3 Steps to Refresh Your Hair Style

Dry shampoo is a hairstylist's secret weapon (Beautylish recommends: Rene Furterer Naturia Dry Shampoo). Not only does this spray-on powder give hairstyles extra body, add texture, refresh blowouts, and fix greasy roots, but it also helps save your hair color too. Water is hair color's enemy, causing problems like fading and brassiness. By spreading out the time between shampoos, you'll need to spend less time (and $$$) coloring your hair.

But before there was dry shampoo, there was a simpler (and cheaper) solution: Baby Powder. Keep reading for updated tips on how to use baby powder to style your hair. If you've ever tried shaking baby powder directly from the bottle onto your scalp, you know that this is NOT the ideal way to apply baby powder to your hair. Too much baby powder comes out, making hair look dusty, like you've been doing construction work all day or _really really _need some dandruff shampoo, stat. And the only way to get that out is to wash your hair--exactly what you were trying to avoid, right?

HOW TO Apply Baby Powder To Your Hair

1. Gently shake some powder onto your palms, then rub your hands together so the powder is evenly spread on your fingertips and palms (and you don't see any big white clumps).

2. Now run your fingers through the root area of your hair. Massaging your scalp (with your powdery fingers) will help soak up the grease and mattify oily roots. Fluff up your hair with your fingers to add sexy body and texture. Repeat Steps 1 and 2 if necessary.

3. Using a natural boar bristle brush, brush hair from root to tip to evenly distribute the powder all the way down the hair shaft. Hair is always more greasy in the root area than near the tips, which is why you want to apply the powder to the scalp and then brush it downwards. Boar bristles help grab the baby powder and slide it down the hair shaft, which is why natural bristle brushes work better than plastic or rubber brushes.

Bonus Tips

• Instead of just any old baby powder, try Johnson's Baby Powder Calming Lavender & Chamomile. The subtle floral scent is more sophisticated and clean-smelling than classic powder scents and won't compete with any other perfume you wear.
• In a pinch, cornstarch works too.

Illustration courtesy of lauralaine.net