Trader Joe's Dry Shampoo has NOTHING on Kristin Ess

The dry shampoo chronicles continue! There are certain topics I will talk about at length, and one of them is dry shampoo. I have a lot of opinions, I have tried myriad products, and I’m always looking for ways to improve my dry shampoo routine. And it’s not just me that’s obsessed with dry shampoo! My post about Trader Joe’s Dry Shampoo is one of the most visited every month. But if you read that post, you will also find that I think the packaging is unusable. The product is good, but you can’t USE the product, so what’s the point?!

I had been buying TJ’s dry shampoo, then decanting it into a Klorane dry shampoo bottle (as suggested in my original post), but then even the Klorane got clogged and I was resorting to using a makeup brush to apply my dry shampoo (a tactic also mentioned in the original TJ’s dry shampoo post). I apply this stuff early in the morning, when I’ve just woken up and my hair is freshly air dried from washing it the night before. I do NOT have the will to tediously apply dry shampoo at 6am. I needed a better solution.

I don’t know what compelled my to try Kristin Ess Fragrance Free Dry Shampoo Powder. Maybe it was because I love her Purifying Micellar Shampoo (reviewed here)? Maybe it was because Target was having a sale for 20% off all hair care? Maybe it was because I have a compulsion to buy and try any and all dry shampoos that even slightly pique my interest? Probably a combo of all three. The point is, I bought it, and while it is the EXACT same bottle as Trader Joe’s Dry Shampoo, Kristin Ess is everything TJ’s wishes it was. What I mean is: The bottle works GREAT, every time.

When I tell you these are the same bottles, I mean they are the same. The pumps are the same, the mechanisms are the same, it’s really a very fair comparison, because, you know, they’re THE SAME. But TJ’s formula gets all gunked up in the pump and Kristin Ess’s is so good, the first time I used it I got dry shampoo ALL OVER MYSELF. I was not used to actually getting product out of a bottle like this.

It looks far betting in the photo than it did in real life. Dry shampoo was EVERYWHERE.

The Kristin Ess was already leaps and bounds easier to apply than the Trader Joe’s dry shampoo. It does cost 3x as much, but that’s still only $12! And it’s actually useable! On my initial TJ’s dry shampoo post, a lovely commenter said that I clearly got a bad bottle, and it works great for them, and I should buy another bottle and give it another chance. I read that and thought to myself, “You know what, you SHOULD try another bottle. Who knows?!” I had been repurchasing the TJ’s product, but immediately decanting it into a Klorane bottle, so I hadn’t tried out the TJ’s packaging since my first disastrous attempt. For science, I bought one, and did a littel test comparing it to the Kristin Ess dry shampoo.

First, the Trader Joe’s. It does come out decently well at the beginning, but after five or so pumps, the spray - while still working (an improvement on my first bottle, which fully clogged) - got very, very weak. It was basically just air with a slight essence of dry shampoo. It only got worse as I kept spraying, until eventually I couldn’t see any product coming out at all.

First spray

Fifth spray

You may be thinking, “Well you have to shake it between sprays!” Yeah, I did that, and between spray two and three, sure, it works ok. But after five pumps of this bottle, the only way I could get back to First Spray Quality was to unscrew the lid, take out the pump, give it a little shake/tap, then put the bottle back together. It’s far, far too much effort just for the convenience of getting $4 dry shampoo while you’re stocking up on mandarin chicken.

I repeated the experiment with the Kristin Ess dry shampoo, and I can’t show you a “first spray, fifth spray” photo progression because it looks exactly the same. You would think it was just the same photo (I did, while I was editing. I’ve never depended on timestamps more). And if you compare this photo to the TJ’s first spray photo, it’s already a more substantial spray from the Kristin Ess. And it never lets up! No shaking needed. You can see why I got it all over my entire body and bathroom on my first use.

Now a fragrance free moment. I love the scent of Trader Joe’s Dry Shampoo, but scents are extremely subjective, and some people cannot tolerate any scent at all. Kristin Ess Dry Shampoo Powder is completely fragrance free. I always get confused about the difference between unscented and fragrance free, but this product smells like NOTHING. Not baking soda, not baby powder, not that “unscented” smell that smells like “unscented.” Nothing. If you’re sensitive to scents, or you love scents and don’t want your dry shampoo competing with your other fragrances, then this is the dry shampoo for you. As a dry shampoo connoisseur, I can’t think of ANY other fragrance free dry shampoo that I’ve tried - ever.

This next endorsement is a small thing, but a big deal: The bottle for Kristin Ess Dry Shampoo is clear. You can SEE how much product you have left! GENIUS. It does get a little powder-cloudy in the bottle, but you can see in the above photo the difference between a used bottle and a brand new one. It’s so easy to know when you need to stock up, something that’s virtually impossible with an aerosol can, and very difficult with the opaque Trader Joe’s bottle.

I bought my first bottle of Kristin Ess Fragrance Free Dry Shampoo Powder at the beginning of Target’s 20% off hair care sale, and before the sale ended, I had bought FOUR bottles. I was in love with the product, and the bargain. This is now my go-to dry shampoo (for post-workout, I still use micellar dry shampoo, usually Bumble and Bumble). Pick up some on your next Target run, and be careful with that first application - she packs a punch.