What do I do when my hair is both dry and greasy at the same time?

I have long, fine hair and right after washing, my roots looks best but my ends are super frizzy and dull. A couple days later my roots are greasy and lank but my ends are smooth and shiny. My solution is dry shampoo, I apply it right after my hair is fully dry and then as needed for a few days. I swear I usually have an extra couple pounds of powder kicking around up there but it makes my hair look fab. Plus you only have to wash your hair a few times a week, so win-win.

Fellow fine-haired gal here. I'd definitely suggest adding deep conditioning into your haircare routine, once a month or so if possible. I've tried out a bunch of different kinds of treatments, both homemade and store-bought, but the hands-down best results have come from http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/B003YELGF2/metafilter-20/ref=nosim/. It's actually primarily designed for natural black hair, but I stumbled across a recommendation for it before traveling to Iceland (I was looking for a way to mitigate a post-Blue-Lagoon dry hair disaster). And wow, it works miracles. Instantly shiny, soft, sleek hair that lasts for days. I coat my hair in it and wrap it up with saran wrap and/or a microfiber towel and leave it in for 10-20 minutes. Then I rinse it out in the shower with clarifying shampoo -- I like http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/B0013V8ZB6/metafilter-20/ref=nosim/ a lot. And, on preview, I support the recommendations for dry shampoo on your roots as well.

I get like this occasionally. I use a heavy-duty shampoo once in awhile to clean up my scalp and apply deep conditioning to the ends, plus some leave-in conditioner on the shafts and ends. Dry shampoo and/or product that has that oil-absorbing property (these tend to be... kind of random, mine happens to be a thickening/heat protectant cream) will help if you don't wash every day too.

I have the same problem and this is what has worked for me: I try to shampoo every other day. On the day I am not shampooing, I use conditioner. This helps my hair feel a whole lot better. On the days without shampoo, I also use dry Shampoo. Specifically Psst recently, which you can find at drugstores for cheap and smells pretty nice also.

Dry shampoo on the roots, argan oil on the ends!

Shampoo your hair, then use olive oil. Do it everyday for a week. Good luck.

Switch to new products for a month or so before going back to old favorites. Use shampoo on your roots and conditioner only on the ends. If you're swimming in a chlorinated pool, wet your hair in the shower before putting on a cap to protect your hair from chlorine.

It sounds like your scalp is excessively dry (along with the length of your hair) and your scalp is over-compensating by producing too much oil. This happened to me until I cut out the shampoo entirely and just started "washing" my scalp and hair with a thick conditioner only. What I do now is get my head thoroughly soaked, scrub my scalp with a huge glob of sulfate-free, silicone-free conditioner for a solid minute, then distribute the extra product along the length of my hair and let it sit for a minute. Then, rinse while gently scrubbing a little more at my scalp. It took a month or two for my scalp to slow down its oil production, but eventually it did. Now my hair is solidly "normal" all over.