Greasy Roots, Meet Your Ultimate Nemesis: The Rootist Dry Shampoo

After testing thousands of beauty products for over a decade, I fear I’ve become a bit of a snob. Not in terms of price or brand name recognition (I actually tend to prefer drugstore or mid-range indie products over luxury ones), but for its DNA—by which I mean, the ingredients and the backstory of a product.

For a product to pique my interest, I need for it to have a clear point of distinction. I want to know that there’s a reason for this thing to exist, when there’s already so much. Moreover, I need for it to convince me that it’s worth trying over the things I already use and love.

Somehow, The Rootist, a new haircare brand that launched earlier this year at Sephora, did just that. The brand is centered around the belief that the roots, scalp and hair are all one ecosystem, as opposed to separate areas to treat, as we’ve historically approached haircare.

Got dry ends? Get thee a treatment mask. Flaky scalp? Why, there’s a special shampoo for that. This, as you know, quickly adds up to a pricey mish mosh of products in your shower.

Grounded in biotechnology and decades of research, The Rootist has a streamlined, 360 approach to haircare with six products that nurture the health of your scalp and strands through their patent-pending ingredient, Rootbiomic Ferment, which is described as “a completely vegan multi-vitamin superfood.” Think of it like kombucha for your hair. The ferment is used in place of water to help balance your scalp’s microbiome and strengthen hair.

Of course, you don’t have to use every product in the line at once to get benefits. For example, the brand’s Clarifying Balancing Serum clearly states on the label that it’s meant for an oily scalp, so if that’s not a particular concern for you, I’d suggest checking out the BioBrew Fermented Strengthening Serum (a conditioning spray that offers protection against heat damage and frizz) or my personal favorite, the Dry Shampoo Powder.