amika started in 2007 in Williamsburg, Brooklyn, and for its first few years it was a tools brand. Modern Salon says the company made hot tools inspired by New York fashion, music and art before launching its styling, treatment and care line in 2011. Behind The Chair describes the founders as industry outsiders, which may explain why the brand has always looked a little different from everything else on the shelf.

The name is a nice detail. amika means friend in Esperanto, and the brand writes it in lowercase, which fits the easygoing Brooklyn attitude.

amika dry shampoo means Perk Up, and Perk Up is built on one clear promise: it is talc-free. Instead of talc, the brand uses rice starch to soak up oil, with sea buckthorn in the formula, and it says the finish is invisible with no white residue. amika also calls it the number one prestige dry shampoo in the US, which is the brand's own footnoted claim.

The first grid is three versions of Perk Up plus five amika sprays for second-day hair. The second grid is eight other dry shampoos, from Briogeo, OUAI and Drybar, for comparison.

My tip for any dry shampoo: spray it on the night before. The oil soaks in overnight, and in the morning you just brush it through.

Perk Up Talc-Free Dry Shampoo is the original, and it is the one I would buy first. It cleans and refreshes roots and gives a little volume at the same time, and it smells clean without being loud.

If your scalp gets oily fast, Perk Up Ultra Oil Control is made for exactly that, a stronger formula that pulls more oil and stretches a style longer. Perk Up Plus Extended Clean is the lightweight, invisible version, talc-free and packed with scalp-friendly ingredients, meant to keep hair feeling clean for longer.

The rest of this grid is what I reach for after dry shampoo, because second-day hair usually needs more than oil control. Un.Done Texture Spray gives tousled, lived-in texture and body. Rising Star Volumizing Finishing Spray adds root lift that lasts. Top Gloss Shine Spray puts shine back on hair that has gone a little matte. Brooklyn Bombshell Blowout Spray is a primer you use before blow-drying for volume, body and shine, and it makes the next morning easier. For curls, Power Hour Curl Refreshing Spray revives curls, coils and waves between washes.

A pairing tip: Perk Up at the roots, then Un.Done through the lengths. Together they make day-two hair look styled on purpose.

What I would skip: layering Top Gloss on roots you just dry-shampooed. Shine spray and dry shampoo work against each other, so keep the gloss on the ends.

Perk Up is not the only good one, so the second grid is the dry shampoos I think of as its real competition.

Briogeo's Scalp Revival Charcoal + Biotin Dry Shampoo is the scalp-care pick, with charcoal to detox and refresh. The Briogeo Style + Treat Dry Shampoo Puff is aerosol-free, a compact puff you press onto your roots, which makes it great for a bag.

OUAI's Super Dry Invisible Dry Shampoo absorbs oil, dirt and sweat and blends in without a cast. It comes in several scents, and here are two of them, Melrose Place and Cape Town, so you can pick by nose.

Drybar comes from the blowout bar world, where making a style last is the whole job, and it has four here. Detox Dry Shampoo is the classic spray. Detox Clear is invisible, for dark hair or light oil. Detox Silk softens as it cleans, which suits dry or textured hair, and Detox Thickening is for thinning hair, adding fullness while it absorbs oil.

A test I like: spray each one on the back of your hand and rub it in. The one that disappears fastest on your skin will disappear fastest in your part too.

What I would skip: any dry shampoo more than two days in a row. Your scalp still needs a real wash.

I think amika dry shampoo earns its place because of what it leaves out. Perk Up skips talc, blends in, and does not fight with the sprays you use after it. Start with the original, move to Ultra Oil Control if your roots turn quickly, and keep a texture spray nearby for the second morning. The brand's name means friend, and on a day when you did not have time to wash your hair, that is roughly how it feels.