Objective. Reliable and user-friendly electrodes can continuously and real-time capture the electroencephalography (EEG) signals, which is essential for real-life brain–computer interfaces (BCIs). This study develops a flexible, durable, and low-contact-impedance polyvinyl alcohol/polyacrylamide double-network hydrogel (PVA/PAM DNH)-based semi-dry electrode for robust EEG recording at hairy scalp. Approach. The PVA/PAM DNHs are developed using a cyclic freeze-thaw strategy and used as a saline reservoir for semi-dry electrodes. The PVA/PAM DNHs steadily deliver trace amounts of saline onto the scalp, enabling low and stable electrode-scalp impedance. The hydrogel also conforms well to the wet scalp, stabilizing the electrode-scalp interface. The feasibility of the real-life BCIs is validated by conducting four classic BCI paradigms on 16 participants. Main results. The results show that the PVA/PAM DNHs with 7.5 wt% PVA achieve a satisfactory trade-off between the saline load-unloading capacity and the compressive strength. The proposed semi-dry electrode exhibits a low contact impedance (18 ± 8.9 kΩ at 10 Hz), a small offset potential (0.46 mV), and negligible potential drift (1.5 ± 0.4 μV min−1). The temporal cross-correlation between the semi-dry and wet electrodes is 0.91, and the spectral coherence is higher than 0.90 at frequencies below 45 Hz. Furthermore, no significant differences are present in BCI classification accuracy between these two typical electrodes. Significance. Based on the durability, rapid setup, wear-comfort, and robust signals of the developed hydrogel, PVA/PAM DNH-based semi-dry electrodes are a promising alternative to wet electrodes in real-life BCIs.