If you don’t have the energy for the whole wash, dry and style routine, but your roots are looking oily, your best bet is whipping up a hairstyle for greasy hair. Lucky for you, we’ve already done the leg work and rounded up some truly stunning tactical hairstyles below.

But before you hair-shame yourself for choosing a lie-in over a date with your trusty shampoo, it just so happens that leaving slightly longer breaks between wash days can be good news for our strands. Washing our hair every day can create damage since it strips the moisturising oils, and regardless of how much conditioner we slather on afterwards, it can actually dry hair out overall. Likewise, ditching the frequency with which we use our heat tools will give your hair the best mini spa break going.

Granted, no one likes their hair to feel unclean. When we look good, we feel better, but the good news is, we can feel put-together while giving our hair a break from daily washing. All it takes is one ingenious tactic: choosing pretty second-(or third)-day hair hairstyles.

One route to go down is mussy textured updos – that’s why top hairstylists work hard to replicate the appeal of undone strands. Hair maestro (and the man behind Kate Moss’ mane) Sam McKnight admitted to regularly using products to distress shower fresh hair into something slightly more unkempt. And there’s no denying that a trusty spritz of dry shampoo can work wonders (especially if you blast it with a hairdryer afterwards, which happens to be our number one dry shampoo hack). Our fave hair gurus, Justine Marjan, Emma Chen and Kristin Ess regularly opt for messy partings, loose strands and non-neat boho takes on updos. Meanwhile messy indie sleaze strands are trending again thanks to TikTok brushing up on yet another ’90s throwback aesthetic.

On the opposite side of the spectrum, super slicked-back hair is equally stunning. We keep spotting wet-look buns and ponytails everywhere, and greasy hair can play into this perfectly. Likewise, snatched plaits, chignons and ponytails smoothed back into place can look ultra chic (case in point: the supermodel bun). They’re ideal if you want to feel a bit more put together.

From top knots to twists, braids and all kinds of half-bun fun, we’ve rounded-up our edit of super-easy, super time-saving looks for when your hair feels dirty.

Here’s 39 of our favourite hairstyles for greasy hair…