Recently Trader Joe’s came out with their own dry shampoo and, of course, I had to try it because 1. dry shampoo is a huge staple in my routine and 2. I’m obsessed with Trader Joe’s and am always super excited to try their new products as soon as they hit the shelves.
APPLICATION & EFFECTIVENESS
I tested it on day 3 after my wash, when my hair typically starts to look somewhat greasy. I’m used to the aerosol dry shampoo bottles, so the experience with the Trader Joe’s one was a bit different (it’s a non-aerosol spray bottle).
It was a little bit frustrating and more time consuming than I expected. The first few pumps were strong, but then as I continued pressing the button, barely any product was coming out.
After about 10 minutes, I gave up… I feel like the product did freshen up my hair somewhat, but the greasiness was not completely gone. It definitely was not as quick and effective as my typical choice (Batiste). I would probably rate it 3/5 for effectiveness.
Overall, I wasn’t thrilled with it. The one thing that I enjoyed about it (and pretty much the only thing) is the scent: it smells fresh and citrussy and it’s not overpowering as with other dry shampoos (including Batiste).
The application was probably my biggest pet peeve. I understand that they wanted to make a non-aerosol version (which I appreciate because it’s better for the environment), but I feel like the container was a bad choice – I think I would have loved more a salt shaker type container where I have more control over how much product is being dispensed.
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PRICE
Another issue is the price. The bottle is pretty small: 1.35 oz. and it retails for $4.99. I usually get a huge Batiste bottle (13.46 oz) for about $9 at Marshalls or TJ Maxx, which lasts me about 6 months.
IS IT NON-TOXIC?
Another thing that I wanted to explore were the ingredients of the Trader Joe’s dry shampoo because I would certainly give it a few extra points if it’s better for my health and non-toxic.
These are the ingredients:
Zea Mays (Corn) Starch, Kaolin, Avena Sativa (Oat) Kernel Flour, Capryloyl Glycine, Panax Ginseng Root Extract, Silica, SD Alcohol 40-B, Panthenol (Pro-Vitamin B5), Stearalkonium Chloride, Fragrance, Vitis Vinifera (Grape) Seed Extract, Phenoxyethanol, Citrus Limon (Lemon) Fruit Extract, Glycerin.
When you look at that list, you see a lot of plant-derived extracts, vitamins and very few unpronounceable ingredients. It certainly looks like a more natural choice when you compare it to say the list of ingredients in Batiste’s classic dry shampoo which are:
Butane, Isobutane, Propane, Oryza Sativa (Rice) Starch, Alcohol Denat., Parfum (Fragrance), Limonene, Linalool, Geraniol, Benzyl Benzoate, Distearyldimonium Chloride, Cetrimonium Chloride.
But when I plugged them on ewg.org/skindeep (a really great website where you can search by product or ingredients to see how clean they are), I was actually kind of disappointed because both products scored the exact same way. Six out of ten where ten is the worst possible rating with the worst quality of ingredients in terms of how toxic they are.
>>Full Trader Joe’s dry shampoo report from EWG
For both the most problematic ingredient is fragrance which scores 8/10. Some companies make their fragrance from blends of essential oils, so fragrance is not always bad for you, but in this case we don’t really know, so we have to assume it’s some kind of synthetic fragrance.
So, in terms of ingredients, I would also say that the Trader Joe’s dry shampoo is not better than the conventional choice.
FINAL THOUGHTS
In conclusion, the Trader Joe’s dry shampoo is not it. I love Trader Joe’s and I really wanted to like this product, but unfortunately I just can’t recommend it. I don’t think it’s worth it. I don’t think it works well and the ingredients are not better than the conventional choice, so unfortunately I have to give it a thumbs down.
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