some astringent and cotton balls at work and dapping along your hairline when you feel sweaty.
posted by bluedaisy at 10:53 PM on December 29

I use a hairdryer on Cool on my face/head/hair til I’m sufficiently dry again. I fuckin hate this. (I have one at work)
posted by tristeza at 11:15 PM on December 29 [1 favorite]

pinch of baking powder on a hair brush is a great dry shampoo stand in.
posted by wowenthusiast at 7:22 PM on December 30 [1 favorite]

(something you might want to test and change to prevent some of this: I found out that coffee was giving me hot flashes)
posted by mirileh at 9:44 AM on December 31