Picture the scene. I’m standing in my bathroom, arm raised, aiming a tinted spray at the top of my head. One second later my wall is brown. My forehead is brown. My towel is brown. My dignity is somewhere on the bathroom floor. The top of my head, which is the actual target, has received approximately one molecule of pigment.
This is my life with tinted sprays.
I have Androgenic Alopecia, so I’ve spent years trying to find ways to make my thinning areas less noticeable on the days I’m not wearing a topper or wig. Tinted sprays sound so simple in theory. You point them at your head and they cover the thin bits. And sometimes that’s exactly what happens! And sometimes you look like you’ve been involved in a mudslide. I’ve tried way more of these than I’m listing here. These are just the ones I still have hope for.
A few things I wish someone had told me before I ruined my bathroom walls:
- Hold the can at least 30cm away. I know. The instructions say this. I ignored the instructions for about six months. Learn from me, not from experience.
- Short bursts. Not one long aggressive spray. Short bursts give you control. One long spray gives you a brown cloud and a ruined towel.
- Let it dry fully before you touch anything. Anything. Your hair, your collar, your face. Just stand very still for a minute.
- If you have Rosacea or sensitive skin, don’t spray near your face. The propellant is not your friend.
- Rain is the enemy. Wind is also the enemy. Basically going outside is a risk.
Batiste Dry Shampoo Dark & Deep Brown
My favourite. By quite a lot actually. It’s cheap, it’s easy to find literally everywhere, and the spray is so much less aggressive than the others that you actually stand a chance of getting it where you want it. The tint builds up gradually too, so you can layer it until you’ve got the coverage you need rather than going all in and praying.
The one thing I will say: clean the nozzle regularly. Cotton bud, warm water, thirty seconds of your life. If you don’t, the product dries inside the nozzle and then instead of a fine mist you get little brown crusty clumps firing out at random. Not ideal. Not a look.
Verdict: Best value, easiest to use, my go-to. Start here if you’re new to tinted sprays.
Bumble & Bumble Brownish Powder
Oh this one. I wanted to love it so much. The brand, the packaging, the smell, all gorgeous. And then I pressed the nozzle and a tiny brown volcano erupted on my head. I tried it about eight times thinking I was doing something wrong. I was not doing something wrong. It’s just incredibly aggressive and I could not get it to behave for me no matter what I did.
It’s the priciest one on this list too, which made the whole thing more painful. I know loads of people absolutely love this one though, so I think it’s genuinely one of those products that works brilliantly for some people and catastrophically for others. I’m firmly in the catastrophic camp. Maybe you won’t be.
Verdict: Big fat nope for me personally, but worth trying if you’re curious. Just maybe buy it somewhere with a good returns policy.
Label.M Brunette Dry Shampoo
Honestly very similar to the Batiste, which is a compliment. The spray is gentle, the tint is buildable, it sits nicely on the hair without looking cakey. If your hair is a darker shade of brown it might actually work better than the Batiste because the pigment is slightly deeper.
But it’s noticeably more expensive. And I genuinely couldn’t find enough of a difference between this and the Batiste to justify paying more for it. If you spot it on offer or your hairdresser stocks it, give it a go. At full price though? I’d just buy the Batiste twice over.
Verdict: Good but the price doesn’t add up when Batiste exists.
Mane Hair Thickening Spray
My second favourite, and the one I’d pick if I needed something with more staying power. I did my very scientific scratch-the-itchy-scalp-with-a-dirty-fingernail test on all of these (you’re welcome) and the Mane came out on top. Less transfer, less clumping, and crucially no brown streaks sliding down my face when I got caught in a bit of drizzle, which has happened to me with other sprays and is exactly as mortifying as it sounds.
It’s also better for covering a larger area because the formula is thicker than a regular dry shampoo. It’s marketed as a thickening spray rather than a dry shampoo, which explains why it behaves differently. Worth knowing because it means you can use it for a slightly different purpose than the others.
Verdict: Second place. Best if you need longevity or you’re going to be outside.
A couple of extra things
If you’re visually impaired (I’m registered severely sight impaired) applying these is a whole extra layer of fun because you can’t always see where the spray is actually landing. What works for me is sectioning my hair first so I know exactly where my thinning spots are, spraying downwards rather than sideways, and checking in a handheld mirror under a good bright light before I leave the house. That last one has saved me from going out looking absolutely feral more times than I’d like to admit.
Also if you’re using one of these before clipping in a topper or wig, let it dry completely first. Brown transfer on the underside of a topper is a nightmare to clean off. Ask me how I know. Actually, don’t.
