After all these years, I'm still occasionally ambivalent about CLEAN. I vacillate between the following:

a. "Ahhh, fresh and soapy!"

b. "Way too sharp and synthetic."

c. "This is NOT a perfume."

But regardless of how I feel about the perfume itself, I've always LOVED the Shampoo Fresh Hair Fragrance. I've raved about it at least three times on the blog, and my feelings for it have never waned. It's the perfect way to refresh stale tresses after a long night, or a day out in a smog-filled city.

So when I saw the new CLEAN Dry Shampoo, I had to try it. Same scent, but in a dry shampoo formula that absorbs oil? Yes, please.

Like many other dry shampoos, it's a cornstarch-based powder that you lightly sprinkle into your hair at the roots and work through. The first couple of times you use it, as you're getting a feel for how much product will come out of the nozzle, I'd recommend applying it in very small, light "puffs." This will help you avoid dumping a handful of cornstarch into your roots -- at that point it'll be nearly impossible to brush out.

With just a little bit in your part and distributed through your roots, you'll be able to stretch your style a few more hours (dry shampoo isn't meant to completely take the place of a good wash, but will absorb excess oil and make your mane smell great in between washes, or when you just don't have time). For example, I like to use dry shampoo if I have Saturday morning errands to do, but don't want to wash my hair until just before dinner.

Overall, if used sparingly, the CLEAN Dry Shampoo is a great product, and its oil-absorbing properties differentiate it nicely from the Shampoo Fresh Hair Fragrance. In a nutshell, use the Hair Fragrance when you just need a scented product to refresh your hair, and reach for the Dry Shampoo if you need to absorb oil and get the added scent benefit.