Just like there's a name for the irrational fear of balloons, or an irrational fear of chins, there's a name for the irrational fear of washing or bathing: ablutophobia. I do not have it, which is kind of a shame, because I'd love to have a medically sound reason to avoid washing my hair. Instead, all I've got is what I feel is a perfectly rational explanation for my extreme aversion: I hate washing my long, heavy hair because it makes my arms hurt and takes forever to dry, and what is there to like about any activity that wastes time and causes mild physical discomfort?
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And so, most days out of any given week, I use dry shampoo. I use so much dry shampoo that I'm almost embarrassed to quantify it. Let's say, just to give a general idea, I go through a standard-sized bottle every two weeks. Or every week and a half, maybe. Anyway, does it really matter? The point is that, by the fourth day post-shampoo, each strand of my hair is probably composed more of dry shampoo than actual hair. And here's another thing: Second-day hair and fourth-day hair are two different beasts. Second-day hair has a little oil at the roots, nothing a spritz and a tousle can't hide; fourth-day hair, addressed incorrectly, can look like you're wearing a starched wig.
The average dry-shampoo user probably doesn't understand that tricky situation, but I do, and trendy hair-care brand IGK does, too. So they've come up with a brand-new solution for it: the First Class Charcoal Detox Dry Shampoo, a heavy-duty cleansing formula that goes above and beyond what you can expect from the average dry shampoo. The charcoal powder sucks up dirt, oil, and buildup to make hair look clean, and white-tea extract imparts a cooling, soothing effect to the scalp to make it feel clean. It smells like expensive perfume, and a little goes a long way, so you can coast straight through to day five worry-free.
Whatever your reason to avoid shampooing like the plague — color-treated hair, trying to save water, ablutophobia, just gross, I'm not here to judge — this powerful dry shampoo will make it possible to continue indulging your poor hygiene habits, your refusal to face your fears, or your biological aversion to waking up earlier to shower in the morning. And with all the time you'll save not waiting for your hair to dry, you'll have more hours in the day to watch all the strange phobia episodes of Maury from the mid-2000s. They're worth it.
IGK First Class Charcoal Detox Dry Shampoo, $27, available at Sephora.