If one attribute has come to epitomize the oft-romanticized French Girl’s beauty, it’s her laissez-faire lengths: always tousled, never freshly washed. The secret weapon at her side, we’ve been told? Dry shampoo, a duty-free commodity Americans (and more than one Vogue-ette) have been known to bring back from Paname by the trunkful. As it turns out, though, folklore may have led us astray, causing sensitive, itchy scalps and even hair loss along the way. “If you use it all the time, it’s a real issue,” says Parisian colorist Christophe Robin, who’s behind Catherine Deneuve, Léa Seydoux, and Ines de la Fressange’s inimitable coifs. “It’s like going to bed with makeup on.”
Instead, Frenchwomen “have better habits,” he explains, that ensure every (sparse) shampoo session lasts longer. “They don’t want to go home to wash their hair every day,” adds Robin, citing residue-removing antibacterial vinegar—bought at Diptyque or Santa Maria Novella—mixed into a bowl of cold water and poured over the head as “a great French trick.” Follow it up with a softening oil treatment, which will leave lengths less coated than traditional conditioners. “French girls will comb it through their hair, throw their hair into a little bun, and read or exercise with it [in] before [finally] washing it out.”
Of course, all the planning in the world can still land us in a (greasy) pinch. In that case, reach not for deluxe dry shampoos, whose sweet-smelling scents and shine-enhancing ingredients can further add to irritation, but rather for one unexpected pantry staple: baking soda. “It’s an old ingredient that works,” Robin says. As for his pro tip? “Put it onto a good natural bristle brush, and brush your hair upside down.” No transatlantic flight required.
