No disrespect to Steve Jobs and Bill Gates, but I'm pretty sure I just discovered the most groundbreaking invention of the 21st century: dry shampoo.

If you are a man, I don't know that you can understand the full gravity of the implications of this marvel of modern science so I will spell it out for you.

See, we women cannot wash our hair, rub a towel over it, go to sleep then walk out the front door the next morning.

I mean, I guess we could., It's getting close to Halloween and we could all band together to try to bring back the Bride of Frankenstein look.

Although I don't even think that worked for her. We have to work to walk out the door.

Shampoo, conditioner, blow drying, flat irons, rollers— the list is extensive.

Dry shampoo is essentially time in a bottle. I don't consider myself extremely high maintenance. My naturally curly hair can be washed and styled on Day One, worn again in the same style on Day Two, swept into a ponytail on Day Three and if times are desperate, shoved under a baseball hat on Day Four. (Side note: I would just like the world to know that I do actually bathe everyday, I just don't always take the hour and a half required to do my hair.)

This scenario is workable if it's a regular Mommy week of dropping kids off at school and coming home to do laundry, cook, clean and write.

But occasionally I am required to be in public wearing something other than snot stained yoga pants on Day Three or Four and that is where the magic of dry shampoo comes into play.

You spray it in your hair and magically, your hair looks and smells clean. (Also it's important to note that it may not necessarily FEEL clean, but let's be honest. If you are trying to figure out how you can only wash your hair every four days, you're not REALLY concerned with another person running their fingers through it, now are you?)

My hair stylist warned me that some people complained it made their hair feel stiff.

"Did you tell them it's not supposed to REPLACE regular shampoo?"

I got so excited about discovering dry shampoo at my salon that I bought two bottles.

The ladies in the shop laughed, "Two bottles?!"

"One is for my best friend, I never got her a birthday present."

They all burst into laughter and I realized that giving someone dry shampoo as a gift is tantamount to a husband giving his wife a vacuum cleaner for their anniversary or a mother-in-law giving her daughter-in-law a year's worth of membership fees to Weight Watchers. But alas, my bond with Sister Wife runs deep and I knew she would squeal with delight at my discovery.

I realize my kids can talk on my iPhone and simultaneously see their grandparents hundreds of miles away, and I mean no disrespect to Steve Jobs.

But dry shampoo is the best thing that happened to this momma since God invented formula.

(Robin O'Bryant is a former Mount Pleasant resident and mother of three. Read her blog online at www.robinschicks.com or e-mail her, robinschicks@gmail.com).