Okay, I admit it: I’m a camp snob. All of the Girl Scout camps I attended as a child had full amenities and I am always happiest at LARPs with access to showers and bathrooms. So when I heard that the new camp my home LARP was moving to will be without showers for a few months, I knew I had to find another solution.

My hair is waist-length, but it’s baby-fine. There’s just not enough of it to soak up even a normal amount of oil, so if I don’t shower every single day, I end up looking like Aragorn in the middle of Helm’s Deep. Not exactly the best impression, especially when your character is supposed to be a lady and a water witch.

I’ve tried several dry shampoos and homemade mixtures in the past, and none of them have ever done the trick. Often they leave my hair feeling sticky and worse than before I applied a product. But faced with several months of shower-less LARPing, I decided to do some more research and give them one more try.

LUSH’s No Drought Dry Shampoo had consistently high reviews, even from people with my finicky hair type, so I stopped by the mall on the way home from work and picked up a bottle. Having returned from my first weekend with no showers in a long time, I am happy to report that this stuff actually works!

Unlike most dry shampoos that use aerosol cans, No Drought comes in a regular shampoo bottle. Application can be a bit tricky as a result, so you should probably check your outfit after use to make sure you don’t have any powdery patches on your clothes. The product smells great and doesn’t give me a headache like some of the other dry shampoos I’ve tried. The scent disappears fairly quickly, so you’re not walking around smelling it all day, either.

Here are my tips for getting the best results. (Note: if your hair is thicker than mine, you may not have to be as religious in your application)

  • It seems to work best if you never let your hair get to the ‘gross’ clumpy stage. I used it before I went to bed, left it in, reapplied in the morning, and finally brushed it out when I had finished my makeup.
  • In addition to sprinkling No Drought on your head, section your hair into pieces running parallel to your part and apply throughout to make sure the product is actually reaching your scalp.
  • At the crown of my head, which tends to be my biggest problem area, I parted my hair into very thin horizontal sections to make sure I covered every inch of my scalp.

Following these steps, my hair went 2 days without washing while looking much better than it normally does if I do not wash my hair at night and just go to sleep.

However, while No Drought is good, it’s not a magic bullet. Your hair won’t magically feel like you’ve just had a shower. I definitely felt like there was product in my hair, but it was thankfully not sticky. It was also not the easiest to style (dry shampoo does give your hair a bit of grip) for someone accustomed to squeaky clean hair.

Once our camp has showers, I will definitely be taking advantage of them, but for the time being, No Drought makes it possible for me to feel confident at LARP without running for a cap to cover my unruly hair.

Do you have any other solutions to make “roughing it” easier? Tell us in the comments below!

Disclaimer: The opinions expressed in this blog post are solely my own. I did not receive any compensation or free/discounted products for this review.